Chouquette

This is my favorite pastry for breakfast when I can get my hands on a bag of them of course!
I first ate these at one my favorite bakeries in Portland - St. Honore. Since then, I've been obsessed with tracking down the best chouquettes every time I visit Paris...
It is made with choux pastry which is extremely easy and has a multitude of applications and I really need to start doing this more often.

Traditionally these pastries are sprinkled with pearl sugar which gives it the crunchy white bits I love but I used turbinado sugar I had at home. Surprisingly, they turned out really, really good! These are great plain but this time I served it with milk jam from my recent trip to Paris which made for a really great combination.

Ingredients:
for the choux pastry:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 stick butter
3 eggs
1 cup water
1 tbsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
4 tbsp. turbinado sugar
2 tbsp cream or milk


Method:

Heat the water, sugar, salt, butter in a sauce pan until simmering. Remove from heat, add the flour, combine and return to the heat. Keep stirring with a wooden spoon until it is well combined and the dough forms a ball without sticking to the sides of the pan. This should really take less than a minute.

Remove the pan from heat and add the eggs, one at a time. After each egg is added, keep stirring vigorously until the egg is completely absorbed. The end result should be a very eggy, tacky pastry dough. Chill the dough in the fridge for 30 mins. to 1 hour.

Heat the oven to 400F. Pipe walnut sized portions of the pastry dough onto a parchment sheet leaving some space between them. Brush with the cream or milk and sprinkle with the turbinado sugar. Bake for 20 mins. until they are golden and risen into delicate puffs.

Walnut loaf (pain aux noix)

This is a moist walnut loaf that is perfect for tea or delicious with fruit and cheese. Pain aux noix literally translates to "bread with walnuts" in french but this version is much richer than any walnut bread and is more like a tea-cake.


Ingredients:
1 3/4 sticks butter
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
3 1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs at room temp.
1 3/4 cup walnuts, chopped coarsely and then pulsed in a food processor to a coarse meal
1 1/4 cups milk
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed tightly
Powdered sugar for dusting


Method:
Preheat oven to 350 ° F. Grease a loaf pan with butter and set aside.

Melt the butter, brown sugar and honey on low heat and then set aside to cool. Stir in the walnut meal. Whisk the eggs with the milk in a separate bowl and stir that into the pan that has cooled.

In a separate bowl mix the dry ingredients and add to the pan to combine. Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake for 30 minutes at 350 ° F and then for 30 minutes at 300 ° F or until when pressed the top of the cake springs back.

Cool completely on a wire rack and then store until next day, wrapped in foil and refigerated. Serve at room temperature with dusting of powdered sugar.

Pannetone french toast

Pannetone is an Italian fruit bread that is common during the holidays but I was happy to find it at whole foods the other day. It has candied citrus in it, has a spongy consistency and is not too sweet. Perfect for luscious french toast!

Ingredients:

1 lb pannetone, sliced into 1" thick slices
6 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup milk
maple syrup
1 tbsp. butter


Method:

Whisk the eggs, milk and vanilla in a shallow pan and set aside to infuse for 30 minutes.
Heat a nonstick pan. Coat the pan with some butter.

Take a slice of pannetone, dip both sides into the egg mixture and place on pan. Flip when golden and place on serving plate. Repeat with the rest of the pannetone.

Serve immediately drizzled with maple syrup. Simply divine!

Andouille and fennel galette

Brunches are my favorite way to start a lazy Sunday. Sometimes, I simply like to head out but on other days when I have great ingredients at hand, it's time to get creative! Today, I was craving something savoury to go with the creamy pannetone french toast. So, started with some fresh fennel, great andouille and then topped it off with some really tangy Bulgarian feta (I am fan now!)

Ingredients:

1 small fennel bulb, sliced
2 links andouille sausage, sliced
1 small red onion, sliced
3-4 tbsp fennel greens, chopped
1 tbsp fennel seeds
4-5 garlic cloves, sliced
olive oil
2 tbsp. feta (I used a Bulgarian version that is really soft and extra creamy)
black pepper and salt to taste
1 pie crust - home made or store-bought

Method:

Film the bottom of a skillet with olive oil over medium flame. Add the fennel and garlic and toss around for a minute. Then add the sausage and saute until golden.


Now add the onion and cook until translucent. Finally add the sliced fennel, salt and pepper and cook until softened. Turn off the heat and then mix in the chopped fennel leaves.


Roll the pie-crust into a circle. Add the cooled sausage mixture on top leaving 2" around the edges. Now fold the edges inwards to make a rustic presentation. Spread the mixture evenly within the edges. Brush edges with an egg wash. Cook in a 375°F oven for 35 minutes or until golden.


Crumble the cheese over the galette and serve while still warm. I served it for brunch along with pannetone french toast. It would also be great with a simple salad for lunch.