Please help with cannele recipe

[nightscotsman]

hedgehog, what I meant was what's your obsession with them?  I'm quite fond of them as well. Gerard Mulot! Another place where the service drives me insane - thanks for the tip. 

Oh, in that case, there is another patisserie on the other side of the Marche Saint-Germain from Mulot on Rue Mabillon. Sorry I don't remember the name of the place. Smaller selection, but they also make good cannele.

[nightscotsman]

Just this morning I baked up a batch of chocolate canneles from a recipe in "Au Coeur des Saveurs" by Frederic Bau (who attributes the recipe to Vincent Bourdin). The verdict: AWESOME! Crisp/chewy on the outside, like a regular cannele, but the inside is rich, custardy, bittersweet chocolate. Had a little rising problem, but I was able to poke them into submission so they came out OK.

[Schielke]

I humbly request that you save one for me.

Ben

[col klink]

Me too.

[MsRamsey]

I'll be right over!

[hedgehog]

where does the line form?

[mamster]

Me too!

[Louisa Chu]

LOU:    "The fox," you see,"knows many things," wrote the ancient Greek writer Archilochus, "but the hedgehog knows one big thing."  For all the fox's cunning, he is defeated by the hedgehog's one great defense---rolling himself up in a ball to protect himself on all sides with his coat of prickly quills. " Isaih Berlin

[Joni]

Nightscotsman...I looked for the book on Amazon -- yikes! Sounds like a wonderful book but $169??? Would you like to share how different the chocolate ones were from Pierre Herme's recipe? Or, the recipe please???!! They sound wonderful.

[nightscotsman]

Yeah, it's expensive, but a really gorgeous and amazing book. It's aimed squarely at the professional and covers cakes, plated desserts and chocolates. It also goes into the science behind ingredients like cream, butter, chocolate and sugar. Here is the basic recipe for the chocolate canelles (I made a half recipe):

1,000 g milk

2 vanilla beans

150 g butter

200 g bitter sweet chocolate (he specifies Valrhona Extra Amer 67% - but then he works for Valrhona)

450 g confectioners sugar

170 g flour

15 g cocoa

4 whole eggs

4 egg yolks

40 g dark rum

split the vanilla beans and add them to the milk with the butter. bring to a boil, remove the beans and pour over chocolate. Emulsify with a hand blender. whisk together other ingredients and slowly stir in still warm chololate mixture. Chill 24 hours. Bake at 375 F in prepared canelle molds (he says 35 to 40 minutes, but mine took over an hour to develop a good crust). Makes 24-26 2-inch canelles.

[hedgehog]

thank you so much for taking the time to type out the recipe. It looks fantastic.

[Joni]

My thanks to you also for typing it out! As soon as my cannele molds arrive, I will make them!

[nightscotsman]

You're welcome - I hope they turn out well for you.

I don't mean to taunt, but here is a photo of one of mine cut in two so you can see the inside:

[col klink]

They were very tasty NSM, a little soft and gooey on the inside with a nice, almost crisp texture on the outside and all the while not too sweet, just a little to take the bite out of the chocolate. Good work!

[tighe]

I don't mean to taunt, but here is a photo of one of mine cut in two so you can see the inside

Dude!! What kind of cruel and sick mind do you have?? You expect to post pictures like that and still maintain public order? Oh, the humanity!!.....

[mjc]

I don't mean to taunt, but here is a photo of one of mine cut in two so you can see the inside:

I made these chocolate canneles this weekend and was dissapointed in the outside texture, they were soft and not crispy. I have made the classic canneles many many times and they always come out with an excellent crispy crust. Col Klink says his were "almost crisp". What were your chocolate ones like?

[nightscotsman]

I don't mean to taunt, but here is a photo of one of mine cut in two so you can see the inside:

I made these chocolate canneles this weekend and was dissapointed in the outside texture, they were soft and not crispy. I have made the classic canneles many many times and they always come out with an excellent crispy crust. Col Klink says his were "almost crisp". What were your chocolate ones like?

