White Chocolate & Peanut Butter Paris Brest
French dessert made of choux pastry and a praline flavoured cream
Choux paste
- 250g milk
- 250g water
- 220g butter
- 10g table salt
- 30g caster sugar
- 330g plain flour
- 480g whole eggs
Sablé biscuit
- 250g butter, room temperature
- 200g caster sugar
- 100g demerera sugar
- 310g plain flour
Peanut Buttercream
- 250g smooth peanut butter
- 250g icing sugar
- 250g butter, room temperature
White chocolate cremeux
- 332g milk
- 332g double cream
- 60g butter
- 460g best quality white chocolate, broken into pieces
- 3 leaves gelatine, soaked in iced water until soft
- a good pinch of sea salt
Salted caramel sauce
- 500g caster sugar
- 500g double cream
- 4 shots of espresso
- 10g sea salt
Candied peanuts
- 50g unsalted peanuts, roasted
- 100g caster sugar
- For the choux paste, weigh the milk, water, sugar, salt and butter into a large saucepan. Put on a medium heat and bring to a simmer. Whilst this is heating, weigh the flour into a separate bowl. Weigh the eggs in to a large jug. When the choux mixture is simmering and the butter has completely melted, pour in the flour and stir vigorously for 2 minutes, still on a medium heat. The paste will come together and form one mass and will come away from the sides of the saucepan. Transfer the paste to a free-standing electric mixer using a paddle attachment and turn on to medium speed. Beat for 2 minutes. Add the egg in 4 stages, leaving 30 second intervals between each addition. Continue to beat the choux paste until it is at room temperature. Transfer to piping bags and rest in the fridge for 1 hour
- For the Sablé dough, cream the butter and both sugars in a electric mixer or with a hand whisk for 1 minute. Fold in the flour and mix until everything is combined. Try to avoid overmixing. Roll the dough out either on a lightly floured worktop or between 2 large sheets of greaseproof paper. Try and roll the dough as thinly as possible, about the thickness of a 50p piece. Cut out rounds using a medium sized pastry cutter. Then, using a smaller sized cutter, cut out rounds in the centre of the previous cutouts. Chill the sheet for 10-15 minutes as the cutout rounds of dough will be too delicate to handle at room temperature. Once chilled, remove the cutout rounds from the sheet, remove the small, centre rounds so that you have a round of dough with a small hole in the middle. Put these rounds to one side in the fridge.
- Ideally using a piping nozzle, pipe the choux paste onto the chilled rounds of sable in a circular motion. The choux doesn’t have to be piped across the whole width of the sable as it will spread when baked. Place onto a flat baking tray, lined with greaseproof paper or a silicone mat, choux-side down. Place a maximum of 3 across and 4 down, depending on the size of the tray. Bake in a preheated oven at 185c for 25 minutes, then turn the oven off, leaving the Paris Brest in the oven for ten minutes to dry out slightly. Cool at room temperature.
- For the cremeux, bring the milk and cream to the boil, add the soaked gelatine, stir until dissolved, take off the heat. Pour over the white chocolate and stir until melted. Blend in the butter and sea salt with an electric hand blender. Pour the mixture through a sieve into a deep tray, cover with a layer of cling film and chill. This will take 2-3 hours to firm up. Once this has a firm, mousse-like consistency, transfer to piping bags.
- For the peanut buttercream, cream the butter and icing sugar until soft and well combined. Add the peanut butter and mix until evenly combined. Transfer to piping bags or a plastic container and leave at room temperature.
- For the salted caramel sauce, melt the caster sugar on a medium heat. When it starts turning golden brown, move the pan around carefully. Try and avoid stiring with a utensil as the unmelted sugar will just stick to the utensil. Be patient and don’t have the heat too high as melting sugar will burn very easily. Once all the sugar is melted and is a lovely golden brown colour, add half of the double cream. Be careful as the caramel is likely to spit so don’t stand too close to the pan! Using a whisk, bring the caramel and cream together. Bring back to the boil and add the other half of the cream. Repeat the whisking process. Add the coffee, pour through a sieve into a suitable container (not thin plastic) and whisk in the sea salt. Leave at room temperature, whisking every so often to prevent a skin forming.
- For the candied peanuts, put the peanuts and sugar in a large saucepan, adding a good splash of water. Melt the sugar on a medium heat. As the sugar melts and the water evaporates, a clear syrup will form. Keep stiring the nuts. They will become coated in the syrup and the sugar will then crystallise as it continues to cook and turn grainy again, keep stiring until this appears. Pour the coated nuts onto a large tray to cool.
- To assemble, slice the Paris Brest in half horizontally, spread peanut buttercream on the insides of the bottom and top. Pipe the cremeux, using a star shaped nozzle if available, onto the base layer of the Paris Brest. Stud the cremeux with some candied peanuts. Put the top half of the Paris Brest back on, adding some more candied peanuts to the top, using buttercream as an adhesive. Pour over the caramel sauce.
