Serious Eats: Sweets - Sweet Technique

Sweet Technique: How to Make Tapioca Pudding

2012-05-14T12:00:00Z

VIEW SLIDESHOW: Sweet Technique: How to Make Tapioca Pudding

[Photograph: Lauren Weisenthal]

Tapioca pudding is the kind of dessert that gets forgotten about until it's sitting right in front of you, and then, all at once, you're smitten with it all over again. I recently fell back in love when, prompted by my recent obsession with using fine-ground pearls as a thickener for pie juices, I purchased several bags.

It was at the spice store that I discovered why people might shy away from making tapioca at home. With few standards for pearl size and lots of arbitrary labeling, it can be hard to pin down exactly what size pearls you are buying.

One taste of homemade tapioca pudding is all it takes to remind you why it's so very worth the risk of purchasing the wrong size. You'll love the creamy texture and simple vanilla flavor that's unadulterated by the cornstarch used in so many other pudding recipes. And, of course, there's the delightful little squish of the tapioca, like so many bubbles of happiness. A little extra soaking time can help mitigate against ratio issues if the tapioca pearls are too large for the recipe, and even if you slightly over-shoot the desired size, adding a little extra milk or cream right before serving can help ease a pudding that's too stiff.

When making tapioca pudding, here are a few tips to keep in mind:

Always soak the pearls ahead of time, for at least 12 hours, to help them soften and partially hydrate.
Although many recipes do not call for it, tempering the eggs with the hot liquid is the best method to ensure that the pudding will be smooth and silky.
Be sure to press plastic wrap on the surface of the pudding while chilling to avoid having the pudding dry out and/or having a skin form on top.

Click through the slideshow to see how easy it can be. Then, find yourself some tapioca pearls (not the instant kind), and try it yourself.

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Tapioca Pudding »

About the author: Lauren Weisenthal has logged many hours working in restaurant kitchens and bakeries of Brooklyn and Manhattan. She is a graduate of the Artisan Bread Baking and Pastry Arts programs at the French Culinary Institute. You can follow her on Twitter at @evillagekitchen.

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Sweet Technique: How to Make Toffee

2012-04-30T12:00:00Z

VIEW SLIDESHOW: Sweet Technique: How to Make Toffee

[Photograph: Lauren Weisenthal]

Do you remember your first-ever taste of toffee? I remember mine distinctly. It was on visiting day at summer camp, and the toffee was a Heath bar, smuggled in by my father against very strict "no food in bunk" rules. I suppose that the rule was only partially broken, because as soon as it was opened, it was devoured. Such flavors! Such texture! One taste of buttery, nutty, coffee, chocolate, sweet, salty, crunchy goodness and I became an addict.

My obsession with toffee has only grown over the years, thanks to some friends in California who have taken to sending me a box of See's (my favorite) from time to time. Between these shipments, I cope by making my own toffee, which I've perfected to be crisp and buttery, with strong coffee flavor, great salty balance, and just enough chocolate coating to make the perfect ratio.

Toffee can be troublesome for some, because there is a bit of precision involved when cooking the sugar base. Being organized from the start makes all the difference because you can focus your full attention on the thermometer, turning off the heat and adding other ingredients only when the time is exactly right. Here are some tips to consider when making toffee:

Before you begin to cook anything, lay out all of the tools you will need, and measure out the ingredients in advance. Be sure everything is within reach while you cook.
Handle the candy with care while you are cooking. The sugar mixture is extremely hot and can cause serious burns.
Be sure to cook the sugar mixture in a saucepan with high sides, to accommodate sputtering and growth when you add other ingredients, especially the baking soda.
Be sure to allow the toffee to cool completely before applying the chocolate later.

Click through the slideshow to learn step-by-step tips for making toffee at home. Then try my recipe, which includes a healthy hit of espresso, to soothe your own craving for toffee.

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Almond Espresso Toffee »

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Sweet Technique: How to Make Shortbread

2012-04-23T12:15:00Z

VIEW SLIDESHOW: Sweet Technique: How to Make Shortbread

[Photographs: Lauren Weisenthal]

Next time you have a sudden urge to bake, remember this: as long as you have butter, sugar, flour, and salt, you can make one of the most beloved, classic cookies known to mankind. And while the ingredients in shortbread may be few and simple, connoisseurs of the stuff will tell you—not all shortbreads are created equal. Whether you choose to carefully shape the shortbread and decorate with intricate, uniform scoring or simply slice it into rustic, chunky fingers, the physical appearance of shortbread is really only skin deep.

