by Julia Child
For an 8-inch Pithiviers, serving 6 to 8 people
TIMING NOTE: Make the puff pastry the day before serving, as well as the almond cream, since it must be cold and hard. The assembled Pithiviers may be refrigerated or frozen, but once baked, it is at its best when served within 2 to 3 hours (unless you have a warming oven where it can remain safely at around 100 degrees for a number of hours).
1) The almond cream—chilling time 30 to 40 minutes in freezer
⅓ cup sugar
4 Tb soft butter
An electric mixer, or a bowl and wooden spoon
1 “large” egg
2½ ounces (½ cup loosely packed) ground blanched almonds—may be ground in an electric blender
¼ tsp almond extract
¼ tsp vanilla extract
1½ Tb dark rum
Beat sugar and butter together until light and fluffy, then beat in the egg, almonds, extracts, and rum. Cover bowl and set in freezer for 30 to 40 minutes, or in refrigerator for an hour or two; it is essential that the cream be chilled and hard before you assemble the Pithiviers.
2) Assembling the Pithiviers—about 1 hour, including 2 half-hour rests
The recipe for chilled classic French puff pastry
A round pastry cutter or upside-down cake pan 8 inches in diameter
A small, sharp-pointed knife for cutting dough
A piece of lightly floured waxed paper on a tray
More flour and more waxed paper
A dampened baking sheet (a pizza tray is good for baking this pastry)
Preheat oven to 425 degrees in time for Step 3. Place chilled puff pastry on a lightly floured marble or board, and roll it rapidly into a rectangle ⅜ inch thick, 12 inches wide, and 20 inches long. (To equalize stresses and strains within the dough for even baking, be sure to roll it crosswise as well as lengthwise.) Centering cutter or cake pan well on pastry for each of the disks you are to cut, and making them at least ½ inch from edges of pastry and from each other, cut two 8-inch disks (rounds) in the dough. Lift off surrounding dough, and arrange it in one layer on tray; see directions for its re-use as puff pastry.
Cover this leftover dough with waxed paper, and dust paper lightly with flour; roll one of the disks up on your pin, unroll on the waxed paper, cover with another sheet of waxed paper, and refrigerate. Unroll second disk topside down on baking sheet, cover, and refrigerate for 20 to 30 minutes, or until cold and firm. (Make frequent use of the refrigerator, and you will have no troubles with puff pastry.)
Remove disk formed on the baking sheet from the refrigerator. Push dough out gently with your fingers to make it slightly more than 8 inches in diameter all around. Soften almond cream, if necessary, by kneading it; form it into a cake 4 inches in diameter and center it on the disk of dough. It is important here that the almond cream be cold and hard, and that there be a free circumference of dough 1½ to 2 inches wide all around; this will prevent it from leaking out of the pastry during baking.
Paint free circumference of dough with cold water.
Remove remaining disk of dough from refrigerator and roll it out rapidly, rotating disk as you go, expanding it all around to about 8½ inches. Unroll it over the almond cream on the bottom disk of dough.
With lightly floured fingers as well as the side of your hand, firmly press top disk to bottom disk all around the lump of almond cream; if air pockets prevent a perfect seal, make a little hole for air to escape in center top of dough, where chimney will be inserted later. Chill dough again for 30 minutes.
Turn a cake pan or bowl upside down over Pithiviers; about ⅜ to ½ inch of dough should protrude all around from its edge. With the back or the front of a small knife, whichever works best for you, cut a scalloped border all around circumference of dough, spacing indentations evenly and about 1¼ inches apart. Press pan or bowl rather firmly into dough as a final seal, and remove it. Chill before proceeding, if dough has softened.
(*) AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE: Pithiviers may be refrigerated or frozen at this point; chill to harden dough, then cover airtight. (Frozen pastry may be taken directly from freezer, and glazed and decorated as soon as top of dough is soft enough for a knife to penetrate it.)
