Pistachio Galette Des Rois
TIER 2
Pistachio Galette Des Rois
For Tier 2 I was determined to use our inverse puff pastry to make a Galette Des Rois. After all my fails, I realised I wasn’t resting the dough enough and that I needed to adjust my filling slightly to add more nuts. The resulting galette has the most amazing puff, that stays even, holds its shape and has a soft, pistachio filling. Although we’re at the end of galette season, I think it’s something you should make all year round it’s that good! Take your time with this recipe, especially paying attention to the scoring pattern. There’s lots of helpful tips in the PDF recipe so much sure to download that.
8-10
SERVINGS
Ingredients
Makes 8-10 Servings
Inverse Puff Pastry (x2)
Butter Block
100g Plain/All-Purpose Flour
300g Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature
Dough
200g Plain/All-Purpose Flour
4g Fine Sea Salt
120g Double/Heavy Cream
20g Cold Water
5g White Vinegar
Pistachio Cream
85g Unsalted Butter, Soft
85g Icing Sugar
130g Ground Pistachios
70g Ground Almonds
15g Cornstarch/Cornflour
70g Whole Eggs, Room Temperature
Egg Wash
35g Egg Yolk
30g Double/Heavy Cream
Hot Syrup
50g Caster Sugar
35g Water
Special equipment
Stand mixer
Digital thermometer
Silicon mat
18cm ring mold (optional)
Piping bag
23cm disc (for measuring)
Method
Inverse Puff Pastry
Note that you will need two batches of pastry (one for the top of the galette, and one for the bottom). As we are laminating by hand, I prefer to do this in two separate batches to ensure not too much gluten is developed. So you will need to create this recipe twice.
Butter Block
1. Add the soft butter and flour into a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat for 1-2 minutes on a medium speed until smooth, scraping down the bowl as needed.
- 100g Plain/All-Purpose Flour
- 300g Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature
2. Trace a rectangle 35 x 20 cm/14 x 8 inches in the centre of a large sheet of parchment paper or acetate, then flip it over. Place the butter mixture into the centre, folding over the edges of the paper and taping them in place if needed.
3. Use a rolling pin to roll it into a rectangle with even thickness. Chill for 3 hours in the fridge or overnight.
Dough
1. For the dough, add all the ingredients to a large bowl and stir together until there are no more dry ingredients. It can help to squeeze it together with your hands.
- 200g Plain/All-Purpose Flour
- 4g Fine Sea Salt
- 120g Double Cream
- 20g Cold Water
- 5g White Vinegar
2. Tip the mixture onto a lightly floured work surface and knead it for 1–2 minutes. Initially, it will be quite dry, but as you continue to work it, it will become smooth and gain some very slight elasticity.
3. Trace a rectangle 17.5 x 20cm into the centre of a large sheet of baking parchment or acetate and flip it over. Place the dough in the centre and fold over the edges of the parchment, taping it in place if needed. Roll the dough to the edges until you have an even block. Refrigerate for 3 hours, or ideally overnight. A longer chill is preferable to relax the gluten.
4. Once both have chilled, remove the butter block from the fridge, it needs to be 9–10°C (48–50°F) before using. Once it is close to temperature, remove the dough from the fridge; this needs to be at 6–7°C (43–45°F).
5. Place the dough block in the centre of the butter and fold the butter over, sealing the seam with your fingers. Be quite generous with flouring the work surface and the dough here, or the butter will stick.
6. Rotate the dough 90 degrees so the seam is facing you horizontally, and use a sharp knife to score the edges of the dough where it is folded over the butter. This will release tension and make it easier to roll.
7. Lightly roll the dough to give it some slight width, then rotate the dough 90 degrees again so the seam is now vertically in line with your body.
8. Roll the dough lengthways into a long rectangle, being liberal with the flour so that it doesn’t stick, until it reaches a thickness of about 5–7mm. Use a sharp knife to trim off any wonky ends and dust off any excess flour.
9. Perform a double fold, folding one side of the dough up about 1/5th of the way, bringing the opposite side over to meet it, and then folding the whole piece in half. Wrap the dough tightly in cling film, and place it in the freezer for 15 minutes, then into the fridge for 10 minutes.
