Crème Brûlée

Crème brûlée is one of my favourite desserts. Unfortunately when you order it at a restaurant it's often  dissapointing and far too big. This is my best recipe and has never failed me. 

The best part about this recipe is that the custard isn't too thick or overly rich. I like mine to still have a bit of a wobble and not be like eating baked clotted cream. 

It's the same custard recipe as the best-dessert-I've-ever-made. So if it's summer and the sun is shining in your part of the world, perhaps consider that version.

But right now, I want caramel.

I love my little blowtorch from Migros. Watching it work on meringue or sugar is mesmerising. I often sprinkle sugar over half a pink grapefruit and brûlée that. Partly because it tastes good and partly because it's fun.

About half an hour after pulling the custards out of the oven, I couldn't wait any more. I took one without chilling it, chucked some caster sugar on it and went to town with the blowtorch. 

While it was worth it at the time, do chill them and use granulated (caster seems to melt too quickly and then burn but that might have been my overenthusiasm). However good they are at first, they're just so much better later. Trust me. 

The next day I had to photograph one again after slightly burning the first. So - oh how awful is the life of a food blogger - I got to eat one at 3pm in the afternoon as a random snack. I still desperately didn't want to share with mum but somehow managed to hand over a slightly meagre half. 

There's nothing quite like smashing through a beautiful layer of caramel into gorgeous custard. I love the  gradation from warm at the top from the torching to still slightly chilled (not too cold, that upsets me) at the bottom...

I like my crème brûlée with plenty of  real vanilla. If I get to the bottom and it's not full of seeds, I will not be impressed. 

So yes, I do have a lot of opinions about crème brûlée. 

Do try this if you have a blowtorch. If you don't, I really would recommend one. Even if just for this. 

Crème brûlée

(adapted from Annie Bell's Gorgeous Desserts)

3 egg yolks

1 1/2 tbsp sugar (I use vanilla caster)

1/2 to 2/3 vanilla pod

300ml whipping/double cream (not too thick)

Preheat the oven to 160C/140C (fan). Place four small-medium ramekins into a small roasting tray. Put the kettle on to boil. Chop the pod into 1/2 inch chunks with a knife or scissors. Put in the bowl of a food processor along with the rest of the ingredients. Blend until the pod seems finely chopped and the seeds are distributed throughout the mixture.  Pour through a sieve into a jug. Pour into the ramekins, trying to evenly distribute between them. Place the tray into the oven and pour hot water from the kettle into the roasting tray carefully up to 1/2 way up the sides, avoiding it splashing into the ramekins. 

 Bake until they still wobble when shaken but are set and have a golden crust - about 50 minutes. Remove from the water to a rack and cool. When room temperature, place into the fridge for at least four hours (I've kept them in the fridge for up to 3 days).

When ready to brûlée, take them out onto the side for 5 minutes to take the proper chill off them before you start. Sprinkle about a tbsp of granulated sugar over the crust, spreading it evenly and making sure it reaches the sides. Fire up your blowtorch and start melting the sugar - I do one side then twist it 180 degrees. Keep going until it's deep golden brown and bubbling. Leave to cool for a few minutes so the pool of caramel sets then serve. 

(Makes 4, easily scaled up)

Panna Cotta and Florentine Roses

Once upon a time in 2009, I wrote a post about Strawberry and Dark Chocolate Panna Cotta Shots. It was my sixth post. As I had tried the whole layering-in-a-glass thing then, I decided to try unmoulding my panna cotta for this challenge.

I have to admit that I screwed up the panna cotta part of this challenge and didn't try it again. I must have got my sheet gelatine conversions wrong because it was like rubber. I will defnitely try making it again at some point in the future as I like panna cotta.

The roses didn't come out quite how I wanted them but I'm pleased they're at least recognisable as roses. To make them I spread the batter thinly over a baking sheet and then baked it like that. When it came out of the oven and was still hot I used heart shaped cutters in two sizes to cut out petals and then constructed the roses from those. Another time I would spread the batter even thinner in the middle as it was a bit greasy and thick. 

The recipe pdf is on the main DK page here.

The February 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies.

Macarons

Nothing has made me feel worse in the kitchen than macarons. I know they have plagued many a home baker but I thought I would tell my story anyway.

I am a perfectionist. Sometimes this is a great asset and serves me very well but often it just produces crushing dissapointment. Oxford is a punishing place to be a perfectionist. It just isn't possible - something had to give, and that was my confidence. I will be very happy when I finally finish at the beginning of June. Don't get me wrong - I love my degree and tutors and Oxford is a lovely place in many ways - but it has been tough for me. 

I decided to tell you about my macaron failures (and even publish the awful pictures) as part of a plan to accept them and to be kinder to myself. I can strive for my best, but I need to stop beating myself up about failure in all parts of my life. Learning to bake should be a process of accepting failures and faults and understanding them so you can improve.

I first tasted a macaron sitting on the sides of the Arc de Triomphe in blazing sunshine. It was September 2009 and my housemate Sarah and I were on a trip to Paris. We had picked up a box each (above, though this was Sarah's) from Ladurée and after a slow walk up the rest of the Champs-Élysées we settled down to our tasting.

They were delicious, but I have to admit I had expected more after the hype. They're not my favourite pastry to eat. 

The photo below shows my first ever batter resting before baking. It was last April and I decided that I finally had gathered enough courage and information to attempt a batch. A few days before I had admitted in this first blog birthday post that I wanted to train as a pastry chef. Now, surely, I had to show that I could do it and make macarons. 

I bought special powdered food colouring for my berry macarons and flew it home. After much deliberation, I chose to make them through the French meringue technique as I wasn't experienced with Italian. I looked through many recipes until I decided to try Tartlelette's recipe from her useful guide. I was so excited - surely they would be pulled out of the oven with a flourish looking just like Helen's. 

A lot of hope rested on them as I placed them in the oven.

Would you like to see what I pulled out? It still pains me. 

Later that day I tried again with another batter, below. I have to admit that I cried - despite the slight improvement. I know it's pathetic to cry over a deformed macaron - especially only on your second attempt - but I did. 

Mum pointed out that some of them look like human cheek cells, complete with cell wall and a nucleus. She always knows how to bring a smile back to my face. 

Two more botched bright pink batches later, I tried a plain batter with no colour or flavouring. These came out mildly better again, with more compact feet. Yet still they were nowhere near what I wanted. For the first time I bothered to fill them with some raspberry puree mixed with yogurt. They were too sweet even with the filling. 

At this point, Mum told me I had to stop. I was only upsetting myself. 

This Christmas I tried again (after yet another attempt last term) and made some chocolate macarons with a bitter chocolate ganache. These came out better again. I actually let people other than my mum see and eat them. 

Finally, I tried out the Italian method a few days ago. From the beginning it just seemed to work. I much prefer this method. 

I chose to make lemon macs as I had spare curd and I thought I would prefer something that cut throught the sweetness. This is the first batch I actually enjoyed eating. Though I do have a sweet tooth (obviously), I like my food to taste of more than icing sugar (which, incidentally, is my main problem with a lot of cupcakes). 

They're still not perfect.

Blogging has taught me to be incredibly critical of macarons. Even professional ones often have some flaws.  With practice I'm sure I can remove some - and that should be part of the fun.

*

This time I used Ms Humble's recipe for lemon macarons and her three guides to Italian macarons. I then filled them with leftover lemon curd made with David's wonderful recipe.