Paris-Brest
A classic choux pastry filled with whipped chocolate ganache and a praline mascarpone mousse
Ingredients
Method
Pour the powdered gelatin into a small saucepan along with the cold water. It's very important here to use platinum gelatin (which refers to the bloom of the gelatin) and to measure the water precisely. Allow to sit in the pan for 10m to bloom.
- 4.5g Powdered Gelatin (Platinum Strength)
- 27g Cold Water
After 10m, place the cream into a medium saucepan. Meanwhile, place the saucepan of gelatin over a very LOW heat. We just need to melt the bloomed gelatin, not boil it. So as soon as it has melted turn the heat off.
- 570g Double/Heavy Cream
Once the cream is hot and steaming (but not boiling), pour the melted gelatin in, whisk it together very quickly, then immediately pour this mixture over the finely chopped chocolate. It is best to have the chocolate in a tall jug so that you can blend it with a hand blender but if not, just have it in a bowl.
- 130g 70% Dark Chocolate
Blend the chocolate mixture for 30s if you have a stick blender, otherwise, allow it to sit for 2m then whisk it together until smooth.
Place cling film on the surface of the cream and chill it in the fridge for 4 hours or ideally overnight.
This recipe uses roasted hazelnuts. If you buy hazelnuts with skins on that are not roasted,
simply place them on a tray in the oven, pre-heated to 175C/250F, for 8-10 minutes.
Immediately remove them from the oven and wrap them in a tea towel, letting them sit for 5
minutes. After 5 minutes, rub the tea towel together to remove as many of the skins as
possible. Remove the hazelnuts from the tea towel, leaving behind the hazelnut skins. Place the
skinned, roasted hazelnuts into a bowl.
Into a medium saucepan, add the sugar & water. Place it on a medium heat, and cook
the mixture until it reaches 110C/230F on a digital thermometer.
- 200g Caster Sugar
- 60g Water
Once at 110C/230F, pour in the hazelnuts, salt and vanilla pod. Stir constantly with a
wooden spoon. The mixture will initially look quite crystalised but keep stirring for 5-6
minutes until the sugar has melted and you have a deep golden caramel surrounding the
nuts. Immediately pour the mixture onto a silicon mat and allow it to cool completely for
30 minutes.
- 300g Roasted Hazelnuts
- 2g Salt
- ½ Vanilla Pod or 1 Tsp Vanilla Bean Paste
After 30m, the praline should be completely cool and solid to the touch. Break it into
pieces and add it into a high powered food processor. Blend for 4 minutes, scraping it
down every so often, until you have a smooth, nutty paste.
Add the powdered gelatin to a small saucepan along with the cold water and allow it to bloom for 10m.
- 3.5g Powdered Gelatin (Platinum Strength)
- 21g Cold Water
Place the first part of cream into a medium saucepan and place it on a medium heat.
- 100g Double/Heavy Cream
Once the cream is hot, pour it into a very large, tall jug and using a hand blender, blend in the mascarpone until smooth. Then pour in the hazelnut praline paste you made earlier and blend again. If you don't have a tall jug to blend this all in, you can also use a large bowl and whisk it by hand.
- 150g Mascarpone
- 275g Hazelnut Praline Paste
Gently melt the bloomed gelatin over a low heat until it has just melted. Pour this into the mixture along with the second part of cream. Blend or whisk together until smooth then cover with a sheet of cling film. Leave in the fridge for a minimum of 4 hours or overnight.
- 500g Double/Heavy Cream
Into the bowl of a stand mixer, add the soft butter and sugar. Beat on a medium speed for 2m, scraping down the bowl halfway until it forms a paste.
- 145g Soft Unsalted Butter
- 180g Light Brown Sugar
Tip in the flour an mix on a low speed until the mixture begins to crumble together.
- 180g Plain, All Purpose Flour
Remove the mixture from the bowl and split it into 3 equal balls. Roll each ball between two pieces of parchment or silicon mats and place them flat in the freezer for 30m.
Place the water, milk, butter, salt & sugar into a medium saucepan. Place it on a medium heat until it reaches a gentle boil.
- 125g Water
- 125g Whole Milk
- 100g Unsalted Butter
- 3g Salt
- 2g Sugar
Once it reaches a boil, sieve in the flour and keeping the pan on a medium heat, beat it constantly with a wooden spoon for 2-2.5m. The mixture should appear slightly drier.
- 150g Strong White Bread Flour or T55 Flour
Tip the mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on a low speed to cool the dough - about 2m, or until it reached 45C on a digital thermometer (roughly)
Once the dough has cooled slightly, increased speed of the mixer to low/medium and slowly pour in the whisked eggs, just a little at a time. Once you have poured in one addition, allow them to fully incorporate before pouring the next addition of egg. Pour it in about 5 parts. You should have quite a creamy looking choux dough.
Pre heat the oven to 175C/350F Non-Fan Assisted.