10. Remove the dough from the fridge, and with the open seam facing you (i.e if you were looking at the dough straight on, you would be able to see where it has been folded over itself), use a sharp knife again, to score the edges of the dough where it is folded.
11. Turn the dough 90 degrees so the open seam is now horizontal to you and give the dough a quick roll, to give it a little bit of width.
12. Turn the dough 90 degrees again so the open seam is facing you again and begin to roll the dough. Roll the dough into a long even rectangle, very very lightly flouring it, just as we did in step 8.
13. Perform another double fold, and place it in the freezer for 15 minutes, then into the fridge for 10 minutes.
14. Repeat this process one more time, but finishing with a single fold rather than a double fold. To do this, take one-third of the dough and fold it up, then take the other third of dough and fold this over the top.
15. Wrap the dough tightly in cling film and refrigerate, ideally overnight. Again, a longer chill helps to relax the gluten.
Pistachio Cream
1. Into a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and icing sugar on a medium-low speed until smooth, 1-2 minutes.
- 85g Unsalted Butter, Soft
- 85g Icing Sugar
2. Scrape down the sides and add in the ground pistachios, ground almonds and cornstarch, then mix again just until combined.
- 130g Ground Pistachios
- 70g Ground Almonds
- 15g Cornstarch/Cornflour
3. Finally pour in the eggs and beat until it is evenly combined.
- 70g Whole Eggs, Room Temperature
4. You will need 320g of mixture so pour the batter into a bowl and weigh the required amount.
5. To make the mixture neat, place an 18cm ring mold onto a baking tray lined with a silicon mat. Scoop the mixture in, and level it so it is smooth with a palette knife. Place this into the freezer for 1-2 hours. You can also place a fève into the mixture (or a whole pistachio) which is very traditional.
6. If you do not have a ring mold, the mixture can just be piped fresh onto the puff pastry. In this case, add it into a piping bag fitted with a large round tip nozzle and refrigerate until your pastry has been rolled out. (Once you have rolled out one portion of the pastry, pipe and even disc, 18 cm wide)
Assembly
1. Remove one batch of inverse puff pastry from the fridge and lightly flouring it, roll it into a rough square shape, around 3-4mm thick. Carefully lift this onto a lined baking tray and place it into the fridge.
2. Roll out the second piece of pastry to the same thickness.
3. Remove the first batch of pastry from the fridge and with it still on the tray, lift the frozen pistachio cream and place the disc into the centre of the pastry.
4. Lightly brush around the disc of pistachio cream with water – do not go to heavy on the water, just enough to moisten is to the pastry sticks together,
5. Lift the second piece of pastry on top, and using your hands, lightly cup around the outside of the cream layer, tucking it so it hugs the filling. This pushes out any trapped air. Ensure the two layers of pastry are firmly sealed together,
6. Finally, take a disc (like the bottom of a tart ring) that is 23cm in diameter, and place this on top. Use a sharp knife/box cutter, cut around this, to create a neat 23cm galette. Use a skewer to prick a few small holes all over it.
7. At this point we want to rest it again, to relax the gluten in the dough and prevent it from shrinking. Ideally this should be refrigerated overnight (covered with cling film) or 1-2 hours.
8. Once it has chilled, prepare the egg wash, whisking together the ingredients.
9. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180C/355F Non-Fan assisted (165C/330 Fan).
10. Remove the galette from the fridge and flip it over, onto a baking tray with a silicon baking mat (or ideally a perforated tray with a perforated mat if you have one) so the smooth side is on top. Brush the egg wash evenly over the surface of the dough. Note – for a deeper, darker finish to your galette, you can apply one layer of egg wash, then refrigerate it for 45m, then add another layer, before proceeding with the scoring.
- 35g Egg Yolk
- 30g Double/Heavy Cream
11. Use a sharp knife to gently score the dough, ensuring you don’t cut through the dough, in a decorative pattern. I use the design below. Once you have completed the scoring, use a skewer, to create 5-8 holes, piercing through the top layer of puff pastry (indicated by the green dots). This will allow the steam to escape.
12. Place the galette into the centre of the oven and bake for 45 minutes, then lower the temperature to 170C/340F non-fan assisted (155/310F fan assisted) and bake for a further 20-30 minutes, or until the galette is a deep golden brown colour.
