Ginger Crème Brulée

Rainy days had come more than a fortnight ago and apparently they won't drop off soon. The sky opens its womb and pours itself furiously day after day. Heavy drops of water are performing wild dances of crop massacre. When I left Vetren last week the garden was already looking like marshland and I don't even want to imagine what it's like today – strawberries rotting on the ground while still green, courgettes drowned in mud, weeds prospering, roses weeping musty petals. I hope the weather would prove me wrong, but I've already stricken off strawberries and cherries from my baking plans. I'm keeping my fingers crossed there would be at least something left of the apricots, raspberries and tomatoes – the holy summer trinity for me.

Till better times for the garden produce come I'm beating the rainy melancholy and the drenched mood with ginger, which also is a great warm-me-up for the soaking wet days. And I was just looking for an occasion to use the blow torch. Usually it's always Ivan who has all the fun with the blow torch but this time it was my turn.

Ginger Crème Brulée Recipe:
Makes 6 small ramekins 6x3cm

• 200 gr heavy cream;
• 70 gr milk;
• 3-4 cm ginger;
• ¼ vanilla pod;
• 35 gr sugar;
• 3 egg yolks;
• sugar for caramelizing on top.

Preheat the oven to 150ºC.

Cut the ginger into thin lamellas. Combine cream and milk into a heavy bottomed saucepan, add in ginger and vanilla pod(cut lengthwise and seeded), bring to a boil. Turn off the heat, cover the saucepan and let infuse for half an hour, then strain and discard the ginger and vanilla pieces.

Whisk the egg yolks together with the sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the infused cream-milk mixture. Divide amongst 6 small ramekins(6x3cm).

Place the ramekins into a baking dish and pour enough boiling water to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins, just take care not to pour water into the ramekins. Bake until the crème brulée is set but still trembling in the center, around 25-30 minutes. When cooled down, refrigerate the crème for several hours.

Before serving sprinkle an uniform layer of sugar on top of the crème and caramelize it with a blow torch.

Raspberry Financiers

Tea makes great part of our life. On our way back from Paris both of our suitcases were packed with tea and teaware. (Of course there were also 3 kilos of chocolate couverture, a kilo of cocoa butter, sac of 50 vanilla beans, small packet of tonka beans, a jar of malted almond spread, black sesame paste, spices and more chocolate.)

My catalogue booklet from Le Palais des Thés became worn out with my notes and remarks in it since I was bringing it alongside all the time just in case we pass near one of their shops and have the stir for tea which of course happened to be almost every day. Other tea shopping stops of ours were Jugetsudo, which is especially good place for buying reasonably priced pastry grade matcha tea, and a couple of shops in the Chinese neighbourhood for teaware acquisitions.

And since we've been avid tea drinkers for over 6 years, but there are no other tea lovers amongst our friends, we decided to share our tea passion with you. I really don't know why we haven't done this till now.

Making a state I must say that we rarely drink tea with the main course, wine goes better there, while for us tea is to be enjoyed with desserts or just on its own. We'll be happy if you join the tea-desserts topic with us, all ideas and suggestions are very welcome.

Financiers are easy and quick to make, besides we always have egg whites in abundance, so this is a good way to put them in use. And raspberries make the whole thing even better with their strong flavour and tangy notes.

Tea – when there are red fruits and especially raspberries involved, Japanese tea comes at once to the mind and Tamaryokucha tea was our choice on the spot.

Raspberry Financiers Recipe:
Makes 15

• 135 gr egg whites;
• 90 gr sugar;
• 65 gr almond meal;
• 45 gr all purpose flour;
• 100 gr butter;
• sometimes we add 15 gr of desiccated coconut for chewiness, but omitted it this time;
• fresh or frozen raspberries.

In a small saucepan brown the butter until fragrant and nutty. Leave it to cool down.

Preheat the oven to 180º C.

In a bowl, sift together almond meal and flour, add in coconut shreds, if using.

Beat egg whites and granulated sugar to firm, glossy peaks. Fold in the dry ingredients, then fold in the browned butter.

Divide the batter amongst 15 silicone moulds. Top with several raspberries.

Bake for 18 – 20 minutes or until done.

Pastry Adventures in Paris – Part II

hot chocolate at Un Dimanche à Paris

We had the luck of having spring sunny smiles all the time we were in Paris, except for one Sunday when we went picnicking and it rained all the day but that didn't deter us from keeping to our intentions.