When it comes to taste and texture, shortbread preference is a deeply personal matter. Some people prefer a texture so tender that it's one shade above under baked, while others like some crispness with a hint of sandy grit. The same is true when selecting the amount of sugar, and more importantly, salt. Sweet fiends will want more, others less, but it's only as good as the amount of salt added to contrast and compliment.

For great shortbread, regardless of your chosen recipe:

Sift the flour before mixing to help remove lumps
Avoid over-mixing the dough
Score the surface for even baking without bubbles or cracks
Chill the shaped dough thoroughly before baking
Cut the shortbread while it is still warm, for smooth, even slices

Click through the sideshow for tips for making two different recipes with two different presentations. One recipe contains semolina and cornstarch, which creates a crumbly, sandy-textured shortbread, in fitting with its rustic, chunky style. The other has a more tender crumb, complimented by a polished, wedge presentation. Feel free to adjust the levels of sugar and salt to your personal taste, and don't be afraid to add fresh herbs to the dough, such as chopped rosemary or thyme.

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Classic Butter Shortbread »

Best Shortbread in the World »

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Sweet Technique: How to Make Éclairs

2012-04-16T12:00:00Z

VIEW SLIDESHOW: Sweet Technique: How to Make Éclairs

[Photograph: Lauren Weisenthal]

Éclairs have gotten a bad rap lately, having suffered abuse at the hands of many subpar French-themed cafes that sell them despite being long past their prime. All too often this venerable pastry sits in the display case until all that's left is a sad, rubbery tube filled with congealed cream and a glaze that resembles chocolate in appearance only. No more, I say. It's time for dessert lovers to do right by the éclair and make a batch at home.

The classic éclair has three components: crispy pastry made from pâte à choux, vanilla bean pastry cream filling, and a chocolate glaze over the top. Each of these components is not difficult to produce, and you may already have some practice under your belt if you've followed my previous columns on pâte à choux and pastry cream. The trickiest aspect is piping the thick, heavy pâte à choux dough out into even, uniform lines, but with practice you'll find you'll improve quickly.

When making éclairs, here are some tips to keep in mind:

Before you line your pans with parchment, measure out uniform piping areas to guide you. I like folding the parchment into thirds, others may prefer to draw lines lightly in pencil on the bottom of the parchment.
Don't overfill your piping bag, or it will be very difficult to control your piping.
Smooth any bumps with the brush as you apply the egg wash.
Drag a fork along the top and sides of the piped dough, making slight indentations with the tines to help keep large cracks from forming while baking.

Once you've got the choux part down, you can definitely experiment with different combinations of filling and glaze. Éclairs are great when filled with pudding, jam, buttercream, or ganache, and many bakers use fondant (a sugar glaze, not the rolled stuff used to cover cakes) flavored with different extracts to create more unusual flavor combinations. Click through the slide show for step-by-step instructions for piping, baking, filling, and glazing éclairs, then check out this recipe for a classic éclair with a real chocolate glaze.

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Cream-Filled Chocolate-Covered Éclairs »

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Sweet Technique: How to Make Bread Pudding

2012-04-09T12:00:00Z

VIEW SLIDESHOW: Sweet Technique: How to Make Bread Pudding

[Photograph: Lauren Weisenthal]

If you're coming off of Easter with a fridge full of extra eggs, or you've started to fantasize about bread as you press on through a week of only matzoh, bread pudding might be just the ticket, now, or later this week. And, whether you choose to make it because you've got something you need to use up (eggs, milk, stale bread), or just because you love it, bread pudding delivers a whole lot of dessert satisfaction with just a small amount of effort.

Bread pudding is made by soaking slightly stale bread in a custard of eggs, egg yolks, milk, and cream, then pressing the mixture into a pan or baking dish, and baking it in an oven until the custard sets up. It's best served warm and is perfectly good on it's own, but you can make a proper plated dessert by serving it with a sauce of fruit, caramel, or chocolate. Many people accent the flavor and texture of the pudding itself by adding dried fruit, nuts, berries, zest, extracts, or spices to the mix. With a good base recipe, there's really no right or wrong when it comes to bread pudding.

