Peanut praline Paris-brest

Hello,

It has been about of month of writing recipes again, and I have been both touched and surprised by the reception. I know some of you are asking for recipes from the previous blog, and I will do my best to get them on here with time.

One of the pastries I loved from the old “More Than Sweet” archive was the parsnip milk Paris-Brest. I am not sure how many of you actually ever gave the parsnip milk a go, but I will be posting it again sometime and hope by then at least one or two of you will trust me enough to make it.

But for now, I will give you a slightly more classic variation of the famous choux ring named for the oldest cycling event dating back to the 1890’s.

My recipe uses roasted black peanuts, but feel free to swap out for roasted hazelnuts, walnuts, pistachios or seeds like sunflower or sesame. They will all work deliciously in the praline cream.

Now I know the classic way to go is a buttery creme mousseline, but while I do love the stability of the mousseline, I tend to find the copious amounts of butter too heavy for my taste. And well, its my party and I can do what ti want to, so I went for 1/3 butter to 2/3 whipped cream in my filling.

Peanut praline Paris-Brest

Makes 12

Black peanut praline
320g black peanut butter (or regular peanut butter)
200g sugar

Black peanut cream
250g peanut praline paste
400g whole milk
4 large eggs
175g sugar
30g corn starch
100g butter at room temperature
200g heavy cream

Make a dry caramel, pour onto silpat or parchment paper to set. When fully hardened, grind to a fine powder in a food processor. Add peanut butter and process to a fine praline paste.

Mix 150g of sugar with the eggs and corn starch and whisk to combine. Heat the remaining sugar with the milk until steaming hot, pour 1/4 of the hot milk over the eggs while whisking. Add the rest of the milk and whisk thoroughly to combine. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat until the pastry cream thickens and begins to bubble. Cook for another 2 minutes to fully cook the starch. Remove from heat, scrape into a bowl and mix with the praline paste. Leave to cool to room temperature.

Add the praline cream to a stand mixer and whisk in the softened butter a little at a time until fully incorporated. Transfer to a bowl, cover with clingfilm and refrigerate until cool.

Keemun black tea poached pears

4 large firm, but ripe pears
200g sugar
2 Tbsp. Keemun black tea leaves
750ml water

Add water, sugar and tea to a large saucepan and warm over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Peel, core and half the pears, add them to the warm syrup and cover with a piece of parchment with a small whole in the centre to form a kind of lid directly on the pears. Simmer the pears for 15 minutes, or until tender. Remove from heat and leave to cool in the poaching liquid.

Choux

75g water
55g milk
50g butter
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
70g strong bread flour
100-120g eggs
Icing sugar

Sieve flour at least twice.

Heat water, milk, butter, salt and sugar until butter is melted. Bring to a boil, remove from heat and stir in the flour until smooth. Return to the heat and cook for 1-2 minutes while stirring constantly until the mixture is smooth and comes together and a dry film forms on the bottom of the pan.

Transfer the dough to a bowl and leave to cool for 10 minutes.

Whisk together the eggs in a separate bowl. Beat a little of the eggs in at a time, you might not need it all. The batter should be glossy and dropping of the spatula in a V-shape.

Transfer the paste to a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle and pipe 12 x 6cm diameter choux rings on 2 baking trays lined with parchment.

I dip a tart ring in flour and stamp flour circles on the parchment but you can also draw the rings on the parchment before flipping it over and piping on top.

Dust the choux rings with icing sugar.

Bake the choux rings at 220C for 10 minutes, turn the oven down to 170C and bake for another 15-20 minutes, until the choux rings are golden brown. Crack open the oven door and leave them in the oven to cool for 15 minutes before removing from the oven to cool on a wire rack.

Assembly

Cut the pears in small cubes.

Whisk the cooled praline cream lightly. Whip the cold heavy cream to soft peaks, fold into the praline cream and transfer to a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle.

Cut the choux buns in half and drizzle the remaining peanut praline paste into the bottom halves. Place cubes of poached pear on top of the praline paste and pipe the peanut praline cream over the pears. Place the top of the choux rings over the praline cream and dust with icing sugar.

These are best within a couple of hours after assembly, but the individual components can be kept for 1-2 days. Just reheat the choux rings for 5 min at 170C before filling.