But good weather has its downs, it's not that I'm complaining of the sun, not at all, but when it's warm there is no hot chocolate. I don't get it – what has the weather to do with one's desires for a potent, flavourful, pungent cup of hot chocolate. It gives warmth when it's cold but it's a great pick-me-up for the hot days too.

Fortunately Un Dimanche à Paris helped us to struggle with the hot chocolate abstinence. First we went there for a take away hot chocolate, but they serve it in tiny paper coffee cups – it was strong and smooth, and velvety, and... oh, so good, but the cups were so small that left us only longing for more. So the next day we returned for a new dose of mighty chocolate intoxication.

The Opera entremet just made it further more decadent.

Choux Pistache - Fruits Rouges was a true taste bud pleaser – fresh, light and memorable.

Considering that before going to Un Dimanche à Paris we went to Pierre Hermé for a couple of pastries and snagged some croissants on the way, I daresay we had a busy day. Of course we headed to the Luxembourg garden – our favourite place for munching on pastries.

Tarte Infiniment Vanille appeared to be very hard to photograph especially with the bright sun and me drooling over it, but we both liked it very much, but of course this was predictable.

However, Plentitude was really surprising piece - it wasn't an ordinary chocolate pastry since the chocolate on top was salted and this gave the whole entremet lovely tangy notes.

I just saw that the recipe for Plentitude is published in Pierre Hermé's Larousse du Chocolat so we're making it soon.

Adam from one of my favourite Paris related dessert blogs – Paris Patisseries mentions a lot Jacques Genin and actually this is the only patisserie he has never criticised. So we headed there. This place proved to be super cool. It even exceeded all our expectations. Monsieur Genin's creations are simple but so tasteful. One of the desserts we chose was Millefeuille Vanille-Framboise. I haven't even thought one could tuck so much vanilla into pastry cream. The flavour was irresistible. And look at that puff pastry – it's my new measure for the perfection.

Ephémère marron was our second choice – again it was fully packed with flavour. I didn't suppose I would like so much a chestnut entremet.

Oh, I forgot to mention Jacques Genin's caramels which were a true killer, especially the mango and ginger ones.

this is how the cold drip coffee is being extracted

Till now I'd always found Paris isn't the best place for coffee afficionados. But things have changed with the opening of Coutume Café. We went there early in the morning( ah... ok then, it was around 10.30 am, but I told you we were on foot, besides we've never been early birds) in order to catch their cold extraction coffee, also known as cold drip, 24 hour drip or Kyoto style coffee. It has nothing to do with the espresso coffee.

In fact, we both found, the cold drip has more in common with coffee liqueur but without the alcohol boost. Shortly, it's not your ordinary coffee. And apparently the caffeine content is higher because both Ivan and I were overexcited afterwords.

inside La Pâtisserie des Rêves

Apparently our early going to Coutume was not early enough because there were no croissants left for breakfast. We both needed something to eat to neutralize the caffeine impact so we headed to La Pâtisserie des Rêves which was nearby.

We left the pastries for another day, which unfortunately never came, and took a couple of croissants, brioche (which was the same as croissant but in different shape) and kouign amann. At the look of the futuristic interior I just couldn't restrain myself of snagging a couple of photos.

The only disappointment we had during our hilarious pastry binges was at Carl Marletti. Not only both of the pastries we tried were stale but the heavy cream was in such an abundance that made them really ecoeurant.

Paradis Latin was way beyond it's shelf life since some of the red fruits inside were mouldy.

And the Lily Valley – we would actually have liked it if it were fresher, since the violet notes are pleasingly tangible, but unfortunately it was not.

On the other hand, we felt in love with Hugo et Victor. We tried the Hugo and the Victor versions of Passion. The sugar content is extremely diminished but the flavour is utterly strong. I dare say that Passion Hugo even tends to be on the sour side but it was delectably refreshing.

Shortly(or not so) these were the pastries we ate in front of the camera.

Pastry Adventures in Paris – Part I

I find this photo extremely relaxing, mainly because of the stretching guy on the background. Taken on rue Mouffetard.

Two weeks were definitely not enough to eat our way through Paris but we did our best to fulfill this hard task.