Here are some tips to keep in mind:

While you can make a bread pudding with pretty much any type of bread, enriched breads with a good chew, like challah, kaiser rolls, or brioche usually produce the best results.
Don't forget to grease the sides and the bottom of the pan with butter before you begin.
Be sure to securely cover the pudding with foil for the first 30 minutes of baking, which will facilitate even cooking and keep the top from drying out.

Click through the slideshow for step-by-step details to get you started, then check out my recipe for basic bread pudding. Don't hesitate to mix in some raisins, chopped chocolate, or whatever your heart desires.

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Classic Challah Bread Pudding »

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Sweet Technique: How To Make Coconut Macaroons

2012-04-02T12:00:00Z

VIEW SLIDESHOW: Sweet Technique: How To Make Coconut Macaroons

[Photograph: Lauren Weisenthal]

Loved by people with gluten allergies and Passover observers alike, coconut macaroons are the go-to treat for many folks who are avoiding wheat-based foods. They're also an old cult classic—the cookie was popular in bakeries long before we started worshiping the sexier pastel import that spells its name with just one "o". Coconut macaroons may not be adorable, but, for coconut lovers, they're unadulterated coconut bliss.

They're also a great equalizer in the kitchen: easy to make, and involving few ingredients. Basic recipes call for coconut, egg whites, sugar, vanilla, and a pinch of salt. Fancier versions call for sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips, or even dehydrated pineapple chunks. For me, coconut was born to pair with dark chocolate, so I endure the extra step of tempering to enrobe, dunk, and drizzle.

There are two different styles of coconut macaroons—those made with unsweetened, desiccated coconut (which is the kind that has been fully dried and contains no additives) and those made with moist, sweetened, shredded ribbons of coconut. The latter is readily available at major grocery stores and produces a very moist cookie, while the former is only available in specialty stores or online. The unsweetened version is slightly more high-maintenance because it requires that the cookies be firmly packed together for baking. But there's a payoff: it allows the baker to control the sweetness, and yields a crisper, dryer cookie that tastes more grown up.

When making either type of macaroon, here are some tips to keep in mind:

Toast the coconut beforehand to release the oils (and for the sweetened version, for a bit of caramelization), and enhance the flavor
Always dampen your hands before shaping macaroons to prevent sticking
If you are planning to dip the macaroons in chocolate, be sure to allow them to cool completely before you begin

Click through the slideshow for helpful tips for both types, then get yourself some coconut and make your own. They are a logical treat for Passover, and great for Easter too.

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Coconut Macaroons (made with desiccated, unsweetened coconut) »

Coconut Macaroons (made with moist, sweetened coconut) »

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Sweet Technique: How to Make Madeleines

2012-03-26T12:00:00Z

VIEW SLIDESHOW: Sweet Technique: How to Make Madeleines

[Photographs: Lauren Weisenthal]

Perfect, dainty madeleines are just the thing when you know you're craving something sweet but can't decide between a cookie or a slice of cake. They are a classic, refined butter sponge cake—perfect for tea time (don't forget to dunk), or as an accompaniment to ice cream or fruit when served at dessert. They've long been popular in the fancy set of restaurants that serve petit fours post-dessert, and they've received a well-deserved revival at pastry chef Dominique Ansel's namesake bakery in New York City where they bake them to order, so the cakes may be enjoyed fresh from the oven.

The delicate, buttery crumb of a madeleine demands careful mixing and resting before the cakes can be baked. To make the batter, the eggs are beaten with sugar for several minutes until they become very smooth and light in color. Next, flour and melted butter are carefully folded into the egg mixture, with a touch of baking powder for leavening. It is crucial that the batter be chilled for a length of time to allow the flour to hydrate without being over-mixed. There are many variations on the standard recipe for madeleine, and they may be flavored with the addition of zests, spices, vanilla beans, extracts, cocoa powder, or ground nuts.

When making madeleines:

Fold the flour and butter in carefully, to avoid developing gluten.
Grease the madeleine molds well with butter, then dust the buttered molds with either flour or sugar so that the cakes will easily release after baking.
Be sure to give the batter time to rest and chill in the fridge.
Mounding on the back of the cakes is normal and completely expected—don't panic if your madeleines have little humps on their backs

Click through the slideshow for a step-by-step tutorial and best practices for making madeleines. Then try making some yourself using this recipe for Vanilla Bean Madeleines (which can easily be adapted for other flavors), based on an original by Dorie Greenspan.

