Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 2
Page 50
¼ cup egg whites (about 2 egg whites)
⅓ cup all-purpose flour (measure by scooping dry-measure cup into flour; sweep off excess with knife)
A sieve or sifter
A rubber spatula
Beat the butter, sugar, and lemon or orange rind in the bowl with electric mixer or wooden spoon until pale and fluffy. Pour in the egg whites and mix a few seconds, only just enough to blend. Place flour in sieve or sifter and shake it over the batter, rapidly folding it in with rubber spatula.
2) Forming, baking, and shaping—oven preheated to 425 degrees
NOTE: If this is the first time you have done this type of cookie, experiment with one or two first so that you will understand the system of baking, removing, and molding; they are easy to do as soon as you know what to expect.
A rubber spatula and a dessert spoon
A kitchen timer
A flexible-blade spatula (blade should be at least 8 inches long) for unmolding cookies
The oiled cups or bowls for unmolding the cookies
A cake rack or racks
Using rubber spatula to dislodge the batter, place a 1½-tablespoon gob in the center of each of the 4 circles on one of the baking sheets. Using back of spoon, smear the batter out to fill the circles; it will be less than ⅛ inch thick. Place in middle level of preheated oven, set timer for 5 minutes, and bake until cookies have browned lightly, either to within an inch of the center, or in large splotches. (Form cookies on second sheet while these are baking.)
As soon as they are done, set baking sheet on open oven door so that cookies will stay warm and pliable—they crisp immediately they cool, and then cannot be molded. Working rapidly, slide long side of spatula blade under one cookie to scrape and lift it off the baking sheet; turn in upside down over one of the oiled cups or bowls, and press into the cup with your fingers. Rapidly remove a second cookie from the sheet and press into second cup. Immediately take first cookie out of first cup—they crisp in seconds—and place on rack. Rapidly mold the third cookie, and finally the fourth. (They will be fragile, so handle with care.)
Close oven door and wait for a few minutes for temperature to return to 425 degrees; bake and mold the second sheet of cookies.
3) Storing and serving
Cookies will stay crisp for several days in dry weather if stored airtight; for longer storage, freeze them. Spoon sherbet, ice cream, or fruits into the cookie cups just before serving. For fruit sherbets or ice cream, such as strawberry, save some of the fruit to decorate top of each serving.
LE KILIMANJARO—GLACE AU CHOCOLAT, PRALINÉE
[Chocolate-Burnt-Almond Ice Cream]
For lovers of chocolate and ice cream, we think this is the best combination we know.
For 6 cups, serving 6 to 8 people
1) Toasted almond brittle—pralin aux amandes—for 1 cup
4 ounces (about 1 cup) blanched almonds
A pizza tray or roasting pan
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread almonds in tray or pan, set in middle level, and roast 10 to 15 minutes, stirring up several times, until they are a walnut brown. Remove from oven.
½ cup sugar
3 Tb water
A small, heavy saucepan with cover
The almonds in a bowl
The roasting pan, lightly oiled
An electric blender
Combine sugar and water in saucepan and set over moderately high heat. Swirl pan slowly by its handle, but do not stir sugar with a spoon while liquid is coming to the boil. Continue swirling for a moment while liquid boils and changes from cloudy to perfectly clear.
Cover pan, raise heat to high, and boil for several minutes until bubbles are thick and heavy. Uncover, and continue boiling, swirling gently, until syrup turns a nice caramel brown. Remove from heat and stir in the almonds; immediately turn out into oiled pan. When cold and hard, in 20 minutes or so, break up; grind a half cupful at a time in electric blender.
(*) AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE: Pralin freezes perfectly for several months in an airtight jar.