Normally the things come about in a totally different way – I would go there for 2 months, try and taste all the things of my beforehand compiled list, examine the city – what's new and what has changed, or simply hang about, here and there, together with my sister. Then Ivan would come for the last two weeks and I would try to show him all the things I've discovered and experienced for the last month and a half. There is always a very strict list to be followed, covering favourite places, streets, shops, market places, pastry shops, coffee houses, salons de thé.

This time it was different and we had only 2 weeks. Mainly because I found cheap plain tickets with the end of March as the end possible return dates, besides Ivan couldn't take longer leave.

 guy on the window at rue Cler

Every time when in Paris, we're staying at my sister's lodgings, thus through the years we've lived in 4 different neighbourhoods, which helped me greatly with knowing the city better. And it's a completely different experience from staying at a hotel. We're always making acquaintances in all the cheese shops and bakeries near the lodgings. However, this time there were not any good cheese shops in the neighbourhood except the cheese stand at the market on Sunday, but there were a lot of lovely bakeries. Besides we had an important mission to follow – the pastry shops. Not that we haven't indulged ourselves with cheese too.

This is how Frédéric welcomed us the day we arrived – neufchâtel, chaource, saint nectaire, brie and crottins de chèvre sec. Mmmmmm..... I miss it... The next day was the market day and we couldn't resist of buying further more cheese.


It's a whole miracle we didn't gain extra kilos. But 6 years ago I had a bad experience that still serves me as a warning – I was in Paris for a month and a half and it was time for Ivan to come, so I went to meet him at the airport. He said nothing when he saw me but his eyes became huge - this has something to do with the fact that I'd gained more than 10 kilos - it was a goggle one of a kind. So I've learned my lesson and I don't use the public transport any more, no matter how convenient the subway is, neither how far away we're going. We are always on foot. Of course this has it's bad sides – you have no idea how fast the shoes get worn off with all the walking, no kidding.

 Dreamy time at rue Cler

But this way we could have cheese and baguette as a morning snack at home, then snag some croissants on the go, a little bit later comes the pastry time, then it's coffee or tea with pain aux raisins or more croissants, or whatever viennoiseries come to our sight - one could never get enough of croissants when in Paris, plus there are so many bakeries to try and almost everywhere the croissants are good.

Speaking of croissants and viennoiseries, here are our favourites this time:

Croissant Ispahan by Pierre Hermé – it was so hard to get our hands over this beauty especially at the boutique at rue Bonaparte, since it was always crowded, but it was worth the waiting on the queue. From the first bite we were all mmmm and nommmm and ummmmm...

Chausson cassis et violette by Des Gateaux et du Pain – although neither Ivan, nor I detected the violet here, the black currant was so vivid that we both enjoyed it a lot. Besides it was in a nice symbiosis with the deliciously buttery caramelized pâte feuilletée.

Matcha Croissant by Sadaharu Aoki – this was our favourite of the favourites. The matcha flavour is delicate but powerful giving a long lasting fresh after taste.

We went to Aoki a couple of times for a morning coffee and pastries. I must admit that I have a special sentiment for his boutique at rue Pérignon since I've lived nearby for 3 months and love the neighbourhood. We had Matcha-Adzuki(the photo above) and Zen(the photo bellow) entremets there.

I liked the Zen one better maybe because I adore sesame and the way it is complemented by the matcha tea. But I found both of the entremets a little bit more sweeter of what I've imagined. As opposite, Ivan had no such remarks.

We tried the black sesame eclairs, which were delish, but the photos appeared to be blurred, and 4 macaron flavours – matcha, yuzu, black sesame and wasabi. The matcha and the black sesame ones were ok, but nothing extraordinary, the yuzu one was enchanting, but unfortunately the wasabi one was really disappointing since the wasabi taste was extremely blind, unlike at the wasabi bonbons. Oh my, Aoki's wasabi bonbons – this is something we are totally mad about, so we were very happy that they sell them per piece at the Ségur boutique.

Maybe of all the patissereies, I loved the most the creations of Des Gateaux & du Pain. Their Tarte Mangue Vanille still evokes blissful memories in my mind – it was so mango-y and potent, but at the same time very light, the crust was done to perfection, so was every other component.

