125ml sugar 125ml flour 3 eggs 5ml vanilla 30ml butter, melted 250ml milk enough pitted cherries to cover the bottom of a pie/flan dish
Preheat your oven to 180℃ and grease a ceramic pie/flan dish. Add the sugar and flour to a mixing bowl. Whisk the eggs, vanilla, melted butter and milk together in a wide-mouth jug. Slowly pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients while whisking. Fill the bottom of the pie dish with an even layer of cherries and pour the batter over the cherries. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes. The clafoutis will puff up in the oven and fall back on itself as it cools. Dust with icing sugar once cooled.
For the pastry: Add the flour, butter and icing sugar to a food processor and process until the mixture is the size of peas. Whisk the eggs together and with the engine running, add a few drops of the egg at a time until the mixture JUST comes together. Fold and push the pastry together with the heel of your hand until it is smooth. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours. Preheat your oven to 180℃ and spray a 22cm flan tin/loose bottom tart tin with cooking spray. Roll the pastry out to a 3mm thickness and line the bottom and sides of the baking tin. Prick the bottom with the tines of a fork and bake blind – lined with baking paper and baking beans – for 20 minutes. Remove the paper and beans and bake the shell for another 15 minutes. Remove the tart shell from the oven and allow to cool.
For the filling: Turn your oven down to 160℃. Add the chocolate to a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan with simmering water and allow to melt completely. Remove from the heat and set aside. Add the whole egg, the egg yolk, sugar and 170ml cream to a mixing bowl and whisk together. Pour the other 170ml cream into a small saucepan and bring to the boil over medium heat. Remove the cream as soon as it boils and wait one minute. Pour half the cream in a very, very thin stream onto the egg mixture while whisking continuously. Pour slowly, whisk quickly!! Now pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan and place over a very low heat. Whisk the mixture until it thickens and has the consistency of custard. Pour the mixture over the melted chocolate, add the vanilla and stir with a spatula until combined. Scrape into the tart shell and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for at least 2 hours before serving.
There is absolutely no “hidden tricks” when it comes to baking perfect profiteroles! Follow the instructions and you will have the satisfaction of perfect fresh profiteroles on your teatime table.
250ml boiling water 125ml butter, cubed 250ml cake flour 2,5ml salt 4 eggs 80g dark chocolate, melted 1 batch crème pâtisserie (search this blog for the recipe)
Preheat your oven to 190℃ and line a large baking sheet with baking paper. Pour the water into a cast-iron/heavy-bottom saucepan and bring to a rapid boil. Add the cubed butter and stir until melted. Add the salt to the cake flour and then add it all to the saucepan with boiling water-butter, at once. Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes together in a ball in the centre of the saucepan. Take the saucepan from the heat and add the eggs, one at a time. Beat the mixture well. The egg should be completely incorporated before you add the next one. This is a real arm workout but do try and work quick as you need the steam from the heat! Spoon a heaped teaspoon of the mixture on to the prepared baking tray, leaving enough space in between as the profiteroles expand quite a lot while baking. Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Turn the oven temperature down to 160℃ and bake for another 20 minutes. Take the tray from the oven and immediately slit a small sharp knife into the bottom of each profiterole, making as small a cut as possible, for the steam to escape. Cool completely on a cooling rack. Cut the profiteroles open and fill each of them with crème pâtissière (search the recipe on this blog: Custard Buns) or whipped cream. Spoon some melted chocolate on to each filled pastry and set aside for the chocolate to set. Serve with a smile!
My Whisk and I 