zwervenculinary:

If there’s any string of words that can get my attention, the most effective one would include coffee, chocolate, nuts, and whipped cream.

So this is a mille-feuille (also known as a napoleon). They’re normally made of three components: puff pastry, pastry cream, and glaze or whipped cream to top it all off with. They commonly include fruit and chocolate. This is a mille-feuille with chocolate-cinnamon pastry cream and coffee-hazelnut whipped cream.

coffee cinnamon chocolate hazelnut mille-feuille

1 package frozen puff pastry, thawed

pastry cream:
1 ¼ cup / 300ml milk
1 tsp / 5 ml vanilla extract
3 large egg yolks
¼ cup / 50g granulated white sugar
2 tablespoons / 20g all purpose flour
2 tablespoons / 20g cornstarch/cornflour
2 ounces / 60g grated or chopped semi-sweet chocolate
1 tablespoon / 10g cinnamon powder
pinch of grated nutmeg

(I actually used a Christmas blend drinking chocolate, which had the cinnamon and all already added in to it.)

whipped cream:
1 cup heavy cream
½ tablespoon / 5g instant coffee crystals
1 tablespoon / 15ml flavored hazelnut syrup (usually used as additives for coffee to substitute sugar and add flavor)
or you could use plain sugar in the whipped cream (to taste), and almond or other extracts.  You could then sprinke the mille-feuille with crushed toasted hazelnut or  something.


> Preheat an oven to 350°F or whatever your puff pastry package recommends it be baked on. Place some flour down on a board and roll the puff pastry out until you can no longer see any lines from the pastry having been folded (only applicable when using premade puff pastry, really). 

Place parchment paper on a baking pan.  Cut the puff pastry in to an even amount of strips, of about 2-3 inches/3-7cm long. It’s harder to cut the pastry after it’s been baked, so cutting it lengthwise first at least takes some of the stress from cutting it later.

Place the puff pastry ontop of the parchment paper, and lay another sheet of parchment paper on top. Place a pan of the exact same size on top to weigh it down so the puff pastry doesn’t puff up too much.

Bake for about 7-15 minutes, until the puff pastry is cooked through and lightly golden.  Remove from the pan and allow it to cool down.


> To prepare the pastry cream, in a medium sized bowl, mix the sugar, vanilla, and egg yolks together. Mix in the flour and cornstarch/cornflour together and add to the egg mixture, mixing until you have a smooth paste.

Place the milk in a saucepan and allow it to come to just a boil (when the milk starts to foam). Remove from the heat, and slowly add to the egg mixture, whisking constantly. 

After incorporating all of the milk, add this mixture to a medium sauce pan and cook on medium heat until boiling, whisking constantly. When it comes to a boil, whisk constantly for another 30 to 60 seconds until it becomes thick. 

Remove from the heat, and add in the grated/chopped chocolate and cinnamon.

Stir in thoroughly until the chocolate has melted. 

> To make the whipped cream, heat up a small amount of the cream (around 2 tablespoons) for around 20 seconds in the microwave. Dissolve the coffee crystals in it.

Place the rest of the cream, the coffee-cream, and the hazelnut syrup (or whatever you choose) in a bowl and whip until it’s nearly stiff peaks.

To assemble the pastry, cut the puff pastry in to around 4 inch/10cm segments.

Place one on a plate, and place a spoonful of the chocolate pastry cream in the middle. Top with another puff pastry segment, repeat, and top with a final segment and top with whipped cream.

Sprinkle a little more cinnamon and some nutmeg ontop!

Chocolate Cupcakes for Blue Dragon

Baked for a fundraiser for Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation. Naturally the icing had to be a worrying shade of blue.

http://www.streetkidsinvietnam.com/

Williams Sonoma Chocolate Cupcakes

2/3 cup plain flour

2 1/2 tbs cocoa powder

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

85g dark chocolate, chopped

160g unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup caster sugar

3 eggs, room temperature

Preheat to 180C

Whisk flour, cocoapowder, baking powder, salt.

Place butter & chocolate over simmering water and melt whilst stirring.

Remove from heat and cool.

Whisk sugar in, then eggs one at a time.

Fold in dry ingredients.

22-24 minutes, test with a skewer to see if they’re ready.

Remove the cupcakes and let them chill out on a cooling rack.

Horrifyingly Blue Swiss Meringue Buttercream

3 egg whites

1/4 cup caster sugar

1/8 tsp cream of tartar

250g butter, room temperature

Vanilla essence

A lot of blue food colouring

Combine sugar, egg whites and cream of tartar in a heatproof bowl with a handmixer.

Bring large pan of water to the boil with the water level with the egg whites.

Put the bowl in and whisk until it reaches 60C or the top becomes foamy like a cappuccino.

Move bowl to stand mixer and beat on high for 3-5 minutes.

Transfer 2/3 of the meringue to another bowl and beat together with half the butter until combined. Add the rest of the meringue one spoon at a time, then the butter one spoon at a time. It might look disgusting and soupy at first but it’ll get better.

Chuck in a teaspoon of vanilla essence while the mixer is still running, then a teaspoon of vanilla bean paste if you want.

THEN OVERLOAD ON BLUE FOOD COLOURING.

Pipe like crazy (I used a 1M tip) and eat it all, sharing is not caring when the object is something as heavily coloured as this.

-Clara