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Vanilla Bean Madeleines »

Sweet Technique: How To Make Layer Cakes from a Single Sheet

2012-03-19T12:00:00Z

VIEW SLIDESHOW: Sweet Technique: How To Make Layer Cakes from a Single Sheet

[Photograph: Lauren Weisenthal]

Professional cake makers have a little secret up their sleeves that they don't want you to know about. Next time you're enjoying a piece of wedding cake and wondering how the baker achieves such perfectly uniform layers of cake, here is one possible answer: the cake layers are actually punched out from single sheets of cake. Some layers may even be pieced together from the scraps left over from punching out other circles or squares.

I love this method because it calls for pans that you already have and which can be used for a million different things. It only takes a tiny application of butter to hold down a single piece of parchment, and as long as you spread the batter evenly, the three layers will all be of uniform thickness and flatness, no leveling required. The baking and turning process becomes a cinch with a single pan to watch, and, when it comes time to decorate, you can skip the leveling process that is usually required for round cakes because sheets of cake barely dome on top at all.

If you're a baker who hates fussing with cake layers, or who hates having tons of different pans around to accommodate different sizes (like me!), then this is a great method to know. Consider the time and money saved on buying tons of pans of different sizes, on cutting out rounds of parchment, greasing each pan, divvying up the batter with a scale to get uniform amounts in each, and fretting over rotating the pans in the oven so that each layer cooks evenly and at the same rate. It really adds up. Have I sold you yet? Great!

Here are two very important tips to remember when using this method:

Be sure to start with a template that you will use to cut the layers, and be sure that you'll have enough cake to make the completed cake or cakes that you desire. I like to trace the layers onto the parchment liner before I apply it, just to be sure.
For greater stability, it's a good idea to make the middle layer of the cake the one that gets pieced together—never the bottom layer, and only the top if you're not going to build tiers on top of it.

Click through the slideshow to see how it's done. Then check out this recipe for a Chocolate Cake with Whipped Ganache Frosting that will appeal to chocolate lovers and cake fanatics alike.

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Chocolate Cake with Whipped Ganache Frosting »

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Sweet Technique: How to Make Pâte Sucrée

2012-03-12T12:15:00Z

VIEW SLIDESHOW: Sweet Technique: How to Make Pâte Sucrée

[Photograph: Lauren Weisenthal]

Pâte sucrée (pronounced pat-sue-cray) is the sweet, crumbly dough that gives tarts a sturdy, tender base for custards, creams, and fruit. When it's made well, pâte sucrée has the crumbly texture of a buttery sable cookie. It tastes like shortbread but is able to support even the heaviest filling without falling to pieces. The most basic version contains just butter, sugar, eggs, cream, flour, and salt, but I like to experiment with flavors that complement the filling within by adding cocoa powder, coconut, or extracts accordingly.

When making a simple dough like pâte sucrée, the devil is in the details. Taking the extra time to mix the dough properly is always important, and so is having the patience and planning for chilling the dough, carefully rolling and shaping the dough to ensure that it's of uniform thickness so that it bakes evenly and doesn't break, and allowing the tart shell to properly cool before filling.

When you are making a tart shell with pâte sucrée, be sure to follow these guidelines:

Plan ahead for full chilling. The dough requires two turns in the fridge, at least two hours to chill down after mixing (it can be made up to two days in advance or frozen and thawed for use), and then an additional hour once the dough has been formed in the tart pan.
Avoid over-mixing the dough. More mixing than necessary will cause the gluten to develop, making the dough difficult to work with and producing a tough crust.
When chilling the formed tart, leave some overhang around the sides to compensate for shrinkage.

Click through the slideshow to learn tips and tricks along the way. Then, check out this recipe for basic pâte sucrée, bake yourself a tart shell, and fill it with pastry cream and fruit, caramel and chocolate, or whatever else your heart desires.

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Pâte Sucrée »

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Sweet Technique: How to Make Biscotti

2012-03-05T13:25:00Z

VIEW SLIDESHOW: Sweet Technique: How to Make Biscotti

[Photograph: Lauren Weisenthal]

There's a time and a place for biscotti, and when the moment's right it's great to know how to make a batch. They are the perfect pairing for coffee or tea&mdash when you want a little something sweet but you're not quite in the mood for a sugary cookie or other dessert. Biscotti are both easy to package without breaking and extremely shelf stable, making them a thoughtful and pretty homemade gift or cookie jar staple.

