Blueberry and Custard Cream Bread: Happy afternoon treats!

This recipe is the only reason for me to buy this book: .................... this cute bread is on the back of the cover. The golden little bread with a lot of shiny blueberries on top, well, I just wanted to make it instantly.

I But after I bought the book, I didn't have a chance to buy fresh blueberry until last week, it's the key ingredients, right?.

So, I made the bread that day, and the results was great.
The topping is the fresh blueberry mix with blueberry sauce (the original recipe call for jam, but I think the sauce will be better). The filling is no-butter custard cream , so the bread give fresh and pure taste (^_^), there is no greasy feeling after eating it. Only the delicious taste remain, haha.

I have an imagination that there are many kinds of fresh fruits which can be used in this recipe, because the custard cream filling is basically a great companion to fresh fruit.

Well serve this bread with a cup of tea, and you will have a happy afternoon time.

Blueberry and Custard Cream Bread
Makes 11 (Texas muffin size pan)

Dough
250g	Bread flour
2g	Instant yeast
5g	Salt
30g	Sugar
145cc	Whole milk
35g	Egg yolks
30g	๊ืUnsalted butter
Custard cream
400cc	Whole milk
	Seeds from ¼ pod of vanilla bean
3	Eggs
2	Egg yolks
92g	Sugar
28g	Cake flour
	A dash of salt
Blueberry filling
250g	Fresh blueberry
30	Frozen blueberry
30	Sugar
	Mint leaves for decorating

Put the flour, the sugar and yeast in a bowl, whisk to combine, add and salt whisk again. Pour the liquids mixture into the bowl.

Use large spoon (or pastry scraper) to mix everything together, and knead briefly to bring all the ingredients together.

Take the dough out of the bowl and knead, you will see the dough will be elastic after about 2 minutes.

Add the butter and knead by using the heel of your hands to compress and push the dough away from you, then fold it back over itself (see the picture here). Give the dough a little turn and repeat. Put the weight of your body into the motion and get into a rhythm. Keep folding over and compressing the dough.

Knead for 10-15 minutes (up to your strength and up to the recipe) or until the dough is soft, pliable, smooth and slightly shiny, almost satiny.

Put the dough into a light buttered bowl. Let the dough rise in a warm place until double in size about 1 hour.

1) In a small saucepan, bring the milk to a boil. In the meantime, combine the yolks, sugar, seeds from vanilla bean and cake flour together and whisk in a heavy‐bottomed saucepan.

2) Once the milk has reached a boil, temper the yolks by whisking a couple spoonfuls of the hot milk into the yolk mixture. Continue whisking and slowly pour the rest of the milk into the tempered yolk mixture.

3) Strain the mixture back into the saucepan to remove any egg that may have scrambled. Place the pan over medium heat and whisk vigorously (without stop) until the mixture returns to a boil. Keep whisking vigorously for 1 to 2 more minutes (still over medium heat).

4) Scrape the pastry cream into a small bowl and set it in an ice water bath to stop the cooking process. Make sure to continue stirring the mixture at this point so that it remains smooth, until it has completely cooled.
Take the dough out of the bowl. Gently press down the dough and cut the dough into 11 pieces (about 45 g/ piece).
Roll each piece into a ball, place on the baking sheet cover the sheet with the plastic bag and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180°C, and butter the muffin pan.
Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a circle, about 8 cm. Gently presses down the dough into the muffin pan to form a cup.

Spoon the custard filling into the dough.
Bake for 12 -15minutes.


Boil the frozen blueberry with the sugar, until the sugar dissolve and the mixture thicken lightly.
Let the sauce cool completely.
Mix the sauce with the fresh blueberry.
Sprinkle the icing sugar over the bread and place the blueberry mixture on top, decorate with mint leaves.

Blueberry and Custard Cream Bread: Happy afternoon treats!

Charlotte aux fraises: Strawberry Charlotte

There is the only reason for me to make this dessert, it's cute, haha, I hope you agree with me. I got a lot of strawberry from my sister (if you remember, I complained about the strawberry when I make The Strawberry Layer cake, and now everyone in my family bought the strawberry for me, whenever they saw it, ^ ^").
So I have to find the recipe that I can use them real fast.
This recipe is an adaptation from..................(which I already write about or you can read about it, ...... ). The book which I use quite often, because most of the recipes turn out great.
Don't be afraid from a long list of ingredients and instruction, this charrotte is not hard to make, I just took a lot of photos to show you the step by step of making it. Actually it took only a little of time to make and assemble, and you can prepare the biscuits a day or two before making the mousse, just remember that the charlotte need 4 hours or overnight to firm up before serving.