2) The chocolate ice cream
½ cup sugar
⅓ cup water
A 6-cup saucepan with cover
2 Tb instant coffee
6 ounces semisweet baking chocolate
2 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate
A larger saucepan of simmering water removed from heat
A wooden spoon
crème Chantilly:
2 cups chilled heavy cream in a 2½-quart bowl
A large bowl containing a trayful of ice cubes and water to cover them
A hand-held electric beater
A rubber spatula
Combine sugar and water in saucepan; swirl over heat until sugar has dissolved completely, and liquid is perfectly clear. Remove from heat; stir in the coffee. Break up the chocolate, stir it in, cover, and set in the pan of hot water. While chocolate is melting, beat the cream into Chantilly as follows.
Set bowl of cream over ice cubes and water. Circulating beater about bowl to incorporate as much air as possible, beat until cream has doubled in volume and beater leaves light traces on surface.
The pralin from Step 1 (save 2 to 3 Tb for final decoration, Step 3)
With the electric beater, whip the chocolate until perfectly smooth and shiny. Beat the chocolate for a moment over ice to cool it, then beat in about half a cup of the crème Chantilly. Finally, fold the chocolate mixture into the Chantilly along with the pralin.
3) Molding, freezing, and serving—freezing time 2 hours minimum
If you are in a hurry: A 6- to 8-cup pan, or ice trays 2 inches deep
Otherwise: A 6-cup conical mold, or a narrow bowl or dish with rounded bottom, to give the effect of a mountain peak
Immediately turn the ice cream mixture into pan, pans, or mold. Cover with plastic wrap, and freeze. If you have used a shallow pan, the cream should be ready to unmold in about 2 hours; you will probably need 4 hours for a mold or a bowl.
A chilled serving dish
1 cup heavy cream beaten into Chantilly (as in Step 2), sweetened to taste with confectioner’s sugar and flavored with ½ tsp vanilla extract
The reserved 2 to 3 Tb pralin
Just before serving, dip pan or mold in tepid water to loosen the ice cream. Turn serving dish upside down over mold, and reverse the two to unmold ice cream onto dish. Top with the crème Chantilly, sprinkle with the pralin, and announce the name of your snow-capped mountain as you bring it to the table.
MOUSSE GLACÉE, PRALINÉE AUX NOIX—APPAREIL À BOMBE
[Walnut-caramel Ice Cream—or Filling for Bombes Glacées]
French frozen mousses are of two types, one with sugar syrup and cream, and the other like this, with custard and cream. Using this base, you may incorporate any flavoring you wish, from melted chocolate to crushed pineapple, and from crumbled peppermint sticks to walnut brittle. It makes a tender, smooth ice cream, suitable for freezing in a serving bowl, in a soufflé dish, in parfait glasses, or to be packed into a decorative mold lined with regular ice cream.
For 1½ quarts, serving 8 to 10 people
1) Walnut brittle and caramelized walnuts—pralin aux noix—2½ cups
1⅓ cups sugar
½ cup water
A heavy 2-quart saucepan with cover
8 ounces (2 cups) shelled walnuts (some may be walnut pieces; 8 perfect halves needed)
A lightly oiled baking sheet
A fork, for taking walnuts out of caramel
An electric blender
Combine sugar and water in saucepan, and set over moderately high heat. Swirl pan slowly by its handle, but do not stir sugar with a spoon while liquid is coming to the boil. Continue swirling for a moment as liquid boils and changes from cloudy to perfectly clear. Cover pan, raise heat to high, and boil for several minutes until bubbles are thick and heavy. Uncover, and continue boiling, swirling gently, until syrup turns a nice caramel brown.
Immediately remove from heat and add the 8 p
erfect walnut halves; quickly take them out one by one with fork, drain off excess caramel, and place right-side up at one end of baking sheet. If caramel has thickened or begun to harden, set over heat again to liquefy. Remove from heat and pour in the rest of the walnuts; stir about with fork, and turn out onto baking sheet. (Do not wash out caramel-cooking pan; reserve for next step.) When caramel-walnut mixture has hardened, in about 20 minutes, break it up into 1-inch pieces. Grind in electric blender, flicking switch on and off rapidly so that some pieces will remain ⅛ inch in size, to give texture and interest to the mousse.
(*) AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE: Both pralin and caramelized walnuts freeze perfectly for several months in an airtight container.
