As i mentioned before a couple of times… now i am that lucky to have a superprofessional french pastry chef (who is f8ckin sexy by the way :)) teaching me at the restaurant. So the choux-paste itself became one of my best friend in the last weeks…

I am that kindof person…. who loves challenge… maybe sometimes i go a little far with taking risks, but thats how i educate myself. Learning from mistakes.

Recipe of Leonesa: (eclair)

125g milk

125g double cream

100g butter

5g sugar

5g salt

150g weak flour

4 eggs

“naked choux paste” orgasm…

U get the milk, cream, butter, sugar and salt in a pan and start to warm up (get the butter melted). When its done – take off the fire and mix in the flour, all at once. Mix it well, then put it back to the low heat and keep moving your paste. It should look like a big marcipan ball. U keep moving, not let it burn – its important to evaporate as much water as possible from the massa, otherwise its gonna be too runny. So u keep moving your paste like for 5 minutes, then chuck it in your stand mixer with the paddle on and turn on (low). Slowly add the eggs, one by one – always waiting carefully to emulsify. When all in – turn the machine on high speed and let it run for 10 minutes. Your massa will get a totally different textures at the end. And its cooled down enough to work with – get your piping bag! If u wanna make perfect eclairs – u will need nosel to maintain the same size always.

Anyway, i knew Paris Brest before – from the other side of the kitchen and i was always thinking how sexy and complicated is this little baby – exactly like a woman :)-. We got a week with 3 groups having Paris Brest on their menu. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm… Lets get on with it!

I was absolutely right: sexy and complicated. Ohhhh, and very very delicated – like every choux. U need to make the little circles very precisely without any airbubbles and no pressure. First mark them with a (wet) fork then brush with milky yolk – last touch is some almond sprinkle. Oven time.

NEVER EVER AND EVER FOREVER open the oven when there are eclairs inside. If they are not done – will shrink and u will cry. Believe me. So as usual, 180 degrees, no air, no moist and about 20-35 minutes. Kindof important to see whats happening inside (without opening the door) – the color will tell u when its done. Lovely golden.

Let them chill in a cooling wrack and then u can store them in box what u can close properly. Unfortunatley if u are not going to use your eclairs right away – they will become soft. Not your fault, thats how they work – but dont worry – best thing is to keep them in the freezer than 200 degrees for 2 minutes before serving. Like never better. :)

“like snow in X-mas time….”

Ok. I am going to be honest with u. Till this point its still just a round eclair. What makes it Paris Brest? The MOUSSELINE CREAM. Hm hm hm…. If u like praline (who the f8ck doesnt like????) u gonna kill for this stuff!

In the restaurant we are using a very very very very very complicated version of this yummy cream (and i am not exactly know why hehe) but the original one is kindof ok to try to make at home. U just cook some normal vanilla pastry cream, then u add some praline when its still warm (easier to elaborate). So u have this in one hand – now put it in a standing mixer and with the paddle  start to move slowly why u keep adding pieces of butter. If u have 500gr of pastry cream u should use 250g of butter. Slowly slowly work in the butter so at the end u will ended up having a very rich and beautifully smooth pastry buttercream (give time to chill in the fridge obviously). F8ckin sexy if u get a star nosel and fill a piping bag with it. Well, this is a very original Mousseline cream for Paris Brest. Instead of this – in the restaurant i make a normal pastry cream with praline but on the other side i make a “cooked buttercream” – when u kindofmake an italian meringue just with yolks not with egg whites and at the end of the proccess u keep adding lots of butter – and to lighten this buttercream up – i make a normal italian meringue. After all very carefully i mix the buttercream with the meringue – then mix in the praline pastry cream. Its very very sexy and yummy at the end – but again: like a women. Inpredictable.

Keep Calm. Keep Sexy… :P