Tag: Pastry creme

“Happiness. Simple as a glass of chocolate or tortuous as the heart. Bitter. Sweet. Alive.”
Joanne Harris

If the whites find feet, can the yolks be far behind? Each time I make macarons, a bunch of egg yolks call my name. This time was no different with the yolks looking for a home again, and me looking for inspiration. It’s been a long 3 years since I began food blogging. The beginning saw me absolutely egg-phobic, where I couldn’t handle the smell of an egg yolk under any circumstances. Egg yolks and yeast were my two enemies.Gradually they became frenemies, and one day I won the battle of yeast {with my friend Ben from What’s Cooking Mexico}. Recently, on my Yeasted Meringue Coffee cake he commented, “Remember when we were scared of yeast? That looks like another life now, doesn’t it?” How true!! Winning over the yolks was far tougher but the discovery of Madagascar vanilla beans was set to change that forever. Who would have thought that the humble vanilla bean, with its deep flavour could make yolks so delightful?My culinary journey got better with food bloggers becoming friends, a chance meeting in London, and The Cooking Ninja introduced me to her MILs Crème Pâtissière. I do love the French for their beautiful desserts, and Pamela for introducing me to pastry creme. I first used it to make these Orange Patisserie Tartlets with Candied Tangerines. Theres been no looking back. What I’ve conjured up here is in no way traditional baked pots de creme. This is my fast track version of Crème au chocolat which translates simply into my idea of an indulgent chocolate cream! The Thermomix makes pastry creme feel like a cakewalk. Where else can you pop everything into a bowl, turn the timer to 7 minutes and open the bowl to a fudgy, deep, chocolaty, smooth as satin chocolate pastry creme at the other end? Well, you can go the tradional way to pastry creme too, over the stove top and end up with the same delight. A pastry creme, or custard is, IMHO, a most wonderful and indulgent way to use up egg yolks. This chocolate pastry cream is ready to serve in a couple of hours, including chill time. It’s finger licking good too. I reached this consistency after playing around with the quantities of chocolate, milk and cornflour. The basic recipe is quite versatile, and can be easily doubled too. I like it because  it can be made in advance, and of course, desserts in glasses are always eye candy! They make a bold, crisp statement, and allow for contrasting pairing that you can show off.  Serve it with either fresh seasonal fruit and herbs, with amaretti cookies, or paired with macarons. Else spike it with your favourite cherry liqueur and serve with juicy bing cherries, or give it an espresso kick …  the possibilities are endless!A good point to remember is to use a nice quality chocolate. I have been fortunate enough to discover a local source of couverture chocolate from an online gourmet store here, called Delicious Now. I was introduced to it when I attended the Le Cordon Blue Pastry Workshop in Delhi a few months ago, and the single origin cocoa bean 65% dark chocolate has me addicted. With prices of the cocoa bean heading north, I’m now experimenting with a 55% dark chocolate. {Disclaimer: I have not been paid to write this. It’s always nice to share a local source in India as it’s difficult to find a variety of ingredients easily}.These little ‘hot chocolate shots‘ are off to the April Cook-Off hosted by the equally hot and gorgeous Da @ Kitchen Corners. She called this April to make ‘Something delicious with chocolate. Something new and creative. Something a little crazy.’

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Crème au chocolat

Source: Own

A fudgy, satiny, deeply chocolaty pastry creme served as individual desserts in shot glasses offers a nice elegant end to a meal. Serve with seasonal fruit or delicate biscuits.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 vanilla bean, scraped
• Pinch of salt
• 100gm dark couverture chocolate 65%, room temperature
• 200ml low fat milk, hot
• 100ml low fat milk, cold
• 1/8 cup cornflour
• Fresh strawberries, mint to garnish
• Vanilla sugar for glass rims

Equipment:

• Thermomix or heavy bottom pan

Method:

1. Bring the milk, vanilla sugar and a pinch of salt to a gentle boil in a pot.
2. In the meantime, whisk the egg yolks and sugar with a wooden spoon in a big bowl until the mixture becomes pale and light. Stir in the flour slowly until it is thoroughly mixed with the egg mixture.
3. Pour the boiling milk into the mixture a little by little while whisking continuously to avoid curdling. And then stir in the rest of the milk until the mixture is well combined.
4. Transfer the whole mixture into a pot, with the chocolate and seeds scraped from the vanilla bean, and heat it under low setting. Stir it constantly with the wooden spoon or spatula scraping the sides and bottom until it has thickened.
5. Once the custard has thickened, take it off the heat, and strain / pour it into a clean bowl. Allow to cool down a bit, then pour or pipe into serving glasses to set.
6. While the custard is cooling, you can dip the rims of serving glasses into a ‘sliver’ of water and then into vanilla sugar. Allow to stand for 10 minutes until set.
7. Chill the shots in the fridge for at least 2 hours. Serve with freshly halved strawberries and a sprig of mint.

For the Thermomix:

1. Whiz the sugar in the TM bowl on Speed 9 for 10 seconds, then add the yolks and run on Speed 5 for 5 seconds
2. Mix the 1/8 cup cornflour into the cold milk.
3. Add the chocolate, and warm milk to the TM bowl, and begin cook at 100C / 7 minutes, Speed 4. As soon as the TM begins to run, pour in the cold cornflour mix into the bowl through the shute, and shut.
4. Check after 7 minutes if the pastry creme is as thick as you like, else run for another few minutes. Immediately transfer to a serving bowl … proceed as above

YIELD: Six servings
Course: Dessert
TIME: 30 minutes, stove top / 7 minutes Thermomix
NOTE: Other flavour possibilities could be a cherry or orange liquor or expresso. Can be made a day in advance.
Copyright Deeba@Passionate About Baking

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