Anges déchus (fallen angels)

fallen angelsIt wasn’t looking good for me this week when it came to entering the great bloggers bake off. We’ve been infected with the dreaded chicken pox and small demanding people have been taking up most of my time. I did manage to make some halloween cupcakes but nothing else.  However, when I saw a link to Mary Berry’s Religieuses on twitter today I thought I’d have a go at choux pastry. I’ve never made it before but have seen it made on GBBO and Australian Masterchef, usually accompanied by stressed looks and swearing. It turns out it was pretty painless. I started at half 8 and had made the buns and crème patissiere by about 10. I decided not to do full on nuns but to do some fallen angels (made up name)  – basically profiteroles with milk chocolate added to the crème patissiere and normal vanilla crème patissiere for a halo.

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cake2Wonderful, all sorted. Time for bed? Well I had 6 egg whites left over so naturally what else are you going to do at 10pm but make an angel’s food cake? (With a square tin and a cocktail shaker in the middle to make the hole).

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I’m going to add the recipes in over the weekend but right now I’m off to bed 😉

Recipes:

Profiteroles

For the choux pastry:

60g Unsalted butter

150ml water

75g Plain flour

2 eggs (beaten)

Preheat your oven to 220c

  • Dice the butter and place in a pan with the water.
  • Heat gently until the butter has completely melted then increase the heat and bring to the boil.
  • As soon as the mixture boils remove from the heat and add the flour, mixing with a wooden spoon until the flour has completely combined with the butter mix.
  • Once the mixture is smooth return to a low heat and cook for 4 minutes while constantly stirring.
  • Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool for at least 5 minutes. As a guide if the mixture is not too hot to touch it should be ok.
  • Once the mixture has cooled add the eggs a little at a time mixing thoroughly  – if the mix is too hot they will scramble so do be patient.
  • Once the eggs are added the mixture should be smooth and shiny.
  • Place into a piping bag and cover a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
  • Pipe small balls of mix onto the greaseproof paper (maybe 2cm in diameter).
  • Dip a finger or brush in water and gently dab any points down but avoid flattening the mix.
  • Cook in a preheated 220c oven for 10 minutes then reduce the heat to 190c and cook for another 10 minutes.
  • Remove the choux buns and use a skewer to make a hole in the bottom of each one – this will let any steam out and stop them going soggy.

For the crème patissiere:

500ml Whole milk

2tsp Vanilla essence

6 Egg yolks

75g Castor sugar

20g Cornflour

25g Plain flour

150g milk chocolate

  • Mix together the cornflour and plain flour
  • In a separate bowl whisk the egg yolks and sugar
  • Add the flour(s) to the egg mix and whisk thoroughly until smooth
  • Place the milk and vanilla in a pan and bring to the boil.
  • Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool slightly.
  • While whisking,  slowly pour the milk into the egg mix then pour the whole mix back into a pan and bring to the boil for a minute while whisking the whole time.
  • Dont panic if the mix doesn’t come together right away, remove from the heat and continue to mix until it combines.
  • To make chocolate crème patissiere split the mix into two bowls, cover the vanilla one with cling film then melt some milk chocolate (150g or so) and stir into the remaining crème patissiere. Cover with cling film.

Once the choux buns have cooled pipe the chocolate crème patissiere into the holes made to let the steam out then pipe the vanilla crème patissiere in a halo on top.

 

 

 

Linking to great bloggers bake off with Jenny Paulin and Helen Jessop
GreatBloggersBakeOff
 

 

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7 comments

  1. jennypaulin says:

    i love that you made these up and adore their name! really very clever and well done for making time considering the illness in your house. (hope that soon passes)
    love your square angel cake too x
    thanks for linking up x

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