Time for a coffee on a midweek afternoon at work. I need to stretch my legs as I have been hunched over my computer working on presentations most of the week. So rather than pop to the staff canteen, I decide on a stroll outside. Canary Wharf has a great selection of coffee shops and whilst Starbucks in Jubilee Place has a great friendly team and can knock out a consistently decent cappuccino, I fancied something a bit different.
On the lower level of Jubilee Place, tucked away under the escalators, there is a little ‘Paul’ French patisserie booth. Along with good coffee, they always have an interesting selection of breads, cakes and patisserie. I was browsing what they had whilst the coffee was being made and I spotted what looked like little burnt sandcastles. I had never seen them before but they looked intriguing. I made a note of their name ‘canelé’, grabbed my coffee and put them to the back of my mind until I got home.
After a little googling I found out that a canelé is a small French pastry, flavoured with rum and vanilla, with a soft custard centre and a dark, thick caramelised crust. It originates from the Bordeaux region of France.
When browsing some recipes two things became evident. Firstly you need a special baking pan to get the traditional shape. I always like an excuse to buy another fancy baking tray. Secondly the recipe is a cross between basically a wet pancake batter and a custard, which is hard to mess up. Do not be scared when you make these and the batter seems barely thicker than water.
You could probably make these in muffin pan or mini popover tin but you would have to play around with the cooking timing. The recipe I landed on was a Michel Roux Jr recipe but I switched out the rum for brandy.
They are very easy to make but the batter is best rested overnight in the fridge. These make delicious breakfast treats on a Sunday morning with a strong cup of coffee.
When baking you want to see the bottom turn a rick dark brown. Then the outside will be nice and caramelised when you turn them out. You start with a hot oven at 220c for 8 mins then turn down to 180c for the final 40 minutes.
Makes: 18
Oven Temp: Gas 4, 350F, 180C (160C Fan)
Ingredients:
500ml milk
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
100g plain white flour
200g caster sugar
50g butter
1 tbsp brandy
1 tsp vanilla extract
A pinch of salt
Instructions:
- Warm the milk in a saucepan and add the vanilla extract and butter. Allow the butter to melt and gently stir. Once the butter has melted take off the heat.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar and sift in the flour and salt. Whisk to a smooth thick batter and add the brandy.
- Add the lukewarm milk and melted butter mix into the bowl. Whisk until you get a liquid batter mix without any lumps, like a thin pancake mixture.
- Allow to cool and leave to rest overnight in the fridge covered with cling film.
- Preheat your oven to 220c.
- Grease your pan/ moulds with melted butter.
- Remove the batter from the fridge, give it a quick whisk and fill the mounds almost to the top. Do not fill quite to the brim as they may to rise a little.
- Bake in the oven at a 220c for 8 minutes then lower the heat to 180c for a further 40 mins.
- Remove them from the oven when the tops are a rich dark brown and leave to cool down for at least 10 minutes before removing them from their moulds.
- 500ml milk
- 2 eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 100g plain white flour
- 200g caster sugar
- 50g butter
- 1 tbsp brandy
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- A pinch of salt
- Warm the milk in a saucepan and add the vanilla extract and butter. Allow the butter to melt and gently stir. Once the butter has melted take off the heat.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar and sift in the flour and salt. Whisk to a smooth thick batter and add the brandy.
- Add the lukewarm milk and melted butter mix into the bowl. Whisk until you get a liquid batter mix without any lumps, like a thin pancake mixture.
- Allow to cool and leave to rest overnight in the fridge covered with cling film.
- Preheat your oven to 220c.
- Grease your pan/ moulds with melted butter.
- Remove the batter from the fridge, give it a quick whisk and fill the mounds almost to the top. Do not fill quite to the brim as they may to rise a little.
- Bake in the oven at a 220c for 8 minutes then lower the heat to 180c for a further 40 mins.
- Remove them from the oven when the tops are a rich dark brown and leave to cool down for at least 10 minutes before removing them from their moulds.
Oven Temp: Gas 4, 350F, 180C (160C Fan)
Rest batter overnight for best results