White Chocolate & Peanut Butter Paris Brest
French dessert made of choux pastry and a praline flavoured cream
Ingredients
Method
Recipe
Choux paste
- 250g milk
- 250g water
- 220g butter
- 10g table salt
- 30g caster sugar
- 330g plain flour
- 480g whole eggs
Sablé biscuit
- 250g butter, room temperature
- 200g caster sugar
- 100g demerera sugar
- 310g plain flour
Peanut Buttercream
- 250g smooth peanut butter
- 250g icing sugar
- 250g butter, room temperature
White chocolate cremeux
- 332g milk
- 332g double cream
- 60g butter
- 460g best quality white chocolate, broken into pieces
- 3 leaves gelatine, soaked in iced water until soft
- a good pinch of sea salt
Salted caramel sauce
- 500g caster sugar
- 500g double cream
- 4 shots of espresso
- 10g sea salt
Candied peanuts
- 50g unsalted peanuts, roasted
- 100g caster sugar
Ingredients
- For the choux paste, weigh the milk, water, sugar, salt and butter into a large saucepan. Put on a medium heat and bring to a simmer. Whilst this is heating, weigh the flour into a separate bowl. Weigh the eggs in to a large jug. When the choux mixture is simmering and the butter has completely melted, pour in the flour and stir vigorously for 2 minutes, still on a medium heat. The paste will come together and form one mass and will come away from the sides of the saucepan. Transfer the paste to a free-standing electric mixer using a paddle attachment and turn on to medium speed. Beat for 2 minutes. Add the egg in 4 stages, leaving 30 second intervals between each addition. Continue to beat the choux paste until it is at room temperature. Transfer to piping bags and rest in the fridge for 1 hour
- For the Sablé dough, cream the butter and both sugars in a electric mixer or with a hand whisk for 1 minute. Fold in the flour and mix until everything is combined. Try to avoid overmixing. Roll the dough out either on a lightly floured worktop or between 2 large sheets of greaseproof paper. Try and roll the dough as thinly as possible, about the thickness of a 50p piece. Cut out rounds using a medium sized pastry cutter. Then, using a smaller sized cutter, cut out rounds in the centre of the previous cutouts. Chill the sheet for 10-15 minutes as the cutout rounds of dough will be too delicate to handle at room temperature. Once chilled, remove the cutout rounds from the sheet, remove the small, centre rounds so that you have a round of dough with a small hole in the middle. Put these rounds to one side in the fridge.
- Ideally using a piping nozzle, pipe the choux paste onto the chilled rounds of sable in a circular motion. The choux doesn’t have to be piped across the whole width of the sable as it will spread when baked. Place onto a flat baking tray, lined with greaseproof paper or a silicone mat, choux-side down. Place a maximum of 3 across and 4 down, depending on the size of the tray. Bake in a preheated oven at 185c for 25 minutes, then turn the oven off, leaving the Paris Brest in the oven for ten minutes to dry out slightly. Cool at room temperature.
- For the cremeux, bring the milk and cream to the boil, add the soaked gelatine, stir until dissolved, take off the heat. Pour over the white chocolate and stir until melted. Blend in the butter and sea salt with an electric hand blender. Pour the mixture through a sieve into a deep tray, cover with a layer of cling film and chill. This will take 2-3 hours to firm up. Once this has a firm, mousse-like consistency, transfer to piping bags.
- For the peanut buttercream, cream the butter and icing sugar until soft and well combined. Add the peanut butter and mix until evenly combined. Transfer to piping bags or a plastic container and leave at room temperature.
- For the salted caramel sauce, melt the caster sugar on a medium heat. When it starts turning golden brown, move the pan around carefully. Try and avoid stiring with a utensil as the unmelted sugar will just stick to the utensil. Be patient and don’t have the heat too high as melting sugar will burn very easily. Once all the sugar is melted and is a lovely golden brown colour, add half of the double cream. Be careful as the caramel is likely to spit so don’t stand too close to the pan! Using a whisk, bring the caramel and cream together. Bring back to the boil and add the other half of the cream. Repeat the whisking process. Add the coffee, pour through a sieve into a suitable container (not thin plastic) and whisk in the sea salt. Leave at room temperature, whisking every so often to prevent a skin forming.
- For the candied peanuts, put the peanuts and sugar in a large saucepan, adding a good splash of water. Melt the sugar on a medium heat. As the sugar melts and the water evaporates, a clear syrup will form. Keep stiring the nuts. They will become coated in the syrup and the sugar will then crystallise as it continues to cook and turn grainy again, keep stiring until this appears. Pour the coated nuts onto a large tray to cool.
- To assemble, slice the Paris Brest in half horizontally, spread peanut buttercream on the insides of the bottom and top. Pipe the cremeux, using a star shaped nozzle if available, onto the base layer of the Paris Brest. Stud the cremeux with some candied peanuts. Put the top half of the Paris Brest back on, adding some more candied peanuts to the top, using buttercream as an adhesive. Pour over the caramel sauce.