Friday, December 30, 2011

Understanding French Desserts

!±8± Understanding French Desserts

Some of the best and most exotic French desserts include seasonally selected fruit. France is known for its wine and exotic dishes, but its desserts are equally popular all over the world. The collection of popular French pastries and desserts include cakes, tarts, flans and breads. The favorite ingredients in these desserts include apples and almonds, which are available in flaky pastry.

The French have always loved their desserts and it is treated as a course, which is typically served at the end of the meal. Generally in most countries desserts consist of sweet food but the French also like their desserts to be strongly-flavored and sometimes cheese will be served with dessert.

The French desserts include recipes, which use a thick bottomed pan named the 'skillet'. The skillet has been vital to the conclusion of the dish, especially for their savories like crépes, waffles or gaufres, and their doughnuts or beignets. Even as the French desserts and patisseries are overflowing with delicious sweet treats one need not worry about weight. When you are having French desserts there is no need to worry about the amount of calories. Just check out all the thin women in France and you would know that something is there about the food, which helps them to stay thin.

Here are some of the most popular French desserts-

Croissant: This ancient standard dessert is something that you cannot go wrong with. The crescent shaped pastry is buttery and flaky and comes with the perfect balance of sweetness along with puffiness. The crispiness and softness of a croissant is unbeatable as it melts right in the mouth. The shape of the croissant is similar to the Islamic crescent.

Éclair: This French dessert is a variant of the donut and has been used as a variation in many American versions. The éclairs are long in shape and they are a thin pastry which is made from choux pastry. The éclair is then filled with cream and gets topped with blissful icing, mainly chocolate. Here, éclairs are not made by frying but by baking and you can fill it with coffee or even chocolate.

Pain au Chocolat: This is the cousin of the croissant and this French pastry is basically a croissant-type puff pastry. It contains yummy strips of chocolate, which is generally dark. This dessert has also been known as chocolate bread and tastes best when it is served hot with chocolate melting from your mouth.

Profiterole or the cream puff- This is one of the other French desserts that are actually little piece of heavens. These delightful little treats made from Choux pastry are made into small round puffs. As the pastry gets cooled down it can be served with either whipped cream or custard oozing from the center. You can make your own variant with some caramel sauce or other toppings.


Understanding French Desserts

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Thursday, December 22, 2011

Quick Napoleon Dessert Recipes

!±8± Quick Napoleon Dessert Recipes

A traditional Napoleon is a French dessert made from layers of puff pastry spread with a vanilla pastry cream. The top of the rectangle or triangular shaped sweet is drizzled with chocolate and or dusted with powdered sugar. Historians say that the Napoleon was created by a Danish royal chef in honor of a visit by a French emperor. And that Emperor Bonaparte's defeat at Waterloo was the result of an overindulgence of his now famous namesake pastry.

You may have a hard time distinguishing after eating a Napoleon what part is the best part. Is it the puff pastry or the pastry cream? I think all of the flavor combinations work very well together, so, I say all of it! This is a very quick and easy dessert recipe, and you will not spend all day in the kitchen. We are going to take the shortcut method and make it work for our recipe.

Making puff pastry from scratch is not an easy task to undertake. It is a labor and time intensive endeavor. Perfectly chilled ingredients, repeated rolling to the correct thickness, and precision folding are the keys to faultless puff pastry. Not to mention working in a kitchen that is not humid. The meticulous rolling and folding, along with the moisture in the butter, creates steam which causes the dough to puff and separate into the flaky layers that the pastry is known for. Some chef's recommend anywhere from thirty minutes to two hours chilling time between rolling and folding. Consider that the roll, fold and chill process is done four times, you need to block off two to eight hours to make puff pastry. Or, take a trip to the frozen food section of the grocery store and buy it.

Ready made puff pastry is available in sheets or shells. To thaw it at room temperature takes about thirty minutes, in the refrigerator about four hours. It will keep in the refrigerator up to two days. When shaping the dough, work with one sheet at a time, refrigerating remaining sheets until ready to use. As with all dough handle as little as possible. A pastry wheel, pizza cutter or sharp knife are the best utensils for cutting the dough. Cut edges should be crisp to keep the layers separate so that they puff during baking. Always bake puff pastry in a conventional oven and keep in mind that darker baking sheets cook faster.

Vanilla pastry cream is the standard filling for a Napoleon. This is a very short recipe for making quick Napoleons.

1 Package of frozen puff pastry dough

2 Packages of Vanilla instant pudding

1 Bottle of a good chocolate fudge or chocolate drizzle

3 Ounces of confectioners sugar

Prepare instant pudding according to package directions. While pudding is chilling follow directions for thawing, unfolding and baking puff pastry sheets. Cut into desired shape at bake at 400° for twelve minutes or until golden. Pay close attention to baking time, sheets burn easily. Let cool to room temperature.

To assemble you will place a layer of pastry in bottom of a sheet pan. You will then gently spread with a layer of pudding, then another layer of pastry. Repeat the layering process until ingredients are used up. You will then heat your chocolate fudge until it is at a pouring consistency. You will pour or drizzle over the tops of your Napoleons, and dust very lightly with the confectioners sugar. You will need a serrated knife to cut these into bars to sreve. Keep refrigerated until serving time.

If you want to substitute a low fat, or zero fat pudding in this recipe, there is still enough sugar to give it flavor with half or no fat in the pudding.


Quick Napoleon Dessert Recipes

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Tuesday, November 29, 2011

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