• Choux a la Creme Gianduia, a classic dessert transformed into a modern product, Choux Craquelin!
These delicious desserts were "baptized" by the French "Chou a la creme" (singular) or "Choux a la creme" (plural), and in translation the name would sound something like this: "Cabbage with Cream". Could the shape of these products, with an irregular surface, have inspired the one who named them that way?! The Italians call them Bignè, a term also borrowed from the French, respectively from the French name "Beignet", this being a synonym used for various confectionery or gastronomy products, fried or of the pate a choux type, in short a kind of doughnut. We also frequently meet them under the name "Cream Puffs" or "French Cream Puffs".
Recipe provided by Pastry Chef Riccardo Magni
Riccardo Magni - a professional who has been active for over 20 years in the field of confectionery, chocolate and gelato, known in Italy but also abroad, co-author of the book "Reverse Fusion", published in 2016.
He began his professional career working in the family's confectionery laboratory, alongside his father, Pierpaolo Magni, another master of Italian confectionery. At the beginning, he alternated work in the production laboratory with a professional development program, participating in numerous training courses under the guidance of great teachers from the International Confectionery Schools: Ecole Lenôtre and Bellouet Conseil, France; Richemont, Switzerland; Cast Alimenti and Arte Dolce, Italy.
Accumulating a rich experience in the field and participating in various national and international competitions, he collaborated over the years with various well-known companies in the confectionery-chocolate field, from Italy and from other countries.
He was a member of the Swiss team, participating in the finals of the "Coupe du Monde Pâtisserie 2015 Lyon" competition, where he won second place, in the "Entremet glacé" category.
He has published and continues to publish articles in the most important magazines of the sector.
Currently, Riccardo Magni carries out much more complex activities: consulting and professional training for important companies in this sector, being involved in many projects worldwide, as well as teaching activities in renowned schools in the culinary sector, such as Cast Alimenti, Dado School Pomati, Chef's School Hong Kong, Arte Dolce Rimini, Con Gusto Gourmet Institute Milano, Hangar 78.
The dessert consists of the following components:
• Chou (Bignè)
• Fraged Crispy Dough
• Gianduia Chocolate Cream
Chou (Bignè)
Ingredients:
250 g – Milk
250 g – Water
220 g – Butter
15 g – Salt
10 g – Sugar
280 g – Low-gluten flour
500 g – Whole eggs
Preparation:
Combine the milk, water, salt, sugar and butter and bring the mixture to the boil.
Add the flour and fold into the hot mixture. Return the composition to the heat source to "dry" the dough, stirring continuously until it comes away from the sides of the bowl.
Put the obtained dough in the bowl of the mixer and mix it with the paddle, at medium speed, until it reaches a temperature of 60°C; gradually add the eggs, continuing to mix on high speed. You will get a dough with a soft-medium consistency.
Shape the dough with the bag and the door, forming hemispheres, directly on perforated trays or on perforated silicone mats applied to the trays.
Before baking, place a disc of Fraged Crispy Dough on top of the formed chou.
After baking, the discs will be printed on the surface of the products, resulting in an irregular crust, crispy and very pleasant to taste.
Baking:
– in a static oven – preheated to 200°C, approx. 20 minutes.
– in a ventilated oven – set the temperature to 240 °C; put the products in the oven and leave the oven on until the temperature is restored to the set value, then turn off the oven, leaving the products to bake only with the existing temperature in the room, approx. 20 minutes.
Fraged Crispy Dough
Ingredients:
160 g – Butter
200 g – Brown sugar
200 g – Low-gluten flour
Preparation:
Combine all the ingredients and mix, with the paddle, until you get a soft dough with a homogeneous structure.
Roll out the obtained dough in a thin layer with a thickness of 2 mm.
Cool the dough in the shock freezer to stabilize the structure.
Store in the refrigerator until ready to use.
With a round cutter and size close to the diameter of the Chou hemispheres, cut discs from the soft dough and overlap them on the formed products, before they are baked.
*If you would like to bake the crispy soft dough separately and apply it at the end, over the baked product – the baking temperature of these discs is 160°C for 12-15 minutes.
Gianduia Chocolate Cream
Ingredients:
900 g – Liquid cream
120 g – Milk
480 g – Gianduia chocolate
8 g – Gelatin
40 g – Water
Preparation:
Combine the milk with the cream and bring the mixture to 60°C; pour it over the Gianduia chocolate and emulsify.
Add the gelatin, previously hydrated in the amount of water, and complete the emulsification.
Store for a minimum of 8 hours (ideally 12 hours), at 4°C.
Before using the cream on the product, it will be foamed with the mixer until it has a thick consistency.
Final preparation and presentation
Cut the lids off the choux halves and fill their bases with the Gianduia cream, poured with the poach.
You can add roasted hazelnut pieces and milk chocolate flakes on top of the cream. On the surface of the final product, add a dusting of cocoa and powdered sugar.
You can decorate the products by attaching small, round chocolate decorations or thin chocolate discs decorated with the transfer foils to their surface.
Store in the refrigerator at 4°C.
This recipe was worked on in the Lab Confectioner Isteț from Brasov.
Old woman recipes proposed by Arta Albă:
Woah! How good it looks! They sure are delicious!