2) The ice cream mixture—appareil à bombe
½ cup milk heated in the caramel-cooking pan
4 egg yolks in a 2½- to 3-quart stainless steel bowl (metal is preferable because easy to heat and cool)
A hand-held electric mixer
The ground pralin; some for now, some for later
A pan of almost simmering water, large enough to hold bowl for egg yolks
A wooden spoon
A second bowl with 2 trays of ice cubes and water to cover them, to hold the first bowl
¼ cup kirsch or dark rum
Set milk over low heat, stirring occasionally, to melt the caramel. Meanwhile, beating the egg yolks, gradually incorporate 1 cup of the pralin and continue beating until mixture is thick and sticky. By driblets, beat in the hot milk, then set bowl in the pan of almost simmering water. Stir rather slowly with spoon, reaching all over bottom of bowl, until custard gradually warms through and thickens enough to coat spoon with a creamy layer. (Be careful custard does not overheat and curdle the egg yolks; however, you must warm it to the point where it thickens.)
Immediately remove from heat and beat in another cup of the pralin to stop the cooking. Then, with electric mixer, beat over ice 5 minutes or so, until thoroughly chilled and mixture forms a thick ribbon when a bit is dropped from beater back onto the surface. Beat in the kirsch or rum, and all the rest of the pralin (unless you wish to reserve 2 to 3 tablespoons for decorations); final addition of pralin does not melt, because mousse is now cold.
1 cup chilled heavy cream in a 2- to 2½-quart bowl
The electric beater (blades need not be washed)
A rubber spatula
Remove custard mixture from ice, and replace with the cream bowl. Beat cream into Chantilly by circulating electric beater about bowl to incorporate as much air as possible; continue beating until cream has doubled in volume and beater leaves light traces on surface of cream. Fold the cream into the chilled custard, and mousse is ready for freezing.
3) Freezing and serving suggestions
Freezing times at zero degrees or less: 3 hours for individual servings or parfaits; 6 hours for bowls, molds, and bombe glacée.
MOUSSE GLACÉE OR PARFAIT
Pile the chilled mousse into a decorative serving bowl or into individual serving dishes or parfait glasses. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze. At serving time, decorate with caramelized walnuts and/or pralin; parfaits are usually topped with a swirl of whipped cream before the walnuts or pralin goes on. (See note on frozen swirls at end of recipe.)
SOUFFLÉ GLACÉ
Surround a 4- to 5-cup soufflé dish with a strip of lightly oiled (tasteless salad oil) foil or waxed paper tied or pinned in place, to make a collar that sticks 1½ inches above rim of dish. Pile the chilled mousse into the dish, letting it rise ½ to ¾ inch up the collar; lay plastic wrap over top of collar and freeze the mousse at least 6 hours. Remove collar just before serving, and decorate top of soufflé with caramelized walnuts and/or pralin.
BOMBE GLACÉE
Follow directions for bombe glacée à l’abricot.
Frozen Whipped Cream Swirls
You may form whipped cream swirls, rosettes, or other designs on a plate or baking sheet lined with waxed paper; cover the swirls and freeze them. At serving time, peel them off the paper, and place upon the dessert. For this, the cream must be a little stiffer than the usual Chantilly so that it will hold its shape enough to be formed; when stiff enough, fold in confectioner’s sugar and vanilla to taste, pack the cream into a pastry bag or paper decorating cone, and make the designs. (See directions for making paper decorating cones.)
LE SAINT-CYR, GLACÉ
[Frozen Chocolate Mousse Molded in Meringues]
Here is a handsome dessert for those happy times when you can indulge in whipped cream and chocolate. It is a mold of frozen chocolate mousse in the form of a cylinder with ribbons of white meringue marching around the circumference. It will remind you of the tall képis, the decorative caps, worn by the officers of Saint-Cyr, the famous French military academy. You can add a visor, edible or not, if you want to complete the picture.