13. Just before it has finished baking, prepare the hot syrup, by adding the ingredients to a small saucepan, and bringing them to the boil until the sugar has dissolved. Set this to one side.
- 50g Caster Sugar
- 35g Water
14. Once the galette is a deep golden brown colour, remove it from the oven and lift it onto a wire cooling rack. Brush a thin layer of sugar syrup over the top and then allow it to cool for 30 minutes before serving.
Shop the Equipment
Chocolate & Black Sesame Meringue
TIER 2
Chocolate & Black Sesame Meringue
Sticking with the theme of Swiss meringue, we use the same technique as the Île Flottante to make a Swiss-French cocoa meringue and then use a very delicate piping technique to create the perfect cylinder shape. It’s filled with a chocolate brown, black sesame meringue and softly whipped cream. The meringue can be tricky to pipe (I failed more than a few times!), but there is enough mixture in the recipe to have a few practice attempts too.
6
INDIVIDUAL DESSERTS
Ingredients
Makes 6 individual desserts
Chocolate Meringue
100g Egg Whites
100g Caster/White Sugar
Pinch of Cream of Tartar
75g Icing/Powdered Sugar
10g Cocoa Powder
Black Sesame Seeds
Chocolate Brownie
170g Dark Chocolate (70% Cocoa Solids)
85g Unsalted Butter
160g Whole Egg
85g Caster/White Sugar
40g Plain/All-Purpose Flour
Pinch of Flaky Sea Salt
Black Sesame Praline
220g Black Sesame Seeds
90g Caster/White Sugar
15g Water
10-20g Neutral Oil (Groundnut)
Pinch of Flaky Sea Salt
Mascarpone Cream
100g Mascarpone
15g Icing/Powdered Sugar
250g Double/Heavy Cream
½ Fresh Vanilla Pod
Cocoa Powder To Decorate
Special equipment
Silikomart sf098 silicon mold (or similar)
Digital thermometer
Stand mixer
Piping bags
Small leaf tip nozzle
Rotating cake stand/children’s pottery wheel (!)
13×9” baking tray
Silicon mat
High powered food processor
Cookie cutter
Method
Chocolate Meringue
1. Preheat the oven to 80C/175F non-fan assisted.
2. For this design, I used the Silikomart sf098 silicon mold. I use scissors to carefully cut out each cylinder individually, then use a pastry brush and lightly grease them with a neutral oil. Alternatively, you can use a ring mold, that is lightly greased, and then cover it neatly with a sheet of parchment/baking paper.
3. Into the bowl of a stand mixer, add the egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar.
4. Place this over a pan of gently simmering water and whisk constantly until it reaches around 50C (122F) on a digital thermometer.
5. Immediately remove it from the heat and place it onto the stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Whisk for 3-5 minutes on a medium high speed, until it is thick, glossy and holds a stiff peak.
6. Into a medium bowl, sift together the icing/powdered sugar and cocoa powder so that they are evenly combined.
7. Tip this mixture on top of the meringue and incorporate it with a whisk, then gently finish it, by folding it with a spatula until there are no more streaks.
8. Add the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a small leaf tip nozzle.
9. Place the lightly greased cylinder onto a rotating cake stand (you will need help to spin this!) or an electric spinning wheel (I use a child’s clay pottery wheel). Starting at the bottom and applying even pressure, pipe tight lines, slowly moving the nozzle up until the meringue covers the entire cylinder.
10. Place a palette knife carefully underneath the mold and then lift it onto a lined baking tray. Repeat this with the remaining molds – you should have enough meringue to make 6.
11. Pinch a few black sesame seeds in between your finger tips, and flick them onto the meringue so they stick to the outside. We just want a light coating.
12. Place them into the oven and bake for 3 hours. Once the time is up, turn the oven off and open the door and leave them in there to cool for 1-2 hours before attempting to remove them. They need to cool completely and then they will lift off easily. These can also be made a few days ahead of time and stored in an airtight container.
Chocolate Brownie
1. Lightly grease a 13×9” baking tray and line the base and sides with parchment paper. Meanwhile pre-heat the oven to 160C/320F non-fan assisted.
