BAKED CUSTARDS

custards

A liquid product that has been bound with eggs and baked in a water bath (examples: Flan, Créme Brûlée, Pot de Créme, Quiche, and Cheesecake.)

When baked in a water bath it should be baked at low temperature still oven oat 300 F – 325 F. There are three reasons you to bake your products in a water bath.

1. To eliminate browning and souffléing
2. It keeps the environment moist
3. Creates slow, even cooking

In class we made two Baked Custards
1. Pot de Créme
2. Créme Brûlée

Flan is another example of a Baked Custard but we decided not to make it in class this week.

Of those three Baked Custards Flan is the lightest containing milk, whole eggs, and sugar Pot de Créme is in the middle containing milk/cream, whole eggs/yolk and sugar and Créme Brulée is the heaviest containing cream, yolks and sugar

CHOCOLATE POT DE CRÈME

8 oz milk
3 oz cream
4 oz semi sweet chocolate
2 oz sugar
1 whole egg
2 yolks

1. Melt chocolate over double boiler
2. Combine milk, cream and ½ the sugar – bring to a scold over heat
3. Mix the rest of the sugar with the egg yolks – mix right away so that the yolks don’t dry out.
4. Mix chocolate to yolk mixture - dry bottom so that the condensation doesn’t drip in
5. Temper in milk to chocolate and yolk mixture.
6. Put mixture through a strainer
7. Pour into vessel (whatever you want to serve it in)
8. Pop and bubbles before putting it into oven, can be down with a knife or blow torch
9. Place in larger pan, filling that half way with warm water – creating your water bath
10. Its down when it’s jiggly in the center only.
11. Cover with foil or parchment, careful to not let the custard touch – this will help prevent drying.
12. Top with Chantilly or whipped cream is desired.

CHEF CRITIQUE: The consistency was really good, should be creamy yet hold its shape.

CRÈME BRULEE

12 oz cream
1/3 of a vanilla bean (can sub vanilla extract)
2 oz sugar
4 egg yolks

1. Add the vanilla seeds or extract to cream.
2. Combine half the sugar with the cream, bring to a scold
3. Mix other half of the sugar with the yolks.
4. Temper the yolk with the milk so it doesn’t curdle
5. Strain the mixture- to get out any egg that may have cooked
6. Put into vessel (whatever you want to serve it in)
7. Place in larger pan, filling that half way with warm water- creating your water bath
8. Cover with foil or parchment, careful to not let the custard touch – this will help prevent drying.
9. Bake till the center is jiggly at 300-325 F
10. Once out of the oven and chilled. Top with a thin layer of sugar. Brown the sugar with a blowtorch – be careful not to linger, you do not want to melt the custard and you do not want any raw bits of sugar. Add a second layer of sugar and brown again.

CHEF CRITIQUE: The crust was nice, it held shape, and there was a nice crack with the sugar.

cracked creme brulee

CHEESECAKE (yield 1, 6 inch cake)

Crust
2 ¼ oz graham cracker crumbs
½ oz sugar
1 oz melted butter

Filling
12 oz cream cheese
3-½ oz sugar
3 egg yolks
2 oz cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Combine graham cracker and sugar and melted butter.
2. Smash crust down into vessel
3. Heat for a few min in oven to let the crust set in.
4. Cream the cream cheese with a paddle attachment, add vanilla (or other flavoring), scraping in between
5. Add sugar
6. Mix cream and yolks
7. Add cream/yolk mixture to cream cheese and sugar
8. Make sure there aren’t any lumps.
9. Bake in water bath at 300-325 F
10. Cool completely, serve chilled, garnished with fruit on top.

CHEF CRITIQUE: The custard was well set, no color, which is good. The fact that there was still a crust after taking it out of the pan is a very good sign!

PATE SUCREE (Sweet dough)

yummy basis for cookies or any pie!

1 lb butter
8 oz sugar
3 egg yolks
1 whole egg
1 ½ lb pastry flour; sifted

1. Cream butter
2. Mix yolks with whole egg
3. Cream sugar with butter – don’t mix a lot
4. Add eggs – careful not to over cream
5. Gradually add sifted flour
6. Mix for just a second
7. Lay out flat on parchment – refrigerate before using

We used this for the base of lemon meringue and a chocolate moose tart. (Recipes below) However you can also use this as a base for chocolate chip cookies or sugar cookies.