Mine were sort of crunchy/chewy. I did bake them for much longer than the recipe called for - he says 35 to 40 minutes and I let them go for over and hour. It's more difficult to tell when the chocolate ones are done since the batter starts out dark to begin with. The tops should be almost black when they are done. When they're getting close you can take one out and unmold it to check how the rest of the crust is dong, then put it back in if it's not ready. Don't let them go too long though, since they will get crisper as they cool.

Hope that helps.

[mjc]

There is an article about Canneles in today's LA times. I enjoyed this piece since it seemed to somewhat echo my experience and others on this board.

There is a second story about which is better: silicon or metal molds. She concludes silicon, because of ease and cost. I found this piece disapointing, as it seems that the writer might not really understand the tradition/flavor/"craftmanship" of the pastry. I think that using silicon definetly can easily lead to inferior product.

Edited May 7, 2003 by mjc (log)

[rickster]

I've tried 2 different types of silicon molds and 2 different recipes (Silverton's was one of them)and been very disappointed in the results. The crust is rubbery/gummy and they tend to cave in once unmolded. I haven't tried the extra long baking though. It's hard to justify the expense of copper molds though unless you are a real fan of these.

[nightscotsman]

It sounds to me from the second article that they only tried aluminum and not copper pans on the metal side. Hardly a complete and scientific test, especially since copper is the traditional type. I'll stick with my copper, thanks.

Also, the recipe from the first article is radically different from all of the others I've seen, both in books and on-line. None of the others included sweetened condensed milk, dry milk power, or water (why use dry milk and water - why not just use real milk?). Of course I'll have to try it and see if it really is better than Nancy's recipe.

[kitwilliams]

I too am again inspired to get back on the hunt for the perfect canneles bandwagon after seeing the LA Times article today. Finally purchased some beeswax at the farmers market today so will whip up some batter and report back tomorrow...but now, back to my Devon Apple Cake with Sundowner apples and Golden Flame raisins.

[mjc]

Finally purchased some beeswax at the farmers market today so will whip up some batter and report back tomorrow

Just a tip for using the beeswax: I usually melt it on the stove with equal parts of butter and wax. I put the butter and wax on a piece of foil in the pot, so that it doesn't make a mess and its easy to keep the extra. Also I've found that the brush you use to apply it, becomes almost impossible to clean.

[kitwilliams]

For anyone who has not made canneles due to the high cost of the proper copper molds, I have now had great success with the silicon molds. I finally did the beeswax/butter treatment, used Nancy Silverton's recipe (although I reduce the sugar to just 400g (2 cups)) and they were very close to those that I have had at La Brea Bakery. Well, the ones at La Brea Bakery BEFORE it was sold. A beautiful, shiny crust that was crisp and chewy and the moist, custardy interior. And no problem holding their shape.

I'm sure if I were to compare them to canneles made in copper molds I would detect a difference in the crust. But these were damn good until I can afford the copper!

FYI, I got my molds at Bridge Kitchenware.

[nightscotsman]

Good to hear the silcone molds work well. What brand of molds did you end up using? Are they the black ones or the red ones?

I also finally got around to testing the Malgieri recipe that was published in the LA Times (which is the same as the one charlotte baker posted some time ago). They had a good, thick crust and nice interior, but I had the same problem with them rising out of the molds that I mentioned before. I think I will stick with the Silverton recipe since that's the one I've had the most success with.

[Marlene]

And kit your bees sound so cool!

They are, lou...we love them! But our neighbors are scared to death (ooh -- they are probably killer bees!!!) and keep threatening to call local authorities.

Just let them try

I'm going to move my question to a new thread so that it might get the attention it undoubtedly deserves. Ha!

I would never come out of my house! I'm allergic

There are some great recipes here, but I can't put them in the archive because they look like they all come directly from a cookbook. Can someone tell me whether any of them have been altered enough to meet our copywright requirements

Edited June 10, 2003 by Marlene (log)