2. Into a medium bowl, add the chocolate and butter. Melt this over a pan of gently simmering water, stirring occasionally, and then remove it from the heat and set it aside to cool for 5 minutes.
3. Into a medium bowl, add the egg, sugar and salt and whisk for 30 seconds to combine.
4. Pour in the melted chocolate mixture and whisk to combine.
5. Add in the flour and whisk just until there are no more streaks of dry ingredients.
6. Pour the batter into the lined tin, spreading it to the edges with a palette knife. Place the tray into the centre of the oven and bake for 8-12 minutes or until the mixture has just set.
7. Remove it from the oven and allow it to cool for 30 minutes, then refrigerate for a minimum of 2-3 hours.
Black Sesame Praline
1. Preheat the oven to 175C/345F.
2. Pour the black sesame seeds onto a baking tray, and roast these for 10 minutes in the pre-heated oven.
3. Remove the tray from the oven and allow them to cool.
4. Into a medium saucepan, add the water followed by the sugar.
5. Place this on a medium heat and cook it until it reaches a deep golden brown colour. If you need to stir it, do this once it has turned a light golden colour.
6. Once a deep golden brown colour, tip in the toasted sesame seeds and stir to combine.
7. Work quickly and immediately tip the mixture onto a silicon baking mat.
8. Add a pinch of flaky salt on top and allow it to set for 30-60 minutes at room temperature or until it has set firm.
9. Break the mixture into a high powdered food processor and blend for 30-60 seconds. Scrape down the sides while still blending, slowly trickle in the neutral oil, just enough until it is a slightly looser texture. You don’t want to add too much oil as this can overpower the taste so use as little as possible. If you have a really high powered food processor you may not need any oil at all, but it will need to be blended for quite some time to get it to a looser consistency.
10. Transfer the smooth mixture to a bowl and set aside.
Assembly & Mascarpone Cream
1. Carefully lift the cooled meringue off of the molds and set them to one side.
2. Remove the brownie from the fridge, and using a cookie cutter, cut discs, about the same size as the hole in your meringue cylinder. I like to stack two discs of meringue together.
3. Carefully press the brownie disc into the bottom of the meringue, then lift it onto your serving plate.
4. Add the black sesame praline to a piping bag, and pipe a small spiral of it on top of the brownie.
5. Finally, add the mascarpone, icing/powdered sugar, cream and beans scraped from a fresh vanilla pod, to the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a whisk attachment. Whisk on a medium speed until it forms medium-soft peaks. Be very careful not to overwhisk this, it needs to be quite a soft texture.
6. Add that mixture to a piping bag fitted with a large round tip nozzle.
7. Pipe the cream into the meringue shell, filling it all the way to the top.
8. Finish with a light dusting of cocoa powder, and then serve immediately.
Danish Cinnamon Roll
TIER 2
Danish Cinnamon Roll
In Tier 2 we take the same dough from Tier 1 and fill it with a cinnamon crème pâtissière instead of a traditional cinnamon butter. Then we bake the rolls with a tray on top for the perfect ‘puck’ shape. The cinnamon glaze to finish gives it an extra cinnamon kick and a crackly texture. Make sure to watch the hand lamination technique from the Tier 1 video, as I don’t cover it again in this video.
8-10
ROLLS
Ingredients
Makes 8-10 Rolls
Danish Pastry Détrempe (Dough)
565g Strong White Bread Flour
30g Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature
14g Instant Dry Yeast
230g Whole Milk
55g Whole Eggs
38g Caster Sugar
12g Sea Salt
Buerrage (Butter Block)
250g Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature
25g Plain/All Purpose Flour
Cinnamon Pastry Cream
45g Dark Brown Sugar
10g Ground Cinnamon
70g Egg Yolks
25g Cornflour/Cornstarch
Pinch of Sea Salt
300g Whole Milk
1 Vanilla Pod
25g Unsalted Butter
Cinnamon Icing
400g Icing Sugar
Whole Milk
1 Vanilla Pod
½ Tsp Cinnamon
Pinch of Fine Sea Salt
Special equipment
10 9cmx4cm ring molds
Stand mixer
Thermometer
Rolling pin
Piping bag
Metre ruler
Method
Danish Dough
1. Into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, add all of the ingredients for the dough. Start with the wet ingredients on the bottom and the dry on top as it makes it easier for everything to incorporate.
