the hungry expats

I always wanted to try and make a croquembouche (or pièce montée for the French out there) but was afraid to tackle something that seemed so difficult and technical. That is, until I saw an episode of Masterchef Australia: All Stars last week, featuring Adriano Zumbo's recipe. For those who want to try it in its full measure, here's the link: http://www.masterchef.com.au/recipes/croquembouche-2012.htm Personally, I divided everything by 4, which still yielded about 20 choux puffs, and made some adjustments of my own: CROQUEMBOUCHE PUFF PASTRY   100g butter   5g sugar   135ml whole milk   5g salt   105ml water   130g all-purpose flour   4 eggs CREME PATISSIERE   425ml whole milk   1 Tablespoon vanilla extract   5 egg yolks   110g white sugar   45g corn flour   45g butter, diced, softened CARAMEL   150g white sugar   50ml water   65ml corn syrup Preheat oven to 190°C fan forced. Lightly grease an oven tray. For the choux p

Since we got back from our vacation on France's Atlantic Coast, we've been craving some Pain aux raisins . This amazing bakery in Château d'Oléron made the best ones, and we literally had to have it everyday. So I decided to give it a try and make my own version of them, with store-bought puff pastry, mind you, because I'm not ready to spend hours trying my own puff pastry, especially when it's over 30 Celsius degrees outside (and inside, since we don't have air conditioning). The result exceeded my expectations. So here it is. MINI PAIN AUX RAISINS or MINI PUFF PASTRY ROLLS with RAISINS and HOMEMADE VANILLA CUSTARD 1 Puff pastry roll 2 egg yolks 50 grams white sugar 25 grams corn flour 250 ml milk (not non-fat) 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup raisins Make vanilla custard. Stir the milk and vanilla in a saucepan over medium heat until almost boiling.  Meanwhile whisk yolks, sugar and corn flour in a bowl until thick and pale. Us