Kashmir by Des Gateaux & du Pain was another piece that we munched with great delight – it wasn't as equally powerful like the above mentioned tart but it was still a great pastry, with nicely subtle orange, saffron and date flavours.


Wow, this post has already become too long, stay tuned for the second part...

Tahini Cookies

I'm working hard these days in order to finish all my work for March before we head to Paris in 2 weeks. So I'm popping along just to post a quick recipe for tahini cookies. I had an urge for sesame, opened the fridge, combined this and that and my impulse led to these cookies which I happened to make already 3 times the past month.

Tahini Cookies Recipe:
Makes: 50 – 55 cookies

• 150 gr all purpose flour, sifted;
• 1 tsp baking powder;
• pinch of salt;
• 115 gr butter, at room temperature;
• 100 gr tahini;
• 135 gr granulated sugar;
• 1 egg;
• 100 – 120 gr black and white sesame seeds for rolling the cookies.

In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of your stand mixer, equipped with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Cream in the tahini paste, then beat in the egg. Fold in the flour mixture.

Cover the bowl and place in the fridge for at least an hour – the batter will set and it would be easier to work with it.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC. When baking cookies I prefer to use the upper and lower heater with the fan function.

Take the dough out of the fridge. Using your hands roll small balls(the size of a quail egg) of the dough, then roll the balls into the sesame seeds. Arrange tahini - sesame seed balls onto a lined with silpat baking sheet leaving some space between them. Bake for about 8 minutes or until the bottom starts to turn golden-brown.

Cool on a wire rack, then store cookies in an airtight container.

Pâte de Coing / Quince Paste

The sells woman from the fruit and vegetable shop asked me with great curiosity what I'm using for all the quinces I'm buying. She has no idea but I'm buying from other places too. Actually, wherever I see quinces, I'm sold. I love their flavour so much that sometimes I eat them plain, just poached, with nothing added. But I also made quince jelly, quince frangipane tarts and galettes, quince jam with slaked lime. This quince paste was made in November but I'm still keeping a couple pieces in the fridge just to see how long it will last. And it is still fresh. My concerns were that I used less sugar than most of the recipes suggest but I wanted the quince to be the leading taste, not the sugar. Apparently my recipe worked fine and I'll try it again the next quince season.

Pâte de Coing (Quince Paste) Recipe:

• 850 gr quinces (around 3 quinces), cored, peeled and diced to 1 cm pieces;
• 300 gr water;
• 500 gr sugar.

Note: Although quince's peels and the core contain the most pectin I didn't use them for the paste since the flesh itself is rich in pectin too. Instead I added them to two more quinces and made jelly.

Line a 20 cm ring with paper.

In a heavy bottomed sauce pan with a lid, combine water and quince pieces. The water won't cover them, but no problem. Stirring now and then, simmer until fork tender on a medium-low. Let the mixture cool a bit and puree using an immersion blender. Add the sugar and keep simmering on a medium-low heat stirring all the time. Keep stirring till the mixture reaches 106ºC but beware since it bubbles up wildly. If not using a thermometer – it is ready when it becomes pretty thick and if you pour a small amount of the mixture on a cold plate it would set very quick. Then pour into the paper lined ring. Allow to cool completely then cut at whatever shape you like.

Keep in a airtight container in the fridge.

Poppy Seed Tea Cake

Minus 15 to minus 25 isn't the normal temperature for our part of the world but this is what we are dealing with for the last 2 weeks. Everything is white and transparent with snow and ice. And it's like the nature prepares itself for renovation.

It's just the right time for some tea and cake. This time it's poppy seed cake with lots of poppy seeds that produce a crunchy pop sensation in the mouth.

Poppy Seed Tea Cake Recipe:

• 100 gr all purpose flour, sifted;
• 100 gr poppy seeds;
• 1 Tbsp baking powder;
• pinch of salt;
• zest of 1 lime;
• 95 gr sugar;
• 70 gr butter;
• 150 gr sour cream(20% butterfat);
• 1 egg.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC.

Combine flour, baking powder, salt and poppy seeds. Set aside.

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in sour cream and lime zest. When homogenous, beat in the egg. Fold in the flour - poppy seed mixture.

Transfer the batter into a lined with paper 10x20 cm loaf pan. Bake for around 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool on a wire rack.

Tea Update(16.08.2012) - Just had this cake along with jasmine green tea and it's a heavenly combination.