Place the choux pastry into a piping bag fitted with a 4B or any star tip nozzle. A good tip is to dip a 3.5" cookie cutter in a little cocoa powder and stamp circle over your baking mat so that you have a guide to pipe along. Create roughly 4/5 stencils per tray leaving enough room for them to expand in the oven.
Apply very firm and even pressure to the piping bag and pipe little circle of dough across your baking tray. I prefer to bake just one tray at a time, so with any spare dough, I pipe them onto small squares of parchment and place them in the freezer!
Use a wet finger to smooth the edges where the piping of the choux joins up.
Remove the craquelin from the freezer and peel off the parchment paper. Allow it to warm up for just a minute as it will be easier to cut, but work quickly after that otherwise it cold melt! Use a cookie cutter to cut a donut shape out of the craquelin - the craquelin should be ever so slightly bigger that the ring of choux you piped so that when you lift it on top, you cannot see any choux poking out. Cover all of the choux rings with craquelin.
Open the oven and splash 3 tbsp of water in the bottom to generate some steam. Immediately place the choux in the oven. Bake for 43-45m or until a nice deep golden colour. Do not be tempted to open the oven during baking all the choux could collapse. Once they have baked remove them from the oven and allow to cool.
Take the cooled choux rings and use a serrated knife to cut them in half.
Place the remaining praline paste into a piping bag and drizzle a small amount on the bottom of the choux. Sprinkle a few chopped hazelnuts in there too.
Remove the whipped chocolate ganache from the fridge and whisk it by hand. It may initially be a little stiff but whisk it until you have loosened it, but it still holds a medium peak. Place it into a piping bag fitted with a round tip nozzle.
Pipe a ring of the whipped ganache into the centre of the base of the choux.
Remove the praline mascarpone mousse from the fridge and whisk by hand until you have medium stiff peaks. The gelatin should stabilise it so that you don't over whip it, but if you do just fold in a little more double/heavy cream and that will bring it back. Place the mousse into a piping bag fitted with a start tip nozzle.
Pipe arches of mousse of the the ring of chocolate ganache at a slightly angle. Start from the outside and then pipe into the centre. Pipe all around the choux until the chocolate ring is completely covered. Use a palette knife just to smooth the inside of the choux where there is a slight build up of excess praline mousse
Take the top half of the choux and dust it lightly with icing sugar. Pipe a ring of praline around the outside and decorate it with a few hazelnut halves and some hazelnut skins. Add some gold leaf if you have it. Place the top ring of choux on top of the piped praline mousse and serve.
Ingredients
Directions
Pour the powdered gelatin into a small saucepan along with the cold water. It's very important here to use platinum gelatin (which refers to the bloom of the gelatin) and to measure the water precisely. Allow to sit in the pan for 10m to bloom.
- 4.5g Powdered Gelatin (Platinum Strength)
- 27g Cold Water
After 10m, place the cream into a medium saucepan. Meanwhile, place the saucepan of gelatin over a very LOW heat. We just need to melt the bloomed gelatin, not boil it. So as soon as it has melted turn the heat off.
- 570g Double/Heavy Cream
Once the cream is hot and steaming (but not boiling), pour the melted gelatin in, whisk it together very quickly, then immediately pour this mixture over the finely chopped chocolate. It is best to have the chocolate in a tall jug so that you can blend it with a hand blender but if not, just have it in a bowl.
- 130g 70% Dark Chocolate
Blend the chocolate mixture for 30s if you have a stick blender, otherwise, allow it to sit for 2m then whisk it together until smooth.
Place cling film on the surface of the cream and chill it in the fridge for 4 hours or ideally overnight.
This recipe uses roasted hazelnuts. If you buy hazelnuts with skins on that are not roasted,
simply place them on a tray in the oven, pre-heated to 175C/250F, for 8-10 minutes.
Immediately remove them from the oven and wrap them in a tea towel, letting them sit for 5
minutes. After 5 minutes, rub the tea towel together to remove as many of the skins as
possible. Remove the hazelnuts from the tea towel, leaving behind the hazelnut skins. Place the
skinned, roasted hazelnuts into a bowl.
Into a medium saucepan, add the sugar & water. Place it on a medium heat, and cook
the mixture until it reaches 110C/230F on a digital thermometer.
- 200g Caster Sugar
- 60g Water
Once at 110C/230F, pour in the hazelnuts, salt and vanilla pod. Stir constantly with a
wooden spoon. The mixture will initially look quite crystalised but keep stirring for 5-6
minutes until the sugar has melted and you have a deep golden caramel surrounding the
nuts. Immediately pour the mixture onto a silicon mat and allow it to cool completely for
30 minutes.
- 300g Roasted Hazelnuts
- 2g Salt
- ½ Vanilla Pod or 1 Tsp Vanilla Bean Paste
After 30m, the praline should be completely cool and solid to the touch. Break it into
pieces and add it into a high powered food processor. Blend for 4 minutes, scraping it
down every so often, until you have a smooth, nutty paste.