2. Knead the mixture on a medium speed, for 6-8 minutes, until the dough feels smooth and elastic, passing the window pane test when you stretch a small piece of the dough. The dough is quite low hydration so initially may look quite dry but should pull together. If it does appear too dry, add up to 20g more milk to help pull it together.
3. Remove the dough from the mixer and briefly knead it on the work surface. Shape it into a rough rectangle, then wrap it in clingfilm, but not too tightly as it will need some room to proof. Place it onto a baking tray and refrigerate overnight. Alternatively if you want to do this whole process in one day, you can chill it for 3 hours.
Buerrage (Butter Block)
1. For the butter block, start by preparing your parchment paper. Take a large sheet, and with a marker, draw a 17.5x20cm square. Flip the paper over so the pen is facing the work surface.
2. Add the butter into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the flour on top, and beat briefly, to combine them and there are no streaks of flour.
3. Scoop the mixture into the centre of the parchment. Wrap the excess parchment around the butter, folding the edges in to match the guides of the neat square you drew. It can help to tape the edges together to stop the parchment paper from moving around or opening up as you roll.
4. Flip it back over and use a rolling pin to roll the butter, pushing it to the edges and creating an even layer of butter across the rectangle of parchment. Place this in the fridge to chill for at least an hour or again, ideally overnight.
Lamination
1. When you are ready to laminate, remove the butter from the fridge, it needs to be 13-14C (55-57F) when you insert a digital thermometer. If it is too cold it will shatter when you start to laminate.
2. Just before it is at temperature, remove the dough from the fridge. Lightly flour it and roll it to just over double the length of the butter, 44cm, but the same width, 17.5cm.
3. The dough will be slightly curved at the top when you roll it out, so I like to trim the dough down, so that it is 40cm in total length. This then gives you a really neat rectangle to fold over your butter.
4. When the butter is at temperature, place it into the centre of the dough and then fold the edges of the dough so they meet in the centre of the butter.
5. Pinch the dough together to form a seam. Using a sharp knife, score the folded edges of the dough.
6. With this seam facing towards you, turn the dough 90 degrees so the seam is now horizontal to your body and give the dough a quick roll, to give it a little bit of width.
7. Turn the dough 90 degrees again so the seam is vertical in line with your body and begin to roll the dough. Working relatively quickly. Apply even pressure and roll the dough into a long even rectangle, flouring very lightly if needed.
8. Don’t focus too much on the length of the rectangle, but more on getting it into an even rectangle that ends up around 5mm thick (0.2”).
9. Once you are happy with the thickness and shape, dust off any excess flour with a brush, and if the ends of the dough have gone a bit wonky, cut them off so you have straight edges on either side.
10. Perform a single fold of the dough, where you take one-third of the dough and fold it up, then take the other third of dough and fold this over the top. This is called a ‘single fold or ‘single turn’.
11. Wrap the dough tightly in cling film, and place it in the freezer for 15 minutes, then into the fridge for 10 minutes.
12. Remove the dough from the fridge, and with the open seam facing you (i.e if you were looking at the dough straight on, you would be able to see where it has been folded over itself), use a sharp knife again, to score the edges of the dough where it is folded.
13. Turn the dough 90 degrees so the open seam is now horizontal to you and give the dough a quick roll, to give it a little bit of width.
14. Turn the dough 90 degrees again so the open seam is facing you again and begin to roll the dough. Roll the dough into a long even rectangle, very very lightly flouring it, just as we did in step 7.
15. Wrap the dough tightly in cling film, and place it in the freezer for 15 minutes, then into the fridge for 10 minutes.
16. Repeat steps 12-14 one more time, completing 3 single folds in total. Chill the dough in the fridge for 1 hour.
Cinnamon Pastry Cream
1. Into a medium bowl add the sugar, salt, cornflour/cornstarch and egg yolks. Whisk together for about 30 seconds, then set this to one side.
2. Meanwhile in a medium saucepan, add the milk and beans scraped from a vanilla pod. Place it over a medium heat and whisk occasionally until it is steaming.