When oven is preheated to 425 degrees, and just before baking, paint entire top surface of Pithiviers with egg glaze (1 egg beaten in a small bowl with 1 teaspoon water). In 2 minutes, after you have made and inserted the buttered aluminum foil or brown paper chimney in next illustration, paint with a second coat.
With the point of a sharp small knife, cut decorative design into pastry as shown, going ⅛ inch deep. (Cutting through glaze and down into dough will make the design stand out after baking.) Proceed immediately to the baking, next step.
3) Baking—about 50 minutes at 450 degrees and 400 degrees
As soon as Pithiviers has been glazed and decorated, set in middle level of preheated 450-degree oven. In 20 minutes, or when pastry has risen and browned nicely, reduce oven heat to 400 degrees and continue baking 25 to 30 minutes more, until sides of pastry are brown and crisp. If Pithiviers seems to be browning too much during baking, lay a sheet of brown paper or foil loosely over the top.
4) Sugar glaze
About ⅓ cup confectioner’s sugar in a fine-meshed sieve
A cake rack
Remove Pithiviers from oven, set thermostat at 500 degrees, and slide oven rack onto upper-third level.
Remove funnel. Sieve a 1⁄16-inch layer of the sugar over the top of the Pithiviers. When oven is at 500 degrees, set pastry in upper third for 4 to 5 minutes, peeking quickly every 30 seconds, until sugar has melted to a glossy sheen. Remove the Pithiviers and slide it onto the rack.
5) Serving and storing
A Pithiviers may be eaten tepid or cold, but is always at its best when freshly made and served within 2 to 3 hours of baking. It will keep successfully for a day in a warming oven at 100 degrees, or you may freeze it when cold and wrapped airtight. If frozen, thaw for about 30 minutes on a lightly buttered pastry sheet in a 350-degree oven.
To serve, cut into wedges, like a pie.
A LITTLE SELECTION OF PETITS FOURS
LES TRUFFES AUX CHOCOLAT
[Chocolate Candies in the Form of Truffles]
Rough balls of melted chocolate, butter, and orange liqueur rolled in cocoa look like freshly dug truffles. These homemade candies are easy to make and, unfortunately for those who are trying not to resemble Babar the elephant, they are quite irresistible.
For 1½ dozen
¼ cup strong coffee (1 Tb instant coffee in ¼ cup boiling water)
A covered saucepan for melting the chocolate
7 ounces semisweet baking chocolate
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
A larger pan of simmering water removed from heat, to hold chocolate pan
A hand-held electric mixer
5 ounces (1¼ sticks) chilled unsalted butter
¼ cup orange liqueur
Dissolve the coffee in the saucepan with the hot water; break up the chocolate, and stir it into the liquid. Cover, and set in the pan of hot but not simmering water. When chocolate has softened, beat with electric mixer until perfectly smooth and creamy. Remove from hot water and beat a moment to cool. Cut chilled butter into ⅓-inch slices and gradually beat into the chocolate with mixer, adding a new piece as soon as a previous one is almost absorbed. When smooth, beat in the orange liqueur by dribbles. Chill for an hour or two, until firm.
A sturdy teaspoon
About ½ cup unsweetened cocoa on a plate
Frilled paper bonbon cups
When chocolate mixture has chilled and set, remove by teaspoon gobs, roll into rough circular shapes, then roll in the cocoa to enrobe them completely. Place in paper cups.
(*) When packed in an airtight container, truffes will keep perfectly for several weeks in the refrigerator, or for several months in the freezer.
LES CROQUETS DENISON
[Walnut and Almond Puffs]
These easy-to-make
mouthfuls can take the place of after-dinner mints, or go with tea, coffee, sweet liqueurs, and sweet wines. Ideally they are baked directly in fluted paper candy cups, if you can find any that are the no-stick kind. Otherwise bake them in tiny buttered molds, preferably not fluted ones because the batter may stick to them. Lacking proper containers, you may form the mixture on a baking sheet, like cookies; they will not be as elegant to look at but will be just as good to eat.
NOTE: A heavy-duty mixer with flat beater works beautifully here; if you do not have one, beat everything together in a bowl with a wooden spoon.