Add the powdered gelatin to a small saucepan along with the cold water and allow it to bloom for 10m.
- 3.5g Powdered Gelatin (Platinum Strength)
- 21g Cold Water
Place the first part of cream into a medium saucepan and place it on a medium heat.
- 100g Double/Heavy Cream
Once the cream is hot, pour it into a very large, tall jug and using a hand blender, blend in the mascarpone until smooth. Then pour in the hazelnut praline paste you made earlier and blend again. If you don't have a tall jug to blend this all in, you can also use a large bowl and whisk it by hand.
- 150g Mascarpone
- 275g Hazelnut Praline Paste
Gently melt the bloomed gelatin over a low heat until it has just melted. Pour this into the mixture along with the second part of cream. Blend or whisk together until smooth then cover with a sheet of cling film. Leave in the fridge for a minimum of 4 hours or overnight.
- 500g Double/Heavy Cream
Into the bowl of a stand mixer, add the soft butter and sugar. Beat on a medium speed for 2m, scraping down the bowl halfway until it forms a paste.
- 145g Soft Unsalted Butter
- 180g Light Brown Sugar
Tip in the flour an mix on a low speed until the mixture begins to crumble together.
- 180g Plain, All Purpose Flour
Remove the mixture from the bowl and split it into 3 equal balls. Roll each ball between two pieces of parchment or silicon mats and place them flat in the freezer for 30m.
Place the water, milk, butter, salt & sugar into a medium saucepan. Place it on a medium heat until it reaches a gentle boil.
- 125g Water
- 125g Whole Milk
- 100g Unsalted Butter
- 3g Salt
- 2g Sugar
Once it reaches a boil, sieve in the flour and keeping the pan on a medium heat, beat it constantly with a wooden spoon for 2-2.5m. The mixture should appear slightly drier.
- 150g Strong White Bread Flour or T55 Flour
Tip the mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on a low speed to cool the dough - about 2m, or until it reached 45C on a digital thermometer (roughly)
Once the dough has cooled slightly, increased speed of the mixer to low/medium and slowly pour in the whisked eggs, just a little at a time. Once you have poured in one addition, allow them to fully incorporate before pouring the next addition of egg. Pour it in about 5 parts. You should have quite a creamy looking choux dough.
Pre heat the oven to 175C/350F Non-Fan Assisted.
Place the choux pastry into a piping bag fitted with a 4B or any star tip nozzle. A good tip is to dip a 3.5" cookie cutter in a little cocoa powder and stamp circle over your baking mat so that you have a guide to pipe along. Create roughly 4/5 stencils per tray leaving enough room for them to expand in the oven.
Apply very firm and even pressure to the piping bag and pipe little circle of dough across your baking tray. I prefer to bake just one tray at a time, so with any spare dough, I pipe them onto small squares of parchment and place them in the freezer!
Use a wet finger to smooth the edges where the piping of the choux joins up.
Remove the craquelin from the freezer and peel off the parchment paper. Allow it to warm up for just a minute as it will be easier to cut, but work quickly after that otherwise it cold melt! Use a cookie cutter to cut a donut shape out of the craquelin - the craquelin should be ever so slightly bigger that the ring of choux you piped so that when you lift it on top, you cannot see any choux poking out. Cover all of the choux rings with craquelin.
Open the oven and splash 3 tbsp of water in the bottom to generate some steam. Immediately place the choux in the oven. Bake for 43-45m or until a nice deep golden colour. Do not be tempted to open the oven during baking all the choux could collapse. Once they have baked remove them from the oven and allow to cool.
Take the cooled choux rings and use a serrated knife to cut them in half.
Place the remaining praline paste into a piping bag and drizzle a small amount on the bottom of the choux. Sprinkle a few chopped hazelnuts in there too.
Remove the whipped chocolate ganache from the fridge and whisk it by hand. It may initially be a little stiff but whisk it until you have loosened it, but it still holds a medium peak. Place it into a piping bag fitted with a round tip nozzle.
Pipe a ring of the whipped ganache into the centre of the base of the choux.
Remove the praline mascarpone mousse from the fridge and whisk by hand until you have medium stiff peaks. The gelatin should stabilise it so that you don't over whip it, but if you do just fold in a little more double/heavy cream and that will bring it back. Place the mousse into a piping bag fitted with a start tip nozzle.
Pipe arches of mousse of the the ring of chocolate ganache at a slightly angle. Start from the outside and then pipe into the centre. Pipe all around the choux until the chocolate ring is completely covered. Use a palette knife just to smooth the inside of the choux where there is a slight build up of excess praline mousse
Take the top half of the choux and dust it lightly with icing sugar. Pipe a ring of praline around the outside and decorate it with a few hazelnut halves and some hazelnut skins. Add some gold leaf if you have it. Place the top ring of choux on top of the piped praline mousse and serve.