"Chocolate Desserts" by Pierre Herme (Part 1)

[kthull]

Patrick, those look beautiful! I bought a madeleine plaque two years ago and haven't used it yet. I've been eyeing the recipe in this book (along with others) and almost made them for Christmas. Good to know you can get good humps sooner than an overnight sitting.

[R Washburn]

Great looking desserts everyone. I am definitely going to try out the "Pave" recipe tonight.

Has anyone tackled the "Plaisir sucre" yet?

I have been mulling over trying to assemble it inside of individual chocolate cups in an attempt to emulate the original "cherry on the cake" creation, with the layer prepared as disks instead of squares.

[Dorie Greenspan]

Patrick -- The madeleines look great! I may never wait overnight again. Thank youl.

R Washburn, the Plaisir Sucre is pretty fragile. I think if you want to mold the cakes in cups you probably should think about lining the cups with plastic, so you can lift the desserts out of the cups rather than having to attempt to unmold them. The easiest thing to do would be to use dessert rings, so you can just lift the circles off the dessert when you're ready to serve.

[JanMcBaker]

I'm not making anything from CDBPH this weekend, but I have made something from the earlier Herme/Greenspan 'Desserts' book - Herme's Lemon Cream. This can be used as filling for Herme's lemon tart, or as a middle stratum between chocolate cakes in Herme's Riviera. This is easily the creamiest and most delicious lemon 'curd' I've ever had. Its lighter in color because it has so much butter, and because it is whipped with an immersion blender to finish. I could really just eat this stuff all by itself, something I cant say about any other lemon 'curd.' I've been tasked with making "something lemon" for my father on his upcoming 60th birthday, and I don't know yet what I'll prepare, but this will be a part of it.

That lemon curd looks amazing..... like a glowing, golden lemon cream rather than the kind of bright lemon yellow curds that I've made-- which were good, but that looks incredible. I did make small cream puffs once with lemon curd mixed with whipped cream. They came out nice with a light leomon flavor. However, after reading about this lemon curd, I don't know if more cream is needed! My resolve is weakening after reading the posts on this thread... I had told myself that I wasn't going to buy any more cookbooks...... so much for that resolution!

[M. Lucia]

The paves, the lemon curd, the mousse, it's all just too much!

Everything looks lovely, great madeleines Patrick.

One of the great things about following this thread is it has made me interested in things I would not have considered making, like the black forest cake and madeleines.

I am intrigued by the technique for the chocolate mousse, it looks so luscious.

So, I've requested the book from my library (perhaps another EG'er has it?). I don't know if/when I'll be able to join in but I really look forward to getting the book.

[FoodMan]

These are perfect looking Madeleins. Alas, I have no Madelein pans so I cannot try them anytime soon.

Elie

[Wendy DeBord]

At the risk of sounding like a nit picker..........I don't think you can label Herme's lemon cream as synonymous with lemon curd. They are very similar and start out being the same thing but his addition of butter by whipping it in changes not only the texture but it changes the tange/taste, toning down the lemon quite a bit.

Just my opinion.........

[Patrick S]

Since precision in language is always a virtue, I say never apologize for picking nits. And at any rate, the book itself calls it Lemon Cream rather than lemon curd. On the other hand, lemon cream grades into lemon curd, is made basically the same way and with the same ingredients, so that there is no real dividing line between the two things as far as I can tell. I don't think that it would be inaccurate to refer to the lemon cream as 'an exceptionally creamy lemon curd.'

Edited January 13, 2005 by Patrick S (log)

[Patrick S]

R Washburn -- I sure haven't tried the Plasir Sucre, but I can assure you that I have salivated every time I've passed the photo in the book!

Question: In both of the Herme 'Desserts' books, the sweet tart shells in all of the photographs are uniformly browned, to a shade like that of dark brown sugar. I've used the sweet tart dough recipe several times, and I like it very much, but I never get that dark of a sucree crust. Mine are much lighter in color, even if I cook them longer than the max time in the recipe. Same for those I've seen posted to this thread. Can anyone tell me how to make sucree shells that look like those in the book? Use egg wash? Bake longer? Sprinkle holy water on the stove while the shells are cooking?

[FoodMan]

Not exactly a recipe from the book, but I did stuff those crepes with the bittersweet ganache from the book.

Elie

[SethG]

I had a good run of weekend baking going, but after failing to bake this past weekend, I'm afraid I won't be able to bake either this weekend or the next one after that. I find this situation simply unacceptable-- I cannot let three weeks pass without a visit to the world of Pierre Herme! So I think I'm just going to have to make something from the book in the middle of this coming week. I haven't decided what, though. I still have some sweet tart dough in my freezer, but I might do something quick like the mousse. (I don't have the book with me, but I believe that one is pretty quick, right?)

Edit: Those crepes look great, Elie!

Edited January 14, 2005 by SethG (log)

[FoodMan]

Seth- I am afraid we might have to restrict your access to this thread if you do not bake something before next weekend .

Seriously though, you are correct, the mousse can be made in under 30 minutes. This includes melting and cooling the chocolate.

