Paris-Brest

Per Nana~

When Tricia and I traveled to the Loire Valley last summer,

 one of the chateaux that we visited was the Château de Cheverny. 

After much sightseeing and photo taking, we stopped

 in the  little village for our usual café crème. 

Across from the cafe was a small pâtisserie, so we decided to 

treat ourselves to some goodies. One of the pastries on display

 was the Paris-Brest. At that time I had no idea why it was named 

that,  but the fact that my father came from Brest was enough for me

 to buy one. We brought our treats back to the hotel to enjoy 

later in the day and it was so delicious. 

The actual "Cheverny" Paris-Brest, shot in the hotel room before enjoying~

For this week's recipe, I was absolutely positive that making

 the Paris-Brest at home would be a disaster. I remember that

 when we made the eclairs in 2011 as part of this cooking group, 

Tricia and I could not find the right sized pastry tips and ended 

up with skinny little eclairs. Knowing that this recipe was 

coming up, I researched and found the larger tips at Etsy.com. 

A package of four tips in various designs, all 3/4 in size

 plus ten disposable bags. Perfect.  

So far, so good......

Preparing this recipe in stages is the way to go. 

My biggest problem was making perfect rings. 

I don't think I made them wide enough so 

they did not rise as expected.

When the shell was baked it looked pretty good, but since

 it was fairly flat I had difficulty cutting it. After I filled

 it with the cream I sort of patched the top on.

It looked ok and since Hubby thought it was

 very pretty, I considered it to be a winner.

 Not perfect, but it sure tasted wonderful. 

Per Tricia~

This turned out to be a very busy week at work, with a project 

that kept me busy over the entire weekend (sorry for lack of blog

 post commenting) and through the week. Paris-Brest was NOT a

 recipe I wanted to be churning out on Thursday night but there I was. 

Not only did I start late, but had to run to the store for corn starch 

after work. Don't cry for me though, I also get lots of help-especially

 in the form of a certain Dorista who delivered my own little 

set of pastry bags and tips to ensure I had a fighting chance.  

Special Delivery à la Nana

Even with the late start, I still made the components one at a time

 over the course of the evening.  This actually consisted of 3 separate 

recipes- the dough, the filling, and then the actual pastry "assembly"

 and baking. The recipe(s) were straight forward but overall I need to

 hone my pastry piping skills. (that, Nana could not deliver in the

 cute little baggie). So much for the "baker's treat" Dorie referred to as 

being made out of the extra dough- I actually ran out before 

finishing the third circle and got a bit creative. 

 

 For some reason the pastry simply did not rise as I would have hoped. The coloring was lovely, the almonds looked great on top and thankfully did not get over-browned. 

Filled ~
Cutting the very flat pastry was a bit of a challenge but with all
 those   yummy ingredients and lovely filling, not to mention
the forgiving coating of confectioner's sugar on top, my husband
couldn't wait to  give this a try. And it did not disappoint. 
 It was delicious and the vanilla creme filling with the
 sugar coated almond bits mixed in was out of this world. We both
 gave it two thumbs up and I will definitely work to perfect my skills
 on this one because it really was an impressive looking as well
 as delicious recipe. 

 

This was a fun adventure, even on a busy deadline, but I have

 to admit that it is also the memories for me that make many 

of these recipes so special. Cheverny, my Grandfather, patisseries, 

travel and of course- French Fridays with Dorie.  

Amazing kitchen gardens at Cheverny.

 

Pastry was not the only treat that made it back to the hotel...

The memories of our trip to the Loire Valley and Cheverny were a 

welcome distraction from cold weather and too much work :)

Happy French Friday ~