3. Slowly pour the hot milk mixture over the egg yolks and whisk to combine.
4. Pour the mixture back into the pan and cook it over a medium heat, whisking constantly. Once it thickens and begins to bubble, keep cooking it for a further minute.
5. Remove it from the heat and pass it through a sieve into a clean bowl. Add in the butter and whisk to combine. Cover the surface with cling film and refrigerate for at least an hour.
Danish Dough (Continued)
1. Remove the pastry cream from the fridge and whisk it for 1-2 minutes until it is smooth. Add it into a piping bag and set it to one side.
2. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and place 8-10 lightly greased ring molds (9x4cm)
3. Lightly flour the chilled dough, and use a sharp knife to score the folded edges of the dough to release the tension.
4. Roll the dough out, so that it is roughly 27-30cm tall, and 8-10mm thick. Don’t worry about the length.
5. Once you are at the correct thickness, trim the edges of the dough so you are left with a rectangle that is 25cm tall.
6. Then cut the rectangle into 3cm wide strips.
7. Cut quite a large hole in the end of the piping bag, and pipe a thick line of the pastry cream down the entire length of each strip of dough.
8. Roll the dough on itself but not too tightly, then carefully place them into the ring molds.
9. Place the tray into the oven, switched off, and place a small cup of boiling water in the bottom. Change this every 30-45 minutes, proofing the twists until they have puffed up and the layers appear to be separating slightly. It can take 3-4 hours, but don’t worry too much about overproofing them as the dough is resilient. Once it is ready, it should have risen to the edges of the ring molds, with the layers looking like they are separating slightly.
10. Remove them from the oven and pre-heat it to 185C/365F fan assisted.
11. Place a silicon mat or piece of parchment paper on top and then 2-3 heavy trays on top. This will prevent the dough from rising out of the ring molds.
12. Once the oven is hot, load the trays into the oven, and immediately drop the oven temperature to 170C/340F. Bake the danishes for 35-40 minutes. Try to avoid removing the trays on top too soon, so try and look in the oven and see what colour the dough looks like. It should be a deep golden brown colour once they are baked.
13. Remove them from the oven, and remove the ring molds. Flip them over and place them onto a wire rack to cool slightly.
Cinnamon Icing
1. Into a large bowl, add the icing/powdered sugar, salt, beans from a fresh vanilla pod and cinnamon. Slowly start adding milk and whisk the mixture, adding enough milk until you have a runny, glue-like consistency.
2. Keep the danishes on a wire rack, but place a tray underneath.
3. Pour the glaze over the top of each danish, coating them completely. If you need, scoop up the excess glaze from the tray underneath, and re-use it to glaze any remaining danishes.
4. Place them back into the oven, just for 1-2 minutes, until the glaze goes slightly transparent.
5. Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool for a few minutes then serve.
Note – the process can be quite long, that you end up finishing the danishes quite late which is not the ideal time to eat them (!). What I like to do is to bake the danishes, then wrap the tray tightly once they are cool and leave them at room temperature overnight. The next morning, I heat the oven to 175C/345F and just place them back in for 3-5 minutes, until they feel hot to the touch, then glaze them.
Alternatively you can freeze them once baked, and then just reheat them for longer in the oven (8-15 minutes).
Shop the Equipment
Ingredients
140g unsalted butter
185g egg whites
90g ground almonds
185g powdered/icing sugar
90g self-rising/self-raising flour
2g lemon zest
1⁄2 fresh vanilla bean pod or 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
125g blueberries
lightly toasted flaked almonds, for topping
Special equipment
Oval silicone/metal mold pan
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 320°F/160°C.
2. In a small saucepan on the stovetop over low heat, melt the butter. Remove the
saucepan from the heat and allow the butter to cool for 5 minutes.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg whites for 30 seconds or until frothy.
4. Add the ground almonds, powdered/icing sugar and lemon zest. Cut the vanilla bean
lengthways and using the knife to scrape out half of the beans, add these into the
bowl. Whisk until combined.
5. Place a sieve over the medium bowl and sift in the flour. Whisk until the flour has just
been absorbed, about 30 seconds.
6. Add the melted butter and whisk until there are no more streaks of butter.
7. Gently fold the blueberries into the batter.
8. Pour the batter into the cups of an oval silicone/metal mold pan (or the cups of a
cupcake pan/tin) and fill the cups about three-fourths full. Sprinkle a few flaked
almonds over the top of each cup.
