When I think of French pastry I think pâté a choux, fruit tarts, small cakes, croissants. Pâté a choux covers cream puffs, profiteroles, eclairs, gougeres. All delicious and special treats for someone living in Oklahoma.
I made my first pâté a choux several years ago, 10 maybe. My friend, Marsha, and I were planning a trip to London and Paris. Gary's dad died and we invited his sister and mother to come with us. We went to a small patisserie for coffee and pastry every morning while we were in Paris. My sister in law would have a fruit tart. My mother in law would have a scone. Marsha and I had croissants. Every day. Funny I came home determined to learn how to make pastries. I don't know why I didn't decide to make croissants.
Paris Brest is a pastry made to commemorate a bicycle race that goes from Paris to Brest. The circular shape is reminiscent of a bicycle wheel. Its pretty easy to make. The hardest part is piping out the pastry ring. If you google it you will see some people pipe inside a cake ring. One Dorista, Christy, used mini tart pans. A ring of some sort helps the pastry to rise up instead of spreading out. Next time I will use a ring of some type.
The pastry cream is easy to mix up. And all components can be made in advance and put together at the last moment. I made it while Gary's mother was here and the three of us almost finished off the entire Paris Brest! Two small pieces were still good the next day but the Creme had caused the pastry to loose some of its crispness. Still delicious though.
Winter is dragging on for all of us it seems! Snow is predicted for Oklahoma on Tuesday! Ugh....
Go to French Friday with Dorie website to see what everyone else thought about it.
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| Paris-Brest |
Paris Brest is a pastry made to commemorate a bicycle race that goes from Paris to Brest. The circular shape is reminiscent of a bicycle wheel. Its pretty easy to make. The hardest part is piping out the pastry ring. If you google it you will see some people pipe inside a cake ring. One Dorista, Christy, used mini tart pans. A ring of some sort helps the pastry to rise up instead of spreading out. Next time I will use a ring of some type.
The pastry cream is easy to mix up. And all components can be made in advance and put together at the last moment. I made it while Gary's mother was here and the three of us almost finished off the entire Paris Brest! Two small pieces were still good the next day but the Creme had caused the pastry to loose some of its crispness. Still delicious though.
Winter is dragging on for all of us it seems! Snow is predicted for Oklahoma on Tuesday! Ugh....
Go to French Friday with Dorie website to see what everyone else thought about it.
Lovely, indeed - especially with that chocolate! Nice work!
ReplyDeleteLove the chocolate sauce on top!
ReplyDeleteI like the chocolate sauce on top - just like profiteroles!
ReplyDeleteYes, winter needs to end already. I like how you turned yours into one large éclair like creation. Yum!
ReplyDeleteStay warm. We finally hit above freezing here - heat wave! I hope that groundhog is kind to us.
It looks like you're now a master of French pastries!! Beautifully done even without the ring :)
ReplyDeleteI love the chocolate topping, as though this wasn't decadent enough. We loved this and I want to try again (in the future)
ReplyDeleteto try to perfect making the rings.
Nice job, Guyla, and so fun for it to bring back memories of past travels. I love the chocolate on top. Nice touch! I hope the snow isn't too bad. Aren't you ready for spring? I am. 7 more weeks! Stay warm.
ReplyDeleteOh all of that chocolate? Looks so good! Thanks for indulging my choice and playing along this week!
ReplyDeleteLove all that chocolate! Great job :)
ReplyDeleteWell you should be pretty darn pleased with this. And of course I noticed you poured a little chocolate on the top also. As if.......The little puffs on the middle are cute. I am disappointed that I didn't make Paris-Brest this week but didn't realize the possibilities of a smaller ring and some gougeres for the freezer. Now that I do, I am charging into action this coming week and you'll all see the result next week. Did you get snow? Aspen got 3' to 4' last week.
ReplyDeleteWell done Guyla! I was too intimidated by the choux pastry but at the end it turn out ok! I love the chocolate sauce!!
ReplyDeleteIt looks beautiful, Guyla! I served mine to my Bunco group friday night and it was a big hit…luckily I still had a few pieces for Bill the next day! I really enjoyed the challenge of making this one! I bet that chocolate sauce took this up a notch! Have a great week!
ReplyDeleteHello, my name is Francesca and I'm Italian. I found your blog by chance and I loved it. I have joined your followers. if you go too foul. Thank you. Francesca.
ReplyDeleteYour pastry looks great and love your post!
ReplyDeleteGuyla, what a fabulous looking Paris-Brest with all that lovely vanilla pastry cream and chocolate sauce - what a treat. And how nice that the recipe brought back such wonderful memories!
ReplyDeleteThe chocolate sauce on the side looks absolutely delicious. The Paris Brest looks great too, but I think I'm secretly a chocolate person at heart!
ReplyDelete