The word biscotti comes from Latin roots that mean "twice cooked or baked", which describes the process that makes them unique. Biscotti take two turns through the oven: a first time with the dough formed into a long, narrow loaf, and a second with the loaf cut into slices, placed on a wire rack, and baked until crisp.

When making biscotti, here are a few basics to keep in mind:

Avoid overworking the dough, or the biscotti will be tough
Be sure to use a serrated knife when cutting the biscotti before the second bake
Use an oven-safe cooling rack to ensure even baking on both sides
Allow the biscotti to cool completely before storing

For a complete tutorial, click through the slide show. Then head on over to these recipes for Chocolate Peanut and Maple Walnut Biscotti—you can enjoy them now, or save them for a rainy afternoon.

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Chocolate Peanut Biscotti »

Maple Walnut Biscotti »

Recipes!

Sweet Technique: How to Make Pastry Cream

2012-02-27T13:30:00Z

VIEW SLIDESHOW: Sweet Technique: How to Make Pastry Cream

[Photograph: Lauren Weisenthal]

Pastry cream is the unsung hero of the dessert world. You may know it best as the filling in your cream puff, the "cream" in a Boston Cream pie, or the "pudding" in banana cream pie. It's especially worshipped by French pastry chefs; I challenge you to order something from a pâtisserie that doesn't contain it. Simply put, pastry cream makes good desserts better with its creamy, oozy richness, by adding flavor and smooth texture to anything it touches.

Beyond adding incredible creamy texture and richness to desserts, pastry cream is also a great vehicle for flavor. Much like creme anglaise (the base used to make ice cream), the milk for pastry cream may be steeped with spices, herbs, espresso, or vanilla bean to impart flavor, or mixed with melted chocolates, extracts, or nut pastes. Its versatility provides cooks the ability to inject subtle flavor into desserts and pastries. With little effort and some imagination, ordinary looking desserts can be enhanced with unexpected flavors.

When making and using pastry cream remember these important tips:

Always set up everything that you will need before you start. Once you start cooking you cannot stop, so be prepared for each step of the process and get organized before you begin.
Proper tempering of the eggs with hot milk is an important part of the process. Here is a great tutorial on the tempering process.
Remember to keep whisking the pastry cream the entire time that it is set on the stove. if you do not keep it moving, it will burn to the bottom of the pan.
Once the pastry cream bubbles, continue whisking over low heat for two additional minutes.
Keep in mind that cooled pastry cream does not appear creamy at all (it will be solid and rubbery). Before using, it must be whipped. Many recipes call for the pastry cream to also be lightened by folding in whipped cream before using.

Once you have mastered the technique of making pastry cream, the sky is the limit to what you can slather it on or between, or what you'll inject it into. I love it as a base for fruit tarts, a filling for eclairs, napoleons, strudel, and jalousie, and there's nothing as amazing as a yeasted doughnut, still warm from the fryer, pumped full of pastry cream. Here's a recipe for vanilla to get you started, and a chocolate variation as well.

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Chocolate Pastry Cream

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Sweet Technique: How to Make Perfect Pound Cake

2012-02-21T15:30:00Z

VIEW SLIDESHOW: Sweet Technique: How to Make Perfect Pound Cake

[Photograph: Lauren Weisenthal]

Pound cake might be the worst-named food in the world. True, it's a good description of the contents (a pound of flour, a pound of butter, etc.) but when I'm considering a cake indulgence, I think that it's pretty lame to remind me of the consequences to my waistline before even taking a bite. It's a miracle that, despite its terrible branding, pound cake has stood the test of time.

That's because pound cake is one of the best dessert delivery systems out there. When I look at pound cake, I see a blank canvas that's begging to be painted with macerated fruits, drizzled with chocolaty syrups, piled with dollops of whipped cream. It has the perfect texture for soaking up juices and sauces, and unlike some other cakes, it doesn't go to mush.

To make a great pound cake, one that has a moist, even crumb and a surprising amount of flavor from such few ingredients, stick with the classic 1:1:1:1 pound ratio of butter, sugar, eggs, and flour, and add flavor to enhance it. My favorite flavoring are the seeds scraped from a real vanilla bean, but extracts, zest, or spices may also be added.