A NOTE ON MERINGUES AND MANUFACTURING METHODS
This dessert is easy to make when you have an electric beater on a stand; if you don’t mind holding on for a while, however, a portable beater is perfectly satisfactory. Rather than being the usual meringue of egg whites beaten to stiff peaks and sugar then folded in, this is the Italian meringue, where boiling sugar syrup is beaten into the stiff egg whites, and the beating continues for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the meringue is cool and forms stiff peaks. It has a double advantage: the meringue shapes bake in half the time of ordinary meringues and the rest of the meringue mixture can be used for the chocolate mousse. Thus you need not bother making a custard base with its attendant beating of sugar and egg yolks over heat; instead, you beat melted chocolate right into the meringue mixture, fold in the whipped cream, and the mousse is made. A further recommendation is that the mousse does not become hard and stiff when frozen; it retains a tender, creamy quality.
For an 8-cup mold, serving 8 to 10 people
1) The meringue mixture—meringue italienne—1½ quarts
Measure out all the ingredients for this step so that while the sugar is boiling you can finish beating the egg whites.
2 cups sugar
⅔ cup water
A heavy 1½- to 2-quart saucepan with cover
Combine sugar and water in saucepan and set over moderately high heat. Swirl pan slowly by its handle, but do not stir sugar with a spoon while liquid is coming to the boil. Continue swirling for a moment as liquid boils and turns from cloudy to perfectly clear. Cover pan, reduce heat to low, and let simmer slowly while you beat the egg whites.
¾ cup egg whites (6 egg whites) at room temperature
An electric mixer with large (3-quart) clean, dry bowl and blades
Big pinch salt
¼ tsp cream of tartar
½ tsp vanilla extract
Turn egg whites into mixer bowl, and start at slow speed for a minute or so, until egg whites begin to foam up. Beat in the salt and cream of tartar, and gradually increase speed to fast, until egg whites form stiff peaks. (See notes on beating egg whites.) Beat in the vanilla.
Optional but useful: a candy thermometer
A quart glass measure with 2 cups cold water and 2 ice cubes
A metal spoon
Remove cover from sugar syrup, and insert candy thermometer if you are using one. Boil rapidly, and when bubbles begin to thicken, watch temperature or start dropping driblets into iced water. Boil to 238 degrees, the soft-ball stage—sugar makes a sticky but definite shape when worked in cold water with your fingers.
Immediately start beating egg whites at moderate speed, dribbling boiling syrup into them until all is used. Continue beating egg whites at moderate speed until cool, and until mixture forms stiff peaks when lifted—when you draw a spatula through it, the walls of meringue on either side of the path remain erect and unmoving. (If you are using a portable beater, you may set the meringue bowl in a basin of cold water to speed the cooling.) Beating time: 8 to 10 minutes using a beater on a stand.
2) Baking the meringue decorations—about 1 hour at 200 degrees
2 pastry sheets
about 12 by 16 inches, no-stick if possible, buttered and floured
A rubber spatula
The dessert mold: an 8-cup cylindrical charlotte mold, baking dish, or even a flower pot, at least 4 inches deep
½ the meringue mixture (3 cups)
A canvas pastry bag 12 to 14 inches long with ¾-inch cannelated ribbon-tube opening
A small knife (to cut off meringue from tube when necessary)
Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Draw guidelines on pastry sheets with point of rubber spatula to mark depth of mold, so that you will know how long to make the meringues: they are to stand upright around the sides of the mold. (Leftover meringues are to be layered into mold with the chocolate mousse; you may wish to decorate top of dessert, after unmolding, with meringues either whole or crumbled.) A suggested decoration, to resemble the braid on a military cap, would be a series of straight ribbons alternating with serpentine shapes.
Whatever you decide upon, scoop the meringue mixture into the pastry bag, and squeeze out shapes between the guidelines on the pastry sheets, making the decorations ⅛ to 3⁄16 inch thick, and no more than 1½ inches wide. You will need 12 to 16 perfect specimens, therefore use up all the meringue in the bag; muffed shapes can be layered with the mousse, and you will have some breakage after baking because the meringues will be brittle.