Paris Pastry Club: A collection of cakes, tarts, pastries and other indulgent recipes (9 page)
Read Paris Pastry Club: A collection of cakes, tarts, pastries and other indulgent recipes Online
Authors: Fanny Zanotti
Tags: #ebook
My super-decadent treat is to layer some
Better-Than-Brownies Cookies
in a tall glass with caramelised banana, vanilla ice-cream and an insane chocolate fudge sauce.
The perfect break-up cure!
Serves 2
FOR THE FUDGE SAUCE
200 g (7 oz) double cream
50 g (1¾ oz) unsalted butter
125 g (4 oz) dark muscovado sugar
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
¾ teaspoon sea salt
75 g (2½ oz) 40% milk chocolate
2 bananas, skin-on
4 scoops of Vanilla Ice-cream, shop-bought
or homemade (
VANILLA ICE-CREAM WITH OLIVE OIL
)
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
Start with the fudge sauce: bring the cream, butter, dark muscovado sugar, cocoa powder and salt to the boil in a small pan.
Pour over the chocolate in a large bowl and stir well with a spatula until everything is fully combined. Set aside to cool down slightly at room temperature until ready to use.
While the sauce is cooling, make the black bananas. Just arrange the bananas on a baking tray lined with foil and poke a few holes through the skin using a small knife. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 15 minutes or until black and juices come out from the holes. Allow to cool for a little while, taking care not to burn your fingers when you peel them.
In tall glasses, layer the vanilla ice-cream, baked banana and cookies. Top with a generous amount of milk chocolate fudge sauce.
This is my little selfish pleasure. One big fat bowl of mascarpone mousse with the occasional coffee-drenched biscuit.
The mousse is rich and creamy with egg yolk and, of course, mascarpone. And really, when I think about its name, I believe it could not have borne its name better. It means ‘pick me up’, and this bowl will indeed pick you up. This recipe can easily be doubled/tripled/you name it for a crowd and looks absolutely darling in small glasses.
Serves 1
1 heaped tablespoon caster (superfine) sugar
1 egg yolk
100 g (3½ oz) mascarpone
or store-bought sponge fingers
a cup of strong coffee
70% dark chocolate, for topping
Whisk the sugar and egg yolk with a hand-held mixer for 3–4 minutes or until thick and doubled in size.
Add the mascarpone, a tablespoon at a time, beating well – for at least for a minute – after each addition. Chill in the fridge while you get on with the layering action.
Soak the biscuits in the strong coffee and place three at the bottom of a bowl. Cover with half the mascarpone cream. Top with more soaked biscuits and spread with more cream. Grate some dark chocolate on top and chill the tiramisu for an hour or two. Dig in with the largest spoon you can find.
I WOKE UP with a hangover of the bloody mary/gin and tonic/champagne kind. Oh, and to a man who had no problem whatsoever sleeping in an upside-down, inside-out bed.
Men are always hungry in the morning. And no matter how delicate I felt, this one would never wake up if it wasn’t for the scent of an
à-la-minute
breakfast. I craved some food too – food that would make me remember things the alcohol made blurry. And just like a firecracker lit in the middle of the summer, or the one we felt that night, I realised not everything can be forgotten. Some things can only be felt.
Things like his hand in my hair and how we would forget the world as the short walk to my flat turned into a real-life board-game. We were the prizes. It was fun. He was fun. Perhaps we were a little funny together; not unlike a pair of mismatched socks. Wild blond hair and out-of-control brunette curls.
Yes, I was going to make him the best breakfast he’d ever eaten. And more. And really, what I thought right there, right then, was to start with the more. Pancakes would come later.
I could have given you the recipe my grandmother makes, with yeast and a touch of beer, but who’d want to wait 3 hours for waffles? These are quick to make and even quicker to eat.
If there is a reason good enough to dust off your old waffle iron, then this is it. Don’t look any further; your life will have a new meaning.
Makes 8–12 larges waffles
100 g (3¼ oz) butter
125 g (4½ oz) whole milk
seeds from 1 vanilla pod
120 g (4¼ oz) plain (all-purpose) flour
3 egg whites
60 g (2 oz)caster (superfine) sugar
Preheat your waffle iron.
Place the butter, milk and vanilla seeds in a small pan, and cook over low heat until the butter is just melted. Transfer to a jug, and allow to cool down slightly. It shouldn’t feel too warm to the touch.
Place the flour in a large bowl and slowly pour the milk over it, whisking as you go.
In another bowl, whisk the egg whites until foamy, then add the sugar – a little at a time – until the meringue is thick and glossy. Scoop half into the batter and whisk in to loosen the mixture, then gently fold in the rest.
Ladle the batter onto the hot iron and cook for 4–6 minutes, or until the waffles are golden-brown.
Transfer to a wire rack while you cook the rest of the batter.
The best thing to eat after a wild night and, trust me, I don’t know a single guy on this planet who’d refuse them. A crème-brûlée-like French toast with the buttery flavour of croissant and a crisp caramel crust.
Just one tiny thing – be careful. I know it’s the morning-ish (and 2 pm does qualify here), but there is a tiny bit of caramel here and the last thing you want is to burn your fingers. So please, do yourself a favour – use a spatula to flip the French toast around.
Serves 2
2 croissants
2 eggs
3 tablespoons caster (superfine) sugar,
plus extra for cooking
80 g (3 oz) whole milk
30 g (1 oz) whipping cream
butter, for cooking
Slice the croissants in half lengthwise.
Mix the eggs and caster sugar in a bowl with a whisk until combined. Add the milk and cream and mix until just smooth.
Transfer this eggy mix to a large container and arrange the slices of croissants cut-side-down and allow to soak for a minute. Flip around and soak for a further minute.
Melt a knob of butter until foamy in a hot pan set over medium heat. Fry the croissant halves, cut-side down, 1 or 2 at a time for a minute. Flip with a palette knife and sprinkle generously with caster sugar.
Cook for a minute then turn over and fry for a further minute to let the sugar caramelise. It sounds like a lot of flipping, but trust me, it barely takes 3 minutes and makes for the crispiest crust ever.