More Than Sweet

patisserie

Chocolate tart with plum & rose

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CHOCOLATE TART WITH ROASTED PLUM COMPOTE & TOASTED ROSE PETALS
PATE SUCRÉE

75 g butter at room temperature 
50g confectioners sugar
1/2 egg 
15g almond flour
125g all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt

ALMOND FRANGIPANE

50g butter at room temperature
50g sugar 
1 medium egg at room temperature (about 50g) 
65g almond flour 
Generous pinch of salt 

SLOW ROASTED PLUM COMPOTE

500g fresh or frozen plums, halved, pits removed 
100g sugar 

THE PLUM, I SUPPOSE GANACHE FILLING

180g fruity 70% dark chocolate (I used Xoco Gourmet‘s Mayan Red)
200g heavy cream 
2 Tbsp. Empirical Spirits “The plum, I suppose” (substitute with Slivovitz, plum or sloe gin)
Pinch of salt

Dried rose petals

Slow roasted plum compote: Preheat the oven to 140C. Mix the plums with the sugar and place in a single layer an ovenproof dish and bake for 1,5 hours until the plums are tender and starting to caramelise. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

Tart shells: Cream together butter and confectioners sugar. Beat in the egg, then gently stir in flour, almond flour and salt. Be careful not to overwork the dough. Wrap in clingfilm and rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. 

Roll out the dough and line six 7,5cm tart rings with the pastry. Trim excess dough along the edges and rest the tart shells for 15-30 minutes in the fridge. Use a fork to prick holes in the bottom of the tart shells. 

Preheat the oven to 175C and prebake the tart shells for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely.

Almond frangipane: Beat the butter and sugar together until light and airy, add the egg and beat until combined. Stir in the almond flour and salt and spread a thin layer of frangipane into the cooled tart shells.

Bake for 10-15 minutes, until the frangipane is golden brown. Let cool to room temperature.

Chocolate ganache: Finely chop the chocolate and add to a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until it is very hot, but not boiling, and pour over the chocolate. Leave for a minute or two, then slowly stir from the center out to emulsify. Add the spirit and season to taste with a pinch of salt.

To assemble: Add a thin layer of plum compote on top of the frangipane and pour over the chocolate ganache. Leave to set.

Toast the rose petals on a hot pan until fragrant, then crush and sprinkle over the set chocolate ganache.

Nordic Paris-Brest

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Cardamom crusted choux with parsnip crème diplomat and rosemary poached pears

Parsnip crème diplomat

Parsnip milk

500ml whole milk 
300g parsnip, peeled and cut into cubes 
1 sri lanka cinnamon stick 
25g honey 
Pinch of salt

Parsnip crème diplomat

250ml parsnip milk
1 Tbsp. heavy cream
40g egg yolks
50g sugar
18g cornstarch
1,5 leaves gelatine

175ml heavy cream

Add whole milk, parsnip cubes, cinnamon stick, honey and salt to a pot and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and infuse in the refrigerator overnight. Strain out the parsnip and cinnamon and measure off 250ml parsnip milk for the pastry cream.

Soak gelatine leaves in cold water. Heat the parsnip milk and 1 Tbsp. of heavy cream with 15g of the sugar in a small saucepan. Whisk together egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch, then whisk in the hot milk mixture. Strain back into the saucepan and cook on medium heat while stirring continuously until pastry cream thickens. Bring to a boil and cook for 2-3 minutes, to cook out the starch. Remove from heat, squeeze excess water from the gelatine and whisk into the pastry cream. Transfer the pastry cream to a container and press a piece of clingfilm directly against the surface. Chill in the refrigerator until completely cooled.

Whip the pastry cream until creamy. In a separate bowl, lightly whip 175ml of heavy cream, then gently fold the whipped cream into the pastry cream. Pour into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle and refrigerate until ready to assemble.

Rosemary poached pears

1l water
250g sugar
4 pears, peeled, halved and cored
4 sprigs of rosemary
5cm strip lemon rind

Heat water and sugar in a large pot until sugar is dissolved. Add pears, rosemary and lemon rind to the warm poaching liquid, cover and cook for 20-25 minutes until fork tender.

Transfer the pears and poaching liquid to a container and refrigerate overnight.