For 3½ to 4 dozen 1¼-inch puffs
1) The batter
2 ounces (½ cup) walnut meats
2 ounces (½ cup) blanched almonds
4 ounces (1½ cups) confectioner’s sugar (Sift sugar directly into dry-measure cups and sweep off excess)
1½ tsp kirsch
The grated peel of ½ lemon
2 to 3 Tb egg white
Pulverize the nut meats in an electric blender and turn into a bowl. Add the sugar, kirsch, grated lemon peel, and 2 tablespoons of egg white. Mixture is now to be beaten until it forms a mass stiff enough to hold its shape when bits are rolled into balls: beat for 2 to 3 minutes, and if ingredients remain sandy and unmassed, add ½ tablespoon more egg white; continue beating, and if mixture still separates, beat in a little more egg white. (If too soft, on the other hand, beat in a tablespoon or so more pulverized nuts or confectioner’s sugar, or refrigerate for half an hour until it becomes firmer.)
2) Forming the petits fours
Waxed paper on a tray
A table fork
2 egg whites in a small bowl
½ cup confectioner’s sugar on a plate; more sugar as needed
Fluted no-stick paper candy cups (or buttered molds, 1 Tb capacity)
A baking sheet, clean and dry if you are using paper cups
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Puffs will double in size when baked, therefore cups or molds should be filled only by half. Form mixture into balls by rolling between the palms of your hands; place each ball, as formed, on the waxed paper. Beat egg whites with fork to break up thoroughly. One by one, dip each ball in egg white, then roll in sugar, place in candy paper or mold and arrange on baking sheet. (Or flatten the balls into disk shapes, dip in egg white, then coat with sugar and arrange on a buttered baking sheet.)
3) Baking and serving
Optional: paper candy cups
Bake in middle level of preheated 300-degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes, until puffs have about doubled in size and are pale gold in color. Let cool and crisp for 10 to 15 minutes. If you have baked them in molds, dislodge delicately with the point of a knife and, if you wish, place each in a candy cup.
(*) AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE: Will keep several days when covered airtight; for longer storage, freeze them.
TUILES AUX AMANDES
[Lacy Curved Almond Wafers]
These delicate mouthfuls go nicely with fresh fruit desserts, ices, and afternoon tea. Rapidly mixed and baked, the wafers crisp almost immediately into the shape of old-fashioned roof tiles when they are lifted from the baking sheet to a rolling pin or bottle to cool. The only tour de main involved here is that you work out your own system for removing the wafers as quickly as possible from baking sheet to rolling pin; as they cool, they become too crisp to mold. Bake one sheet at a time, even though you may prepare several sheets in advance, or be baking one while you are preparing another.
For about 45 wafers 3 inches in diameter
1) The cookie batter
3 or 4 baking sheets about 12 by 16 inches
1 to 2 Tb soft butter for the baking sheets
3½ Tb soft butter in a 2- to 3-quart mixing bowl
½ cup sugar
An electric mixer
¼ cup egg whites (about 2 egg whites)
Preheat oven to 425 degrees, and set rack in middle level. Prepare baking sheets by smearing each with about 1 tsp of soft butter. Beat the rest of the butter and the sugar together until soft and fluffy; add the egg whites, and beat a few seconds, only just enough to blend.
5 Tb plain cake flour in a sieve or sifter (measure by scooping measuring spoon into flour and leveling off with a knife)
A rubber spatula
⅓ cup ground blanched almonds (grind them in an electric blender)
¼ tsp almond extract
½ tsp vanilla extract
Sieve or sift the flour over the batter, folding it in with a rubber spatula. Fold in the ground almonds, almond extract, and vanilla.
½ cup sliced, shaved, or slivered almonds (either blanched or with skin left on)
Using rubber spatula to dislodge batter, drop ½-teaspoon gobs onto one of the buttered baking sheets, spacing them 3 inches apart. With back of spoon, smear out each blob into a circle 2½ inches in diameter; batter will be so thin you can see baking sheet through it. Top each circle with a pinch of sliced, shaved, or slivered almonds.