Elie

[docsconz]

This has been a fabulous thread. While I haven't got the Chocolate Book I did get the Desserts book and made the lemon cream with Meyer lemons. Delicious and surprisingly easy (for me). Next time if I use Meyer lemons I may cut down on the sugar a bit. The Cream was so good, though, that we had it for dessert last night just by itself. Tonight I might make my dark chocolate grilled burritos and use the cram as a sauce over them.

[yellowmnm81]

made the chocolate and lemon madeleines today! well, half made them today! made the batter last night and gave them an overnight rest until today. i had a little trouble with the batter.. i guess either my eggs or butter weren't truly at room temperature so even though i did the smearing (which i'm not sure if i did thoroughly enough??), the butter didn't mix into the eggs and appeared curdled. at first i tried whisking more and then tried to rub the butter into the mixture between my hands.. which was very laborious and i wasn't getting very far. then i remembered i had a hand blender and used that to blend the rest in. after that i finished the rest of the mixing and put it into the fridge. today when i was putting them into the molds, i thought the batter was reaaallyy thick and that i screwed up somewhere.. but after baking them they turned out fine! my humps aren't as pretty as i hoped them to be..some of them came out pretty well and then others didn't have much of a hump. actually, these are my first madeleines so i don't really have anything to compare them to.. but i enjoyed them. good chocolate flavor.. but i didn't really notice any lemon flavor?? perhaps i didn't rub the zest into the sugar enough.. but they're still delightful cookies. nice texture and the shell shape is pleasing to look at and eat!

[Patrick S]

good chocolate flavor.. but i didn't really notice any lemon flavor?? perhaps i didn't rub the zest into the sugar enough..

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Your madeleines look just fine. The recipe calls for zest of 1/4 lemon. I used the zest from 1/2 a largish lemon, and though the lemon flavor was subtle, it was definitely there. For the first few seconds only the chocolate is apparent, and then the lemon flavor creeps up.

It just occured to me these things would be great dipped in hot chocolate. . .

[Dorie Greenspan]

Yellow, I think your madeleines look really good and the humps are pretty humpy.

Patrick, you're right -- madeleines are good dunked into hot chocolate. They're also good -- and very pretty -- dipped to their midway point in ganache or white chocolate.

[bloviatrix]

i guess either my eggs or butter weren't truly at room temperature so even though i did the smearing (which i'm not sure if i did thoroughly enough??), the butter didn't mix into the eggs and appeared curdled.

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Back when the Food network actually showed practical programming, I caught one of Gale Gand's shows. According to her, eggs are the culprit when batter curdles. It means they're too cold.

Edited January 18, 2005 by bloviatrix (log)

[Richard Kilgore]

I have some ganache left over from the tart I did a few weeks ago. The note in the book says it will be good for up to two days in the fridge. I have been chipping off small pieces and eating it out of hand since then. Am I going to die. If so, how long do I have left?

[albiston]

I have some ganache left over from the tart I did a few weeks ago. The note in the book says it will be good for up to two days in the fridge. I have been chipping off small pieces and eating it out of hand since then. Am I going to die. If so, how long do I have left? 

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I was wondering about more or less the same thing some time ago. I intended to turn the extra gancahe into truffles (covered in cocoa powder), but never manage to get around to that. Still think it would be a good idea. The thing that stopped me was, as you mention, the fear it might go bad.

Anyone tried this?

[Wendy DeBord]

Boy, I had to go and look at that recipe to see what was unique about the ganche that it won't hold. The answer is nothing. Hopefully Dorie will explain Herme's intent. But I've held ganches for a month in the cooler, well wrapped. We also hold truffles for that length too.

If you left your tart filled with ganche uncovered in the cooler it would turn bad in a couple days. But what happens is it cracks, dries or turns rubbery and your crust gets moister. Although it does say 2 days in the ganche recipes regardless of the tart shell.

Imagine, if chocolatiers thru out their truffles every 2 days, what the cost would be.

Herme' is a perfectionist and in a perfect world I wouldn't want to hold anything either, everything would be fresh to order. But there's no way that ganche is going to kill you, so relax. When it tastes bad or smells bad then toss it.........chances are you'll have eaten it well before then. You can freeze it, that works very well.

[FoodMan]

I'm still munching on last week's ganache as well. I'm still here.

Elie

[Richard Kilgore]

Great! Not only am I going to live, but I can continue to nibble on it.

[brngckn]

OK, I was actually at home this weekend, so I played "catch up" and made a few items. A word to future Nutella Tart makers - perfectionists should never skin their own hazelnuts!!

[JSkilling]

OK, I was actually at home this weekend, so I played "catch up" and made a few items.  A word to future Nutella Tart makers - perfectionists should never skin their own hazelnuts!! 

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Your picture is hard to see but I popped it into Paint Shop Pro and lightened it up quite a bit. Now I can see beautiful items! They look great, and if you want the newer picture, I'll email it back to you.

[Patrick S]

OK, I was actually at home this weekend, so I played "catch up" and made a few items.  A word to future Nutella Tart makers - perfectionists should never skin their own hazelnuts!! 

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Good job!