9. Place the pan in the oven and bake for 25 or 30 minutes or until the financiers have a
nice golden colour.
10. Remove the pan from the oven and allow the financiers to cool for 5 minutes before
removing them from the pan. Serve while still warm or allow them to cool completely
and then serve later.
Lemon & White Chocolate Tarts
TIER 2
Lemon & White Chocolate Tart
For Tier 2, we use the same lemon filling as Tier 1, but instead of baking it we cook it like a curd. It sits on top of an almond mirliton, with a secret layer of zingy lemon confit, topped with a stunning white chocolate namelaka which is piped using a basket weave nozzle. Because we cook the lemon filling like a curd, it has a slightly softer texture, more like a cremeux which contrasts all the textures in the tart really well.
4
INDIVIDUAL TARTS
Ingredients
Makes 4 individual tarts
White Chocolate Namelaka
3g Powdered Gelatin (250 Bloom) + 18g Cold Water OR 1 Sheet of Leaf Gelatin
100g Whole Milk
10g Glucose or Honey
185g White Chocolate, Melted
200g Double/Heavy Cream, Cold
Lemon Confit
8g Lemon Zest
130g Lemon Juice
65g Caster/White Sugar
Lemon Sweet Pastry
100g Unsalted Butter, Cold & Cubed
70g Icing/Powdered Sugar, Sifted
Pinch of Fine Sea Salt
Zest ½ Lemon
50g Egg Yolk
200g Plain, All Purpose Flour
Egg Wash
40g Egg Yolk
10g Double/Heavy Cream
Lemon Filling
80g Whole Eggs
60g Egg Yolks
115g Caster/ White Sugar
100g Double/Heavy Cream
3g Lemon Zest
75g Lemon Juice
20g Unsalted Butter, Cold & Cubed (Optional)
Roasted Almond Mirliton
105g Unsalted Butter
85g Roasted Almond Powder
85g Icing/Powdered Sugar
110g Egg Whites
½ Fresh Vanilla Pod
Zest ½ Lemon
Special equipment
Hand blender
Stand mixer
2 silicon mats (optional)
4 4-inch perforated tart rings
Multi-wheel pastry cutter (optional)
Digital thermometer
Piping bags
Basket weave nozzle
Rotating cake stand (optional)
Method
White Chocolate Namelaka
1. Into a small dish, add the powdered gelatin and cold water. Stir them together and allow it to bloom for 10 minutes at room temperature. If using leaf gelatin, soak this in a bowl of cold water.
2. Melt the white chocolate in a bowl over a pan of gently simmering water, and then set this to one side.
3. Meanwhile, add the milk and glucose/honey to a small saucepan. Stir it occasionally over a medium heat, until it is steaming and the glucose has dissolved.
4. Scoop in the bloom gelatin (or squeeze the excess water from the leaf gelatin and drop this in). Stir it together until the gelatin has completely dissolved.
5. Pour the hot milk mixture over the melted white chocolate in three parts, stirring in tight circles in the centre with a rubber spatula, to emulsify the mixture. Initially it will look slightly split but it will pull together.
6. Finally, pour in the cold cream and blend it with a hand blender, until smooth. Cover the surface with cling film and refrigerate overnight or a minimum of 6 hours.
Lemon Confit
1. Add the lemon zest into a small saucepan, and cover with cold water. Bring the mixture to the boil, then immediately pass it through a sieve. Repeat this two more times, to remove the bitterness from the zest.
2. Add the blanched zest, lemon juice and sugar into a saucepan, and note the total weight of the ingredients in the pan, on a digital scale.
3. Place the pan on a medium low heat, and simmer until the total weight of the pan has reduced by around 100g.
4. Pour the mixture into a small dish, covered with clingfilm and refrigerate overnight.
Lemon Sweet Pastry
1. Into the bowl of a stand mixer, add the butter, icing sugar, salt and lemon zest. With the paddle attachment, beat the mixture for 2-3 minutes, scraping it down a few times in between, until you have a smooth paste.
2. Add in the egg yolks, and beat again, until the mixture is evenly combined, you will need to scrape down the bowl a few times again.