Charlotte aux fraises: Strawberry Charlotte
Makes 1 (15cm charlotte)

Biscuit à la cuiller
48 g	Egg yolk
35 g	Caster sugar (1)
77 g	Egg white
40 g	Caster sugar (2)
75 g	Cake flour
	Icing sugar

Italian Meringue
25 g	Egg white
45 g	Caster sugar (1)
5 g	Caster sugar (2)
15 g	Water

Strawberry Mousse
200 g	Strawberry (fresh or frozen)
25g	Caster sugar
5 g	Gelatin
150 g	Whipping cream
40 g	Italian meringue

Make the Biscuit à la cuiller

Preparation:

Pan lined with baking paper and brush with butter

Oven temperature: 220 °C

Sift the flour

Pour egg yolk and sugar (1) into a bowl, and beat until lighten in color and thicken. Set aside.

Make the meringue by beating the egg white and sugar (2) together until stiff peak form.

Fold the meringue into egg yolk mixture in 2 additions; be careful not to knock off the air.

Pour the sifted flour into the mixture and fold to combine.

Spoon mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 1.4 cm nozzle (or smaller). Pipe or spoon mixture into 2 X 15 cm rounds onto baking paper-lined (or Silpat) oven trays.
And pipe the rest into close fingers. Sprinkle with icing sugar.

Put the pan into the oven, bake for 12 -15 minutes for the round biscuits.
And bake for 8-10 minutes for the fingers.
Let the biscuits cool on the wire rack.

Set the biscuit in the pan

(before making the strawberry mousse)

Cut the fingers and line the mold with the finger.
Place the round biscuit into the base.

Set aside while you making the mousse.

Makes the strawberry mousse

Make the Italian meringue:

1. Put the sugar (1), water in a thick based pan, and place over a moderate heat and stir until it boils

2. When the syrup temperature reaches 110 °C beat the egg whites and sugar (2) until stiff

3. When the syrup temperature reaches 118°C slowly whisk it into the egg whites in a thin stream taking care not to let it run onto the whisk

4. Continue beating until completely cold.

Put the strawberry in the blender or food processor and process until fine.
Mix with sugar.

Dissolve the gelatin with 2 tbsp of water, let the mixture stand for 2 minutes.
Put 50 g of strawberry mixture into a microwavable cup and heat for 40 second or until hot.
Pour the hot strawberry into the gelatin and stir to combine.
Pour the strawberry and gelatin mixture into the strawberry mixture and stir to combine.

Beat the cream until soft peak form.


then gently fold 1/3 of the cream into the strawberry mixture.

Gently fold back the strawberry and cream mixture into the cream. The mixture will be quite loose.

Fold the Italian meringue into the strawberry mixture in 2 addition.
Fold to combine.


Pour the mousse into the prepared mold.
Cover with another round biscuit.
Warp with plastic warp and refrigerate until firm.

To Serve
Take the charlotte out of the mold.
Dust with icing sugar.

Charlotte aux fraises: Strawberry Charlotte

Brown Sugar Pretzel Cookies

I really need a brake from complicated recipe, well I feel a bit tried. But you know me, I can live my life without baking, so this time let's make something easy and simple.

Again the recipe comes from ............) books, (well I'm a big fan of both of them, I really love their books, the recipes are easy and most of them are great). This recipe has an unusual ingredient for sweet, the mirin if you cook Japaneses food often you must know about this condiment. It give the cookies a lightly sweet fragrance and a bit of sweet taste. I adjust a recipe a bit, only to make the cookies more delicious (in my opinion, haha).

Brown Sugar Pretzel Cookies
Makes about 22 pieces

120 g	Cake flour (sifted)
50 g	Butter (cold , cut into pieces)
35 g	Brown sugar (sifted)
4 tsp	Milk
2 tsp	Mirin (Japanese sweet cooking rice seasoning)
	A dash of salt
	Sugar for sprinkle on top

Put the flour, salt and brown sugar in a bowl of the food processor and pulse several times to mix.
Add the butter and pulse until the butter is finely mixed in. The mixture should be powdery (but mine seen a bit like breadcrumb).

Pour mirin and milk into the bowl and pulse several times, the mixture will look like breadcrumb.

Using lightly floured hands, shape the dough into square. Dust lightly with flour and wrap each with plastic. Chill for at least 2 hours.

Heat the oven to 170°C.

On a lightly floured pastry cloth or board, roll the dough to a 3-4 mm thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. After cutting, transfer the cookies to a sheet of wax paper.

Carefully place on cookie sheets. Sprinkle evenly with sugar.

Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the edges begin to brown lightly. To ensure even browning, toward the end of baking time rotate the sheets from top to bottom and front to back. Let stand on pans for 1 or 2 minutes. With a thin metal spatula, remove to cooling racks.

Brown Sugar Pretzel Cookies