Petit fours

So, a delayed update of my personal baking challenge- that is to bake something from each of the GB Bake off series competition, I made the petit fours for round of patisserie recipes episode. Petit fours are small desserts, mostly bite sized, which are served with coffee at the end of the meal.

I decided to make mini chocolate éclairs, crème patissière filled shortcrust tartlets with raspberries and orange-caramel macarons.

I love making choux pastry, they are delightfully light to eat and fun to make. I toyed with the idea of make choux pastry swans but mini éclair seemed cuter idea to make. I decided to fill it with chantilly cream, which is basically vanilla flavoured whipped cream and topped it with chcocolate ganache. The recipe for chocolate ganache I used is one I found in Mary Berry’s book and it works wonderfully for the eclairs as it is not too runny, though I would not use it to top cakes. You will find the recipe for choux pastry here.

I thought shortcrust tart would be a more interesting tart idea to do than the conventional tart recipe plus I have wanted to make crème patissière for ages. So this was a good excuse to learn a new technique as well. I top the filling with raspberries- always a good idea to use fresh, I used frozen as I did not have fresh ones at the time I was making and they were so soggy! Just sift icing sugar on the top for a dramatic presentations ! You will find the recipe for the shortbread tartlets here.

As for macarons, I have been obsessed with them for months, to perfect them. I have finally found a recipe and technique that works for me. For the filling, I made caramel and added it to the buttercream icing with orange zest. And here is my macaron recipe.

So, finally my petit fours all together. They did not last very long, since they are small in size, that gives me an excuse to eat more of them!

Thanks for stopping by and I would love to hear from you.

Choux pastry- Chocolate éclairs

I always find making choux pastry very satisfying! It goes into the oven as a creamy lumpy paste and comes out as a beautiful golden, crisp and puffed up light pastry which you can fill with a variety of goodies and of course smother it with chocolate.

Since I was making éclairs for petit fours, I used half the amounts used in the original recipe, which gave me about 10 or so mini éclairs and I also made a few profiteroles out of it. So to make full sized éclairs and plenty of them, please double the amounts in the recipe.

Ingredients

70 g plain flour
118 ml water
56 g butter, cut in small cubes
1 tsp granulated sugar
¼ tsp salt
2 eggs

1. Pre-heat the oven to 220 ˚C (fan oven, adjust temperature according to your oven).
2. Line a baking sheet with baking paper.
3. Sift the flour in a bowl.
4. In a pan (I used a non stick pan) bring the water, butter, sugar and salt to boil over medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon.
5. When it comes to a boil, add the flour, all at once and stir vigorously now. The mixture becomes paste like, and it starts to come together in a ball, keep mixing till it starts to pull away from the sides and a thin film forms at the bottom of the pan. It takes couple of minutes or so. At this point, remove the pan from heat and let it cool for 2 minutes.
6. Then add the eggs one at a time and incorporate it fully before adding the next egg.
7. The paste should now be smooth and glossy.
8. Put the paste into a piping bag with a big plain nozzle. For mini éclairs, pipe 2 inch long strips on the baking sheet and keep at least 2-3 inches space between each other.  For proper sized éclairs, pipe about 4 inch long logs and for profiteroles, mounds of the batter about a tablespoon full in size.
9. If there are peaks at the point where you have moved away the piping bag, just pat it smooth with a wet finger.
10. Spritz water onto the tray if you have a sprayer else just wet your hand and lightly sprinkle some water across the tray. The moisture will create steam which will help the pastry to puff up.
11. Bake immediately in the pre-heated oven for 25-30 minutes till the éclairs look golden brown.
12. Switch off the oven and then leave them in for 5 minutes.
13. Then take the éclairs out and poke hole on each end with a skewer or a knife- this is to release the steam from the pastry. Transfer the pastry onto a wire rack and cool.
14. Once cooled fill the éclairs with chantilly cream or crème patissiere.
15. Layer the top with chocolate ganache.

What you are looking for in a choux pastry is that it is crisp on the outside, really airy on inside, well puffed.

If stored in the fridge it does soften up but you can pop it into the oven for 5 minutes to crisp it again. It is best to fill just before serving. Store the éclairs in air tight container.

Chantilly cream

Chantilly cream is basically whipped fresh cream that is flavoured with vanilla. If you do not have vanilla pod , you can easily use vanilla extract.

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
300 ml double whipping cream
2 tbsp icing sugar, sifted

Mix all the ingredients together and beat  until the cream is thick and forms firm peaks. Store this in the refrigerator till you need it.

Chocolate ganache for éclairs

This is the most amazing chocolate ganache recipe for éclairs which I got from Mary Berry’s recipe book! It is perfect for icing the éclairs or profiteroles.

55 g plain chocolate
15 g butter
85 g icing sugar, sifted

1. Melt the chocolate with 2 tbsp of water and the butter, in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. (I was a bit surprised initially to see water being added to the chocolate as it would normally seize, but trust me this worked- add the water and melt it together with butter and it is fine). You do not need to keep stirring, just once or twice with a wooden spoon to mix everything in.
2. Once the chocolate melts, remove from heat and beat in the icing sugar with a hand mixture till smooth.
3. The ganache is shiny and smooth. When cooled it tends to become a little stiff, so I just microwave it for 10 seconds to soften it up.

To assemble the éclair, fill a piping bag with a plain nozzle fitted to it with the chantilly cream and pipe chantilly cream from each end of the éclair where you had made the hole for steam to escape. Pipe the ganache onto the éclairs or dip the éclair in the ganache.

Do give choux pastry a try, it is much easier to make than it looks and simply delicious.