3. Tip in the flour, and use a rubber spatula to scrape the bottom of the bowl to make sure the butter doesn’t get stuck. Scrape the sides, and then mix on a low speed until it pulls together to form a dough.
4. Scoop the dough out onto your work surface, and give it a quick knead just to bring it together.
5. Place the dough onto a large silicon mat. Place a second silicon mat on top and roll the mixture into a rough circle, getting it as thin as possible (around 3-5mm). If you don’t have silicon mats you can roll the dough between parchment paper but it will be very difficult as it will slip and slide all over the place!
6. Once you have a rough circle of dough, place it into the freezer for 30m.
7. Once chilled, remove it from the freezer and working quickly, peel the silicon mat off of the dough. Take 2 of the 4” perforated ring molds (very lightly greased with soft butter) and press these into the dough.
8. Lift them up and place them onto a perforated tray lined with a perforated baking mat.
9. Using a multi-wheel pastry cutter (or a ruler and a sharp knife) cut 2 long strips of dough, ensuring the width is slightly more than the height of your tart shells. Take the strip of dough and place it inside the tart ring, using your fingers to carefully press the walls against the base of the pastry. If at any point you feel the pastry is getting too warm, place it in the freezer for 5-10 minutes then carry on. Place the tarts into the freezer for 30 minutes.
10. Take the spare dough and form it back into a dough ball. Repeat steps 5-8 to make two more tart shells.
11. Preheat the oven to 175C/345F Non-fan assisted (160C fan-assisted).
12. Use a knife to trim the excess pastry from the tart rings so it is flush, then place the tarts into the centre of the oven for around 20 minutes, or until they are a light golden brown colour.
13. Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing the tart rings.
14. Mix the egg wash ingredients together and use a pastry brush to paint this over the entire surface of the tart shells. Place them back into the oven and bake for a further 5-10 minutes, until the tarts are a deep golden brown colour. Set aside to cool.
Lemon Filling
1. Into a medium saucepan, add all of the ingredients for the lemon filling, excluding the butter.
2. Whisk it constantly over a medium heat, until it reaches a temperature of 82-84C (179-183F) on a digital thermometer.
3. Immediately remove it from the heat and pass it through a sieve, into a tall measuring jug.
4. Add in the cold butter and blend until smooth with a hand blender.
5. Pour the mixture onto a baking tray and cover the surface with clingfilm. Refrigerate it for 1-2 hours (or longer) until it is a thicker, more pipeable consistency.
Almond Mirliton
1. Into a small saucepan, add the butter and over a medium heat, until it has melted. Remove it from the heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
2. Add the remaining ingredients into a medium bowl and whisk to combine, before pouring in the melted butter and whisking to combine.
3. Cover the surface of the mixture with cling film and refrigerate for 1 hour. Meanwhile, set the oven to 160C/320F non-fan assisted (145C fan-assisted).
4. Once it has cooled, pipe the mixture into the tart shells, filling them up just above ¾ full. If you want you can also sprinkle some toasted flaked almonds on.
5. Place the tarts into the centre of the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until it is a golden colour on top. Allow to cool for 30 minutes at room temperature.
Assembly
1. Remove the lemon confit from the fridge which should now be a thicker, marmalade like consistency.
2. Pipe a few dollops onto the top of the cooled tart, and spread this to the edges with the back of a spoon. It is quite sharp so you don’t need to overload the tart.
3. Remove the white chocolate namelaka from the fridge and add into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Whisk on a medium speed until the mixture holds a medium stiff peak.
4. Add it into a piping bag fitted with a basket weave nozzle.
5. Place the tart into the centre of a rotating cake stand and holding the piping bag at about a 60 degree angle, apply even pressure, then push the nozzle slightly forward to create an initial ruffle of buttercream, before pulling it back to fold the buttercream over itself. Continue this motion in one direction without stopping so the folds connect smoothly, creating an even, continuous ruffle/weave. Because of the type of nozzle it is a little difficult to join the lines up seamlessly, so you just have to neatly pull the piping bag away to create a tail.
6. Remove the lemon filling from the fridge and add this into a piping bag, pipe it into the centre of the tart, filling it just below the rim of the cream.
7. They are now ready to serve.
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