I first fell in love with Canelé 2 years ago. I used to visit a French Cafe every Saturday morning just for the canelé before I started my long-standing 12 hour shift working in a restaurant. It was like my daily coffee fix.
For the uninitiated, canelé is a small treat with a deeply caramelized shell and a rich, soft, custard-like inside. Although not as popular as other mainstream French pastries like croissants and macaroons, it is still one of the most famous, with a passionate and flourishing fanbase all around the world.
The dessert has dramatically increased its international fame with perfectly identified cylindrical shape and the thin caramelised rind which provide it such a flavour and crispy exterior.
After I have moved to the other side of Auckland, the French Cafe is no longer an easy access for me to get my favourite dessert. So, I thought - why not make them myself at home?
Here’s sharing with you my recipe:
Canelé uses literally ingredients sitting in your pantry: milk, plain flour, butter, sugar, eggs, rum and vanilla. The use of vanilla and rum creates a unique flavour - an addicting fragrance. It is the greatest sweet pastry of all time.
Then why is canelé so expensive?
The traditional way of making this mini dessert is to use copper mold, each mold can cost in between $40- $190. In addition, these expensive molds require seasoning with beeswax before their first use, gasp! Nonetheless, we can use a relatively cheaper option, which is using a tray mold that can make 12 canelés at once. We are here to make your life easier, no other boujee tools but boujee pastry at home.
Let’s get started.
Start with a small saucepan, toss the unsalted butter, followed by whole milk in, and the beans from one vanilla bean pod, chunk the whole vanilla bean pod in.
Put on the stove over medium heat as soon as it comes to a simmer, take it off the heat and let it cool until 30°C, or warm when you touch the bowl.
In a separate bowl, whisk eggs and sugar together to emulsify. Make sure to be gentle and not to incorporate any air. While whisking your egg mixture, splash milk mixture into the egg mixture in 3 parts.
Then sift flour and a pinch of salt into the mixture and then whisk gently. Don’t worry about the lumps because you will have to sift the batter twice to make the batter nice and smooth, then add rum and give it a gentle stir.
Finally, use plastic wrap to wrap the bowl, then pop it in the fridge sitting for two days. Yes, two days (48 hours) to get the perfect texture and no longer than 3 days (72 hours).
On bake day, take the batter out to reach room temperature, it takes roughly 3 hours or so. Preheat your oven to 230°C for 15 minutes.
Brush the canelé tray mold with a thin layer of butter, not too much otherwise your canelé will have a 'white butt'. Then, pour the batter into each mold until 80% full. After 15 minutes of baking, quickly open the oven door to lower the temperature and change to 190°C for 40 minutes.
Keep an eye on them in the last 10 minutes of the bake time, they can quickly go from perfect to burnt.
Using gloves, take the tray out and flip it onto the cooling rack above a layer of tinfoil on the counter.
If the canelé is perfectly dark in colour like the picture below, it is done. If it has a whitehead, or the colour is not even, return it to the mold and bake it for another 8-10 minutes.
When the baking is completed, let the canelé cool down for 45 minutes, then you will get the perfect crispy exterior and custardy soft center. They are best to eat within 8 hours after baking.
Bon appetit!
Recipe (for 12canelé):
500g whole milk
50g unsalted butter
50g whole eggs
70g egg yolks
200g sugar
120g plain flour
1g salt
1 vanilla pod
Storage:
Room temperature for 3 days. In the fridge for 1 week. In the freezer for 2 weeks.
Reheat 10-12 minutes at 180°C to get the perfect crisp again.
