Cannelé
from Chez Jacques
yield: about 22 cookies
Cannelé are little cookies from the Bordeaux area of France. They are called cannelé after the little molds they are cooked in, which are fluted or ridged, and they are made from crêpe batter with a lot of sugar, which eventually crystallizes on the outside during the long cooking, making them crusty on the outside and creamy inside. You can find cannelé in the markets of southern France, and they are highly addictive. They are always the fastest disappearing dessert on my buffet table.
Cannelé pans are tiny, ridged muffin pans, with each cavity holding about 1½ tablespoons of batter. I remember as a child that the original molds were made of copper lined with tin, and it was difficult to get those cookies out of the molds. The chef seasoned them, like iron skillets for omelets, and no one was allowed to use these molds for anything else but cannelé. Now, with molds made of silicon (the same nonstick material used for cookie sheet liners) and sold under the brand name of Gastroflex, cannelé are a cinch to make. They should have a crisp exterior and a soft interior, and they are best at room temperature. They do not freeze well.
I have varied my recipe a few times, like not letting the batter rest as long as the recipe indicates, but I've concluded that it is necessary for the batter to rest for at least twelve hours or a bit longer.
Put 2 tablespoons of butter and 1 cup of milk in a large glass bowl, and microwave for about 1 minute, until the mixture is warm and the butter has melted. Combine a large whole egg, 1 egg yolk, 1 teaspoon of vanilla (if using Mexican vanilla, which is quite strong) or 1½ to 2 teaspoons of regular vanilla extract, and ¼ cup of dark rum. Mix well with a whisk. Add to the milk-butter mixture, and mix well.
In another bowl large enough to hold the finished batter, combine ½ cup of all-purpose flour with 2/3 cup of sugar. Pour about 1/3 of the milk mixture into the flour-sugar mixture, and mix well with a whisk. (The goal is to make a thick mixture that becomes very smooth as the whisk threads go through it. If all the liquid is added at once, the batter will be lumpy and require straining.) Add the rest of the liquid to this thick mixture, and mix it in; there is no danger of it becoming lumpy at this point. Cover, and refrigerate overnight.
The next day, preheat the oven to 300°F. Fill the small Gastroflex molds with the batter. Notice that the batter has thickened slightly. There should be enough to make 20 to 22 cookies. Bake for about 30 minutes, and then increase the heat to 400°F, and continue baking for another 40 minutes or so, until the cannelé are puffy, dark brown, and crystallized on top and around the sides. Let cool on a wire rack for a few minutes, and then unmold and cool on the rack until serving time.
Excerpted from Chez Jacques
Copyright © 2007 by Jacques Pepin. All rights reserved.
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