The topics of this blog are Armand-Jean du Plessis, Cardinal Duke of Richelieu, and the IDEAL CITY built on his command next to his magnificent CHÂTEAU on the borders of Touraine, Anjou and Poitou, in France.

Wednesday 24 September 2008

Cannelés bordelais




Not much to do with Richelieu really - but they are rather nice and the Abbé Henri has just perfected their preparation.  Cannelés (or if authentically from Bordeaux 'canelés bordelais') are small caramelised crunchy/gooey cakes that taste like vanilla ice cream but without the ice and without the cream.  Served with a crème anglaise or custard the are pretty nice to eat, so here is the recipe:

Step 1:
Cannalé moulds; individual moulds of tinned copper are very pretty, but don't be tempted by authenticity as getting the little blighters out when they are hot is a nghtmare.....so.....acquire a lovely new silicone 8-cannelé mould from a cooking shop.

Step 2:
Ingredients for 16 cannelés (ie two 8-cannelé moulds)
A 0.5 litre full milk
B 2 whole eggs
C 2 egg yolks
D 2-4 vanilla beans (fresher are better than dried out; not vanilla extract)
E 1.5 tablespoons dark 'Navy' rum
F 100 grams plain flour
G 200-250 grams caster sugar (more or less sweet to choice)
H 50 grams butter (reduce to 25 grams? - omit entirely?)

Step 3 
Preparation stage 1
1 Split the vanilla beans length-wise and scrape out the precious seeds
2 Add beans seeds and butter to the milk, bring to the boil and take off heat
3 Mix the flour, sugar, eggs and egg yolks in a bowl
4 Whisk at high speed for 3-5 minutes
5 Remove bean casings from the warm milk and transfer it gradually into the flour mix bowl
6 Add all the vanilla milk to the flour (with all the seeds but not the beans)
7 Whisk for 3-5 minutes as before
8 Cool the mix for 1 hour and then mix in the rum
9 Cool the mixture overnight in a fridge (or some say for 24 hours)

Step 4
Preparation stage 2 (next day)
1 Preheat the oven to 270 deg C (520 deg F); this is usually right at the maximum for most domestic ovens (slightly less for fan ovens)
2 Fill all the 8 moulds to 80%; don't leave any empty
3 BAKE at high temperature for 6-9 minutes (more or less caramelised outside), then
4 Reduce oven temperature to 180 deg C (350 deg F) and BAKE for at least another 1 hour (more or less gooey/cakey inside)
5 Cover with aluminium foil after 20 minutes of the hour
6 Take the mould out of the oven and invert onto a pie grid and let cool
7 After 10 minutes tap the canelés out from the silicone mould without damaging them

Step 5; Consumption
Two each. They are best after 1 hour; they can be frozen; they go rubbery if left out any real time.
Serve with real custard or crème anglaise (or maybe with real vanilla ice cream).

Would be nice with a bottle of Coteaux de Layon, or even a half bottle of Bonnezeaux



2 comments:

Susan said...

On the strength of this, have gone out and bought a silicone canelé mould. Will report back after experimental batch consumed.

BTW, isn't posting recipes a bit populist? Not sure His Rougeness would approve.

Abbé Henri Proust said...

Having just used this recipe, I notice that I had omitted the inclusion of the butter into step 3.2. If this sort of carelessness continues.........

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