Cardamom crusted choux rings

50g butter
65g water
65g whole milk
3g sugar
2g salt
125g egg
75g all purpose flour

1 tbsp. cardamom seeds, coarsely crushed
3 Tbsp. granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 180C.

Melt butter, water, whole milk, sugar and salt in a saucepan on low heat. When the butter is melted, bring to a boil over high heat and immediately remove from direct heat. Stir in flour to make a soft dough. Return the pan to low heat and cook the dough for a few minutes, while stirring continuously. Be careful not to scrape the film forming on the bottom of the pan.

Transfer the dough to the bowl of a stand mixer and leave to cool for 5-10 minutes. Beat in the egg a little at a time until dough is glossy, elastic and holds a “V”-shape when dropped from a spatula. You might not need all of the egg for the dough.

Line two trays with baking paper and use an 8cm cookie cutter as stencil to draw four circles on each tray with a pencil. Flip the baking paper around so the pencil mark faces down.

Place the choux dough into a piping bag fitted with a 2cm star nozzle and pipe eight choux circles.

Sprinkle liberally with the cardamom sugar and bake for 30-40 minutes, until golden brown. Cool to room temperature on a wire rack.

To assemble the Paris-Brests, drain the pears and cut into 1x1cm cubes. Cut the choux rings in half and place the pear cubes in the bottom halves.

Pipe parsnip crème diplomat on top of the pears and layer with the top halves.

Serve immediately.

GREEN STRAWBERRY & OOLONG DESSERT

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GREEN STRAWBERRY TART WITH GOOSEBERRY AND FENNEL POLLEN & OOLONG MILK TEA ICE CREAM
OOLLING MILK TEA ICE CREAM 

650ml whole milk
65ml heavy cream
4 Tbsp. Oolong tea
65g skimmed milk powder 
100g sugar
40g liquid glucose  
4g ice cream stabiliser 
Pinch of salt 

Mix stabiliser with 15g sugar, set aside. Add milk and cream to a heavy-duty pot and warm up to 80C, add tea leaves and leave to infuse for 20 minutes. Strain off the tea leaves and add milk powder, 85g of the sugar and glucose. Whisk in stabiliser mixture and heat the mixture to 82C while stirring continuously. Remove from heat and leave the ice cream base to age in the fridge overnight. Before churning, emulsify the ice cream mixture using an immersion blender, season with a little salt to taste then churn in an ice cream maker. Freeze for at least an hour in the freezer before serving.

WHIPPED FENNEL POLLEN GANACHE

100g white chocolate, chopped
200ml heavy cream
1 Tbsp. liquid glucose
1/2 tsp. fennel pollen
Pinch of salt

Add the white chocolate to a heatproof bowl. Heat the heat heavy cream with the glucose and fennel pollen and bring to a boil. Pour over the white chocolate and beginning in the centre of the bowl start emulsifying the chocolate and the heavy cream. When the ganache is smooth and shiny, press a layer of clingfilm against the surface and chill overnight in the fridge.

PATE SUCRÉE 

75 g butter at room temperature 
50g confectioners sugar
1/2 egg 
15g almond flour
125g all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt

Cream together butter and confectioners sugar. Beat in the egg, then gently stir in flour, almond flour and salt. Be careful not to overwork the dough. Wrap in clingfilm and rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. 

Roll out the dough and line six 7,5cm tart rings with the pastry. Trim excess dough along the edges and rest the tart shells for 15-30 minutes in the fridge. Use a fork to prick holes in the bottom of the tart shells.

Preheat the oven to 175C and bake the tart shells until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely.

SALTED PISTACHIO CRUNCH

50g white chocolate
30g pistachio praline paste
30g feuilletine (or toasted, chopped pistachios)
40g toasted, chopped pistachios
Salt to taste

Melt the chocolate and mix with the pistachio praline paste, fold in the feuilletine and toasted pistachios. Season to taste with salt and spread in the bottom of the tart shells. Leave to set.

GOOSEBERRY COMPOTE

200g green gooseberries, topped and tailed
50g sugar
Juice of 1 lime

Add everything to a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Cook for a few minutes until the sugar is dissolved and the gooseberries are tender. Remove from heat and leave to cool in a bowl.

GOOSEBERRY GLAZE

150ml water 
75g green gooseberries
50g sugar
3g yellow pectin

Whisk together sugar and pectin and set the mixture aside.

Place gooseberries and water in a small saucepan, bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Leave to cook for 10-15 minutes, then strain liquid through a fine-mesh sieve.

