Paris Brest has an incredible texture, a crispy crust of choux pastry, topped with hazelnut and almond praline mousseline and topped with crispy toasted almonds, it’s hard not to love this one.
Source: Home Cooking Adventure
Ingredient
Makes about 6-8 servings
Praline Paste (makes a paste about 7 oz – 200g)
1/2 cup (75g) whole hazelnuts
1/2 cup (75g) whole almonds
1/2 cup (100g) sugar
2 tablespoons (30ml) water
a little salt
Choux cake
1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour
Milk 3.5 fl oz (100ml)
3.5 fl oz (100ml) of water
2 teaspoons (10g) sugar
1/2 teaspoon (2g) salt
5 1/2 tablespoons (80g) unsalted butter
4 eggs
Praline Mousseline Creme
2 cups (480 ml) milk
4 egg yolks
1/3 cup (70g) sugar
2 tablespoons (20g) flour
1/4 cup (30g) cornmeal
1 teaspoon (5g) vanilla extract
1 tablespoon (15g) unsalted butter
7 oz (200g) praline paste
2/3 cup (150g) butter, room temperature
Topping
1 egg, smashed
almond flakes
powdered sugar for decoration
1. Prepare the praline paste. Preheat oven to 300F (150C). Place the nuts on a baking tray and let the bread toast for 15 minutes.
2. Transfer the toasted nuts to a clean kitchen towel and rub the nuts to remove as much skin as possible. Let them cool completely.
3. In a small saucepan, heat the sugar and water over medium-high until golden brown. Stir in the nuts to coat the caramel and transfer the praline to a baking tray to cool completely.
4. Break praline into smaller pieces
5. Blend in a food processor until smooth, about 10 minutes.
6. Refrigerate until ready to use.
7. Prepare the choux pastry. Line a baking sheet with parchment and draw an 8-inch (20 cm) circle. Flip the parchment over, making sure the circle is still visible.
8. Preheat oven to 350F (180C).
9. Sift flour. Boil milk, water, sugar, salt and butter in a saucepan.
10. Remove from heat and add flour all at once and combine vigorously mixing with wooden spoon until homogeneous.
11. Place the pan back on low heat and while stirring, cook for 1 or two minutes to draw moisture from the dough and until it pulls away from the walls of the pan. You should see some dough sticking to the bottom of the pan.
12. Transfer dough to a large bowl and let cool. Add the eggs one at a time, carefully mixing each egg into the batter using a wooden spoon or even a stand mixer. It will produce a smooth, uniform powder that will retain its shape.
13. Install a pastry bag with a large ½ inch (1cm) round tip and match two pastry circles side by side following the drawn line. Place another tube on top of the first two. (with the second dough, you can make the paris-brest smaller)
14. Beat with eggs and sprinkle almonds on top.
15. Bake for 45-50 minutes until golden and puffy. Turn off the heat and let cool in the oven for 15 minutes with the door ajar.
16. Remove the toothpick from the oven and insert it into the oven to let the steam out.
17. Cool completely on wire rack.
18. While preparing Praline Mousseline Creme.
19. First you prepare the pastry cream. Beat egg yolks with sugar until slightly pale.
20. Mix cornstarch and flour. Pour milk into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Pour about a third of the hot milk over the egg yolk mixture. Pour the entire mixture into a saucepan with the milk. Cook while stirring until thickened. Keep the heat just enough to cook all the cornmeal. Remove from heat, add vanilla and combine with 1 tablespoon butter.
21. Pour the cream into a clean bowl, let it cool a bit, cover with cling film, and press directly onto the surface of the cake cream to avoid skin formation.
22. When completely chill the mixture until smooth. Add praline paste and mix until combined. Add the butter slowly and continue to mix until creamy.
23. Assemble Paris Brest. Cut the choux pastry in half. Place the bottom portion on a serving plate.
24. Transfer the creme praline mousseline to a piping bag fitted with a 1M star tip. Fill the bottom with 1 icing sugar and then pour 1 thicker and beautifully decorated cream sugar on top.
25. Top with the back half of the pastry.
26. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving.
27. Dust powdered sugar and serve. Keep leftovers in the refrigerator.