2) Baking and shaping—oven has been preheated to 425 degrees
A flexible-blade spatula (blade should be at least 8 inches long)
2 bottles or rolling pins braced to lie still
A cake rack
A kitchen timer
Place in middle level of preheated oven, and set timer for 4 minutes. (Meanwhile, make sure rolling pins are ready; then start forming batter on another baking sheet.) Wafers are done when a ⅛-inch border around circumference has browned lightly. Set baking sheet on open oven door so that cookies will keep warm and pliable.
Working rapidly, slide long side of spatula blade under one cookie to scrape and lift it off the baking sheet, and place right side up on rolling pin or bottle. Quickly continue with the rest; the wafers crisp to shape so quickly that the first several may be removed to rack to make room for remaining wafers. (If last wafers have cooled too much for molding, return sheet to oven for several seconds to soften them.)
Close oven door and wait a few minutes for temperature to return to 425 degrees; bake and mold the rest of the wafers in the same manner.
(*) Wafers will stay crisp for several days in dry weather when stored airtight; otherwise, freeze them.
TWO RECIPES FOR LEFTOVER PASTRY DOUGH
Two more good reasons for you to master French puff pastry are couques and palmiers—crisp, buttery, lightly caramelized cookies that you can make with the leftovers. Like some of the wonderful things you concoct with leftover braised beef, les tous nus and choux farcis, to give examples from another part of the menu, it is well worth making the original just to have the residue to play with.
THE DOUGH—PUFF PASTRY VERSUS PIE-CRUST DOUGH
Most cookies as well as many of the appetizer and entrée pastries are made with scraps of raw puff pastry left over from bouchées, vol-au-vent, mille-feuilles, or other recipes calling for fresh pâte feuilletée. These scraps need not be fully reconstituted into puff pastry again, as described: those for the couques should only be smooth enough to roll out and be cut fairly evenly, and those for the palmiers will reconstitute into smoothness as they are rolled in sugar, folded, and rolled and folded again before their final forming. You can convert butter pie-crust dough, pâte brisée, formulas 1 or 2 (or even packaged mixes), into a reasonable substitute for puff pastry by rolling and folding with softened butter, as described in the same recipe for reconstituting puff pastry.
COUQUES
[Tongue-shaped Caramelized Cookies Made from Puff Pastry Dough]
These were made famous in the 1920’s by Le Café de Paris, on the Avenue de l’Opéra. Whenever you ordered ice cream, long couques on embroidered napery accompanied each serving, and they soon became the most fashionable cookies in Paris. Couque comes from the Flemish koek, whose diminutive, koekje, produced our “cookie.” We shall not give proportions because they are not necessary, but a circle of dough 3 inches in diameter and ½ inch thick will produce 6 to 8 couques 6 to 7 inches long.
1) Forming the cookies
Chille
d leftover French puff pastry, pâte feuilletée
An oval fluted cutter 3 to 3½ inches long (or a 2-inch round cutter, preferably fluted)
Preheat oven to 450 degrees in time for Step 2, and set rack in upper-middle level. Roll pastry out about ⅛ inch thick, and cut into ovals (or rounds). Re-form leftovers, roll out again, and cut.
Sugar (ordinary granulated sugar)
A flexible-blade spatula
A clean dry baking sheet
A rack or racks
Spread an oval-shaped layer of sugar ⅛ inch thick on your rolling surface. Lay a pastry cutout on the sugar and roll it out into a tongue shape 6 to 7 inches long and about 1⁄16 inch thick; you will be encrusting sugar into the bottom of the pastry as you roll. Turn it upside down, sprinkle on more sugar, and set on baking sheet. Continue with the rest of the cutouts. (Although you can bake the cookies now, they usually cook more evenly if you cover with plastic wrap and chill them for half an hour at least; this relaxes the dough and prevents it from shrinking or pulling out of shape during baking.)