Cannelés

Canele, cannele, canelle — there seem to be an awful lot of ways to spell this small French pastry with a hard, crispy, caramelized exterior and a soft, custardy inside. And that’s even before we non-French speakers try to pronounce them (“What? You’re making cannollis?” “No, canneles!”). To be serious, canelés or canelés of Bordeaux are credited as originating in the Bordeaux region of France. Similar to how only sparkling wine from the Champagne region of France can be champagne, only canelés pastries from Bordeaux can use the spelling with a single “n.” The rest are cannelés. Regardless of the spelling, the pastry’s egg custard batter is baked in a special mold that creates beautiful tea-sized cakes. But enough talk, let’s get to the sweets.

I say sweets, but they really aren’t overwhelmingly sweet. Or rich. While I was only able to get 12 cannelés from the 2″x2″ Master Class canelle form pan from MeinCupcake.de that I used, relatively speaking when compared to other pastries, the recipe doesn’t call for that much butter or sugar. What also makes this recipe a little different is that you use a food processor. Everything goes right in and you just pulse away. While they look fancy and difficult, they’re really quite easy. Cannelés are a sure-fire way to impress!

What I really love about the Master Class canelle form pan that I used is that it’s fantastic quality. It’s very heavy duty and it’s got a double non-stick coating. What that means is that it doesn’t require any extra special care or love that a copper or tin pan would and it’s, obviously, more rigid than a silicon mold. Then there’s the double non-stick coating. Anytime I bake anything in a mold or a pan, I hold my breath when removal time comes along. I didn’t have a single problem with sticking: it was fantastic.

(Based on Anne Zimmerman’s recipe at thekitchn)

Ingredients

2 cups whole milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and diced
3/4 cup cake flour
Pinch of salt
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons superfine or baker’s sugar (note: see step 1 of the recipe)
4 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon dark rum or 1 1/2 teaspoon of rum extract
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

If you are unable to fine superfine or baker’s sugar, pulse the sugar in a food processor until a fine powder.
Combine the milk and 1 tablespoon of vanilla in a saucepan and set over low heat. Heat to 183 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a food processor, combine the butter, cake flour and salt. Pulse until combined.
Add the sugar to the food processor. Pulse until combined.
Add the egg yolks to the food processor. Pulse until the mixture combines to a soft golden with a dough-like consistency. (It won’t combine to a proper “dough.”)
With the food processor on, quickly and steadily pour the hot milk into the mixture in the food processor. Pulse until combined.
Pour the batter through a fine sieve and into a container.
Stir in the rum and 1 teaspoon of vanilla.
Let the mixture cool then cover and refrigerate overnight.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit or 375 if using a convection oven.
Remove the batter from the refrigerator and stir to recombine anything that separated overnight.
Thoroughly grease your cannelé mold.
Pour the batter into the molds leaving a brief gap between the batter and the top of the mold. (During baking, the pastries will swell like cupcakes with rounded tops but will bake down over time.)
Place in the oven. Bake for 2 hours or 1 hour and 15 minutes if using a convection oven.
Serve warm.