Measure of gooseberry juice and heat to 45C in a small saucepan, add the pectin mixture and whisk to dissolve fully. Bring to a boil and boil for 2-3 minutes, turn off the heat pour into a bowl, cool to about 34-35C.

TO ASSEMBLE AND SERVE

300g strawberries, rinsed, hulled and quartered
Floral olive oil in a squeeze bottle
Sweet cicely leaves (or substitute lemon thyme or even cilantro)

Beat the chilled ganache until light and creamy and transfer to a piping bag.

Add a thin layer of gooseberry compote on top of the pistachio crunch layer and pipe the chocolate ganache on top. Use a spatula to even the layer and place in the fridge to set.

Quarter the green strawberries and brush them with a thin layer of gooseberry glaze. Arrange the gooseberries artfully on top of the whipped ganache and decorate with sweet cicely leaves.

Place 7-8 dots of olive oil on the tart and top with a quenelle of Oolong milk tea ice cream.

Tarte au vinaigre a l’ananas

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TARTE AU VINAIGRE A L’ANANAS

Makes 6 tarts

PÂTE SUCRÉE

75 g butter at room temperature 
50g confectioners sugar
1/2 egg 
15g almond flour
125g all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt

Cream together butter and confectioners sugar. Beat in the egg, then gently stir in flour, almond flour and salt. Be careful not to overwork the dough. Wrap in clingfilm and rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Roll out the dough and line six 12cm calisson tart rings with the pastry. Trim the edges and rest for another 15-30 minutes in the fridge. Preheat the oven to 175C and preface the tart shells for about 8-10 minutes, until pale golden, remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack.

PINEAPPLE VINEGAR CUSTARD

275g eggs (about 5 eggs)
1 egg yolk
200g granulated sugar
180ml heavy cream 
150ml pineapple vinegar 
Pinch of salt

Stir together eggs, yolk and sugar until sugar is completely dissolved. Leave for 30 minutes while roasting the pineapple. Gently stir in the heavy cream followed by the pineapple vinegar and season with a pinch of salt. Skim off any foam on the surface of the custard.

BERGAMOT OLIVE OIL ROASTED PINEAPPLE

1 medium sized pineapple
3 Tbsp. Bergamot olive oil
6 Tbsp. brown sugar 
1 Tbsp. pineapple vinegar 

Preheat the oven to 175C. Cut the ends off the pineapple and carefully slice the skin off and remove the “eyes”. Quarter pineapple and remove the stem in the center. Place the plneapples in a baking tray, mix sugar, olive oil and a pinch of salt and pour over the pineapple.

Roast for 30 minutes, until the pineapple is just tender, basting every 10 minutes with the syrup.  Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

Turn oven heat down to 140C.

Cut pineapple into roughly 0,5×0,5cm cubes. Place in a single layer on the bottom of the tart shells, gently pour over the custard and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes, until the custard is just set, but there’s a soft wobble in the center. Remove from the oven and cool completely. Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve at room temperature.

Paris-Brest in the springtime

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Paris-Brest with caramelised buttermilk mousseline & pickled apple, apple sorbet and citrus herbs

For the sorbet, replace pears with an equal amount of apples.

Caramelised buttermilk mousseline

150ml heavy cream
75g sugar
4 egg yolks
25g all-purpose flour
25g corn starch
350ml buttermilk
150g softened butter, divided

Slowly caramelise the heavy cream on a nonstick pan over medium high heat, scraping the bottom once in a while, until the cream turns a a light caramel color.

Whisk together sugar, cornstarch, flour and egg yolks until no lumps remain. Whisk in buttermilk and caramelised heavy cream. Pour into a saucepan and bring to a boil, cook while whisking rigorously for a few minutes to thicken the cream and cook out the starches. Remove from heat and transfer to a bowl. Stir in 75g of butter until combined, cover with clingfilm and let cool. When the cream is room temperature, whisk in the remaining 75g butter and transfer to a piping bag with an open star nozzle. Store in the fridge until ready to serve.

Pickled apple

2 apples, peeled and cut into small balls
100g sugar
100ml water
1 Tbsp apple vinegar
A few sprigs of verbena, lemon balm and lemon thyme

Bring sugar, water, vinegar and herbs to a boil, and boil for 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat, cool for 15 minutes then add apple balls. Leave for 5-10 minutes, check to make sure apples are not mushy, then remove apple balls from pickling liquid.

