2.2.14

Paris-Brest # French Fridays with Dorie

This Friday the Doristas were assigned to bake Paris-Brest, a big wheel of puff  pastry filled with vanilla pastry cream and caramelized blanched almonds...  With my terrible piping skills and inability to follow specific instructions, I ended up with a rustic looking dessert which barely resembled a wheel.. It was however delicious. 


Paris-Brest... what an unusual name for a dessert.. no ? Apparently this pastry was created in 1891 in honor of the Paris-Brest-Paris cycle race that began that year. It consisted of a big circle of pâte à choux filled with crème pâtissere that was meant to resemble a bicycle wheel. Because of its every-giving high calorific value, this pastry soon became popular among the riders and is now found in pastry shops all over France. 


Since I was baking just for the two of us, I halved the recipe. I have baked/whipped  half recipe of both pâte à choux and crème pâtissere before and wasn't very worried about it. My only concern was that I did not have a piping tip that was big enough. I thought piping out a few extra rings would help and so, did that only to end up with a pastry that looked more like a crown or something such rather than a wheel. Also, in all the hubbub I forgot to sprinkle the almonds on the dough before baking.  Later I tried to make up for it with a garnish of caramelized almonds. I am nottly affected by this adjustment... whatever it be the dessert was divine, specially the crème pâtissere with the hint of praline and my husband simply couldn't let it be until nothing but the crumbs were left ....





Visit French Fridays with Dorie to know what the other members thought about the dessert.

You can find a version of the recipe here . For Dorie's original recipe and more such delicious ones order your copies of Around the French Table from Amazon or from The Book Depository and join us as we cook our way through the book.  
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17 comments:

  1. Well this looks amazing - well done :)

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  2. Hey Tanusree - can you email me (mardi at eatlivetravelwrite.com) - have a quick question for you and can't find your contact details here. Thanks!

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  3. You did a wonderful job on the Paris Brest dessert, it looks scrumptious.

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  4. Gorgeous! Love how yours looks and the commentary on Paris-Brest!

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  5. Oh this is so cute! Small and delightful I could eat a dozen of these in one go!!!

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  6. Beautifully done…looks absolutely perfect!

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  7. Thanks for sharing this with us at our Marvelous Monday Party! Pinning!

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  8. Thank you! I first saw your hub's spinach fritter post, and as interesting as that sounds, I probably wouldn't be making it, but I was VERY curious to know what it was in your header ... and here it is! :) I really thought I was looking at pine nuts rather than almonds, so I'm wondering if these are bigger than they seem, or you have some very small almonds? Looks and sounds delicious! :)

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    Replies
    1. Hi Chris ! Thanks for dropping by.
      I have caramelized the blanched almonds and put them. They are normal sized ones. may be they look slightly smaller in the picture..

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  9. I recognise this from the photo in your blog's header! What terrible piping skills are you talking about Tanusree? It looks divine, bet it tasted good as well!

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  10. Beautiful! Thank you for linking up at Tasty Tuesdays! Your post has been pinned to my Recipes from Tasty Tuesday board. I can't wait to see what you link up next week!
    Have a terrific weekend!
    Cathy
    APeekIntoMyParadise.com
    #TastyTuesdays

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  11. Featuring today at Red Cottage Chronicles Tasty Tuesdays! Love the look of this pastry. Cannot wait to try it!!

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Thanks for stopping by. It was nice having you here. Have a good day.

Take care and come back soon.
Best, Tanusree

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