When you use this dough for tarts or cookies, make sure it is very chilled before working with it. And only take out what you need leave the rest in the refrigerator.

To make it easier to roll out your dough you can roll it out in the middle of two-piece of plastic. For the tart it should be about ¼ inch thick. Once in your tart pan, dock and blind bake. It should be golden brown. You can bake it for a few minutes without the beans to give the bottom a golden rich color.

LEMON CURD

3 whole eggs
3 egg yolks
7 oz sugar
2 oz lemon zest
5-½ oz lemon juice
2 oz butter

1. Mix everything together, except for butter with a whisk
2. Over simmering water, constantly stir with spatula mixture until it thickens. Should take about 30 min. MUST continue to stir.
3. Once thicken, add butter.
4. Chill in refrigerator until cold and ready to use

We ran out of lemons so we used limes instead. Simply replaced the lemon zest and lemon juice for lime. You could replace the lemon with any citrus fruit. One group did orange!

LIME MERINGUE TARTLET

Fill the tart shell of pate sucree with the lime curd. Top with Italian Meringue- using a star tip. Use a blowtorch to brown the tops

CHEF CRITIQUE: The meringue was well made. Held its shape and had a very good pronounced lime flavor. The tart shell should be a little less browned

CHOCOLATE MOUSSE

6 oz semi sweet chocolate
3 egg yolks
1 whole egg
1 ½ oz sugar
½ Tbsp corn syrup
Water – as needed
7 oz cream

1. Melt chocolate over double boiler
2. Bring eggs to ribbon stage in mixer
3. Heat sugar and water to 240 F or till they each “softball stage”
4. Pour sugar into yolks, with mixer on low – this mixture is now called Pate a Bombé
5. Whip the cream separately to a solid soft peak
6. Bring Pate a Bombé to a ribbon stage
7. Lighten the Pate a Bombé with the melted chocolate, then continue to fold in the rest
8. Fold in cream
9. Can freeze up to 4 weeks. Other wise just refrigerate until ready to use.
10. Fill tart shell with chocolate mousse – top with Chantilly cream

CHEF CRITIQUE: The mousse was well made, had a good smooth texture

CHARLOTTE

There are two components to a Charlotte

1. Bavarian Cream – Crème Anglaise bound with gelatin and stabilized with Italian meringue and lightened with whipped cream

2. Cake

The original charlotte was a apple compote baked in a mold, traditionally pail shaped, with day old bread that was buttered. In the 19^th century Chef Marie Antoine Crème redefined this dessert on accident. He made a Bavarian cream, however the gelatin supply insufficient to hold it up on its own, so banded the cake with lady fingers

LADY FINGERS

4 egg yolks
2 oz sugar
4 egg whites
2 oz sugar
4 oz AP Flour

1. Bring yolk and 2oz sugar to ribbon stage
2. Make French meringue with whites and 2 oz sugar
3. Alternately fold in meringue and flour to yolk mixture
4. Pipe in a “fence” shape

BAVARIAN CREAM

3 components
1. Gelatin
2. Crème Anglaise
3. Whipped Cream

3 ½ each gelatin sheets
2 oz sugar
8 oz milk
1/3 vanilla bean
8 oz cream

1. Steep the gelatin in ice cold water
2. Make Crème Anglese – steep milk with vanilla over med heat. Mix the egg yolk with half the sugar, temper the milk into the yolk, and put back in the pot. Cook until nape
3. Lightly whip the cream; over an ice bath- the cream should start to leave tracks but no peaks.
4. Squeeze all of the water out of the gelatin. Add the gel to the Crème Anglese – the gelatin will melt in.
5. Strain the Crème Anglese, and fold in the cream, constantly stirring so that the gelatin doesn’t set.
6. It should be a thick liquid. Pour into cake
7. Let set in refrigerate, top with Chantilly cream and fruit if desired.

fence and bottom of lady fingers, creating a "bowl"

Line a cake ring with plastic, then line the plastic with you lady finger “fence”, also add lady fingers to the bottom to create a lady finger “bowl”.

CHEF CRITIQUE: Our cream turned out a little too grainy.

OVER ALL CHEF CRITIQUE: Good presentation!