Here are some tips for a great cake with a moist and even crumb:

Prepare pans with butter and parchment so the cakes come out of the pan without sticking
Take the time to properly cream the butter and sugar so it's fluffy and light
Be sure to avoid over-mixing the batter once dry ingredients are added
Allow the cake to cool completely before serving

Click through the slideshow to learn step by step tips for pound cake success, then go ahead a make a few—one to enjoy now, and one to freeze for a rainy day.

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Vanilla Bean Pound Cake »

About the author: Lauren Weisenthalhas logged many hours working in restaurant kitchens and bakeries of Brooklyn and Manhattan. She is a graduate of the Artisan Bread Baking and Pastry Arts programs at the French Culinary Institute. You can follow her on Twitter at @evillagekitchen.

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Sweet Technique: How to Make Frozen Mousse Bombes

2012-02-13T13:15:00Z

VIEW SLIDESHOW: Sweet Technique: How to Make Frozen Mousse Bombes

[Photograph: Lauren Weisenthal]

If you're ever in the mood to put together a fancy dessert at home, mousse bombes are a fantastic way to go. They satisfy my craving for many things at once; a little cake, a little frozen mousse, and a surprise bit of fresh fruit, jelly, or nuts. Best of all, they have a gorgeous, smooth shell of chocolate that looks as beautiful as it tastes, giving you the dramatic payoff of a plated dessert with just a little effort.

These are the perfect thing for people who love customizing their treats. Don't like white chocolate? Simply use milk or dark. Have a great recipe for a salted caramel mousse? Have at it! When you consider all of the different flavor variations for the cake, mousse, hidden surprise, and the shell, the combinations are more dizzying than a trip to Sixteen Handles. Only with these, the end product is guaranteed to look elegant and refined.

When making frozen mousse bombs, here are some tips to consider:

If making the shells with milk or dark chocolate, tempering the chocolate will prevent white streaks from forming.
Mousse that contains gelatin is ideal to help it hold its shape as the bombe melts a bit.
Virtually any cake sponge baked in a flat sheet can be used (or, alternatively, a flourless meringue-based cookie).
For best appearance, cut the round of cake exactly to the size of the bombe's footprint.

The silicone dome molds for making bombes are affordable; they go for less than ten dollars on Amazon. Get one, then let your imagination go as you plan flavor combinations for your own mousse bombs, or, click over to this recipe for one with white chocolate mousse and a frozen raspberry in the center, sitting atop a rich chocolate cake, covered with a thin shell of white chocolate.

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Frozen Mousse Bombes »

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Sweet Technique: How to Make Bonbons

2012-02-06T13:15:00Z

VIEW SLIDESHOW: Sweet Technique: How to Make Bonbons

[Photograph: Lauren Weisenthal]

For Valentine's Day this year, I won't be handing my money over to Hallmark or Hershey's or even Jacques Torres. Instead, I've invested in a gift for myself that will keep on giving to others for years to come: an acrylic bonbon mold and some high-quality, couverture dark chocolate. With these items, I can create chocolate bonbons custom-made to suit my sweetheart's (or my own) tastes.

The great thing about making your own bonbons is that, with a little practice, you can get a finished product that looks absolutely stunning. Properly tempered chocolate, poured into a prepared mold will always yield pieces that are smooth and shiny, like the ones in the glass cases at chocolate shops. But unlike at a chocolate shop, when you make your own bonbons, you have complete control of the flavors and textures within.

Which brings me to the fun part; when you dream in bonbon fillings, the only limit is your own imagination. You can choose buttercream flavored any way you'd like. Or white, milk, or dark chocolate ganache made with cream that's been steeped in herbs, spices, or zest. Nougat, marshmallow, jam... the mind boggles with all the possibilities. My personal favorite is caramel, which can be flavored in a variety of ways (vanilla bean, salt, zest, extracts) and runs a little bit when you bite into it. You can add a little chunk of something as well: a sprinkle of sea salt, a nut, or a bit if candied peel or crispy rice.

When making bonbons, be sure to:

Use couverture chocolate, which contains a higher quantity of cocoa butter, and gives molded chocolate a great shine and snap
Temper the chocolate properly to avoid getting streaky white marks on the bonbons
Gently warm the molds before pouring the chocolate to avoid having cracks or air pockets on the bonbons
Always store chocolate in a cool dry place

And avoid...

Getting even a drop of water in the chocolate you are tempering.
Piping the filling to the top of the bonbon shells; it will make them difficult to seal.
Leaving the molds in the fridge for more than a few minutes at a time.

