Urban girl in the kitchen: Profiteroles - sort of...
Hello! Has everyone been enjoying the weekend sunshine? It's like summer finally showed its face, if only for a day or two - wasn't it glorious? I've been making the most of it and spending as much time outdoors as possible, just sitting and reading all weekend. Not very exciting stuff, but very relaxing!
Anyway, last time I blogged, I mentioned that I'd bought a copy of James Martin's Desserts. I've spent hoursdrooling flicking through the glossy pictures since then. Anyhoo, I said I was going to make profiteroles. I've seen plenty of chefs do it on TV and it didn't look too hard in the book either, so I thought it'd be really straightforward if I followed the recipe correctly. How hard can it be to make choux pastry..?
It turns out, it's quite hard..!
Mr Martin, confusingly, has 2 different recipes for making choux pastry in his book. I followed one of them to the tee, picturing nice, fluffy, hollow little balls that I could then fill with delicious vanilla cream and then drizzle my glossy perfect sauce over - yum! However, what I ended up with can only be described as ... biscuits. Quite tasty biscuits, mind, but biscuits all the same.
I think my dough was waay too wet (even though I only put a third of the egg in) because the pastry collapsed onto the tray, just like cookies are supposed to. Oh dear. You can see the results below. I baked 2 batches, and although the second batch was significantly more choux-like than the first, they were still too flat and didn't rise enough.
So, my first baking-'disaster'! I've always been quite lucky with my baking thus far, but I guess that had to end sometime! :) Next time, I'm following Gordon Ramsay's recipe (video)!
In the end, I whipped up some cream, made the chocolate sauce (which was yum!) and suck the whole lot on top - profiteroles, but not in the traditional sense. It was still delicious, and come on, who needs tradition anyway..? ;)
Hope you're all enjoying the sunshine! xxx
Anyway, last time I blogged, I mentioned that I'd bought a copy of James Martin's Desserts. I've spent hours
It turns out, it's quite hard..!
Mr Martin, confusingly, has 2 different recipes for making choux pastry in his book. I followed one of them to the tee, picturing nice, fluffy, hollow little balls that I could then fill with delicious vanilla cream and then drizzle my glossy perfect sauce over - yum! However, what I ended up with can only be described as ... biscuits. Quite tasty biscuits, mind, but biscuits all the same.
I think my dough was waay too wet (even though I only put a third of the egg in) because the pastry collapsed onto the tray, just like cookies are supposed to. Oh dear. You can see the results below. I baked 2 batches, and although the second batch was significantly more choux-like than the first, they were still too flat and didn't rise enough.
So, my first baking-'disaster'! I've always been quite lucky with my baking thus far, but I guess that had to end sometime! :) Next time, I'm following Gordon Ramsay's recipe (video)!
In the end, I whipped up some cream, made the chocolate sauce (which was yum!) and suck the whole lot on top - profiteroles, but not in the traditional sense. It was still delicious, and come on, who needs tradition anyway..? ;)
Pandy's profiterole-surprise.. :)
I might try the chocolate and macadamia nut cake next. Fingers crossed that it's not as flat as my chouxs!Hope you're all enjoying the sunshine! xxx
(Hope you are ok!)
xxxx
It's the the ideal weather for sofa flying, book browsing and lawn lounging, all of which are very relaxing!
Take care and hugs. xx
I am very impressed that you are trying everything though,a nd they look good in the pics. Good luck on the next one.
I've had a baking disaster, and only my landlord was brave enough to try it. It was brownies from a recipe my mother copied out of an old Canadian book and emailed to me. Either she missed something, or ingredients here are not like there.
Miss you.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxx
:)
xoxoxoxoxox