Vanilla choux

Makes 6 choux rings

80g whole milk 
80g water
65g butter
5g sugar 
2g salt 
100g strong bread flour, sieved
140-160g whisked eggs 
*1 empty vanilla bean leftover from other purposes 
2-3 Tbsp. icing sugar
Flaked almonds

Preheat oven to 175C.

Add milk, water, butter, vanilla bean if using, sugar and salt to a pan and warm up over low heat until butter is melted. Bring to a boil over medium high heat and remove from heat as soon as the milk mixture is boiling. Remove vanilla bean and rigourously whisk in flour until a homogenous paste, return to low heat and cook the dough for a few minutes. Be careful not to scrape off the thin film that forms on the pan.

Transfer dough to a bowl and leave to cool for 5-10 minutes.

Beat in egg a little at a time, you might not need all of it, until dough falls off the spoon in a V. Transfer to a piping bag and pipe six 7,5cm circles on a piece of parchment paper. Dust with icing sugar and sprinkle with flaked almonds.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until puffy and golden brown all over. Leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

To assemble and serve
Floral olive oil
Icing sugar
Lemon verbena, lemon balm, lemon thyme

Cut choux rings in half, pipe caramelised buttermilk mousseline on the bottom half and arrange pickled apple balls on top of the mousseline. Place the upper half of the choux rings back on top of the apples and dust with icing sugar.

Serve with a few extra apple balls, fresh herbs, dots of floral olive oil and citrus herbs

Spiced maple mille feuille with basil-apple salsa

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Spiced maple mille feuille with apple-basil salsa

Makes 4 mille feuilles

Puff pastry

260g all-purpose flour
150ml ice water
200g cold butter
Icing sugar

Quickly mix together flour and ice water until a shaggy dough, wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes.

Beat the butter block with a rolling pin to a pliable 10x10cm rectangle. Wrap in clingfilm and chill for 10 minutes.

Roll out the dough to an 18x18cm square on a lightly floured workbench. Place the butter in the center of the dough and fold the corners of the dough over the butter, so they meet in the middle. Pinch to thoroughly seal the dough around the butter. Flip the dough, so the seal faces downwards and roll out to a 30x15cm rectangle. Make a letter fold, turn 45 degrees and roll out again to a 30x15cm rectangle. Make another letter fold and wrap lightly in clingfilm, rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Repeat this process three more time for a total of 6 turns. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and chill for at least a few hours, preferably overnight.

Preheat oven to 200C. Roll out dough to 4-5mm thickness. Using a 10cm oval cutter, cut out 12 pastry leaves and place at least 3cm apart on a baking tray lined with parchment. Place a piece of parchment on top and another baking tray on top of the parchment. Bake for 15 minutes, rotating the pan halfway.

Remove top baking tray and parchment, dust with icing sugar and bake for another 3-5 minutes, until icing sugar is melted and caramelised.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack. 2 cups milk (480ml)

Spiced maple creme mousseline

450ml whole milk
4 egg yolks
90g maple syrup
4 Tbsp. corn starch
1/2 habanero
A pinch of salt
150g softened, unsalted butter

Warm up the maple syrup, add the habanero and infuse for 5 minutes. Remove the chili and leave the maple syrup to cool to room temperature.

Whisk together maple syrup, salt, egg yolks and corn starch, set aside.

Bring milk to just below boiling and pour over 1/4 of the milk. Pour the mixture back into the pot and bring to a boil while whisking constantly. Cook for a few minutes while whisking rigorously, remove from heat and whisk in 75g of butter. Cover with clingfilm and leave to cool to room temperature.

Add the remaining butter and whisk until smooth and very creamy. Season to taste. Transfer to a piping bag with a 1cm nozzle.

Apple basil salsa

2 green apples, peeled and diced
1 Tbsp. maple syrup
2 tsp. lime juice
1 Tbsp. finely chopped basil leaves
Pinch of salt

Mix everything together, season to taste. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Pipe spiced maple mousseline on 4 pastry leaves. Spoon apple salsa on top of the mousseline in the centre of the leaves and top with another layer of pastry. Repeat with mousseline and apple salsa. Dust the remaining four pastry leaves with icing sugar and place on top of the mille feuilles.

Serve.