Before you get started, you'll need a few supplies. You can purchase the couverture chocolate on Amazon.com. Bonbon molds and cocoa butter color are available on the Chef Rubber website.

Nothing says love like custom candy, made with love. For more details, click through the slideshow to learn how to make bonbons for your sweetheart... or yourself.

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Boozy Caramel Bonbons

About the author: Lauren Weisenthalhas logged many hours working in restaurant kitchens and bakeries of Brooklyn and Manhattan. She is a graduate of the Artisan Bread Baking and Pastry Arts programs at the French Culinary Institute. You can follow her on Twitter at @evillagekitchen.

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Sweet Technique: How to make Canelés (Cannelés) de Bordeaux

2012-01-30T13:15:00Z

VIEW SLIDESHOW: Sweet Technique: How to make Canelés (Cannelés) de Bordeaux

[Photograph: Lauren Weisenthal]

I'm typing this post from the floor of my kitchen, where I've been sitting for the past 30 minutes with my forehead pressed against the glass of my oven door. As I write, it's 7 AM on a Saturday, and this post was due days ago. It's been three weeks since I began working on Canelé for my column, and this is what they've reduced me to: crazed, unable to pull myself away, and struggling to put down words that might help you, gentle reader, avoid the madness to which this pastry has driven me.

Up until a few months ago, Canelés were just the stuff of pastry legend, known only by their reputation for being fussy and difficult to make in that just-so way. A trip to New York City's Dominique Ansel Bakery sparked my obsession with the pastry. Holding a perfect one in my hand for the first time, I could only make guesses as to how the baker had achieved such a glassy, caramelized exterior contrasted with an impossibly custardy center. Such a delicious mystery to unravel, I began daydreaming in Canelé. I couldn't wait to do it myself.

It turned out, I was not alone. A Google search revealed that this was well-worn territory, and my friend MaryKate, a veteran of the pastry department of Sullivan Street Baking Co., had been at it for some time too. Since she already had the necessary equipment (a set of aluminum molds) and the knowledge she'd gained from many attempts already under her belt, she volunteered to help me get started. We had major issues with the canelés rising out of their molds, slumping over the sides, then charring bulbously on top. They were delicious, but they didn't score any points in the beauty department. I was disappointed and determined to get it right.

Weeks wore on, and I attempted canelés again and again, obsessed with perfection. I tried new batters, at all different temperatures in different parts of the oven. I tried water baths. I broke down and bought six of the damn copper molds because I had to know. I obsessed over advice generously dispensed from my pastry chef idols via Twitter, swapped secret emails with friends at the best bakeries in New York City. The advice only made things more dizzying. For every chef who swears by beeswax there is another who prefers a spritz of non-stick spray. Some tout silicone (I was out of money for a high-quality silicone mold—that will have to be a project for another pay period) others said "copper or nothing". At the end of the day, the lesson was clear; each baker has a method that works for him or her, and that's the way to canelé perfection. My method may not work for everyone, but it works for me, and I've found peace with that idea.

If you attempt canelé at home it's important to keep these principles in mind:

A coating of beeswax and butter, frozen to the molds before baking, helps create a protective outer skin that will help protect the shape of the canelés as they bake. Beeswax can be purchased on the Internet or at the honey stand at a farmers market.
High heat at the outset encourages skin formation, especially on the bottom of the mold. To facilitate this, bake on a stone, and preheat the baking sheet that will hold the molds.
If the canelés rise out of the molds early on without having time to form the protective skin, they will fall over or puff out and will be unable to sink vertically back into the molds. I found it critical to watch them carefully for the first 30-45 minutes, and remove them from the oven before they rose too high in the beginning.
Many people on the internet advise baking until they are nearly black on the tops. I advise against this;- there's a big difference between caramelized and carbonized, in flavor, texture, and appearance. I'm happy to put up with some blond patches to avoid a charred, burned bottom part.
Copper really is the best if your goal is the perfect canelé. However, the aluminum are pretty good too, and if you're okay with canelés that are a little less that perfect, the one's baked in aluminum are still plenty delicious and cost a fraction of the price of the copper.
Practice makes perfect, and mistakes are still delicious.

I'm proud of the final product, and glad that I will be able to sleep better having achieved it. Click through the slideshow to see some tricks and examples from what to expect during the baking process, then try it yourself, if you dare.

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Canelés (Cannelés) de Bordeaux »

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