Paris-Brest
Last month, my partner and I spent a few days in Paris. One day, we stumbled upon this remarkable bakery on Rue Saint-Denis which sold, among other delicious pastries, an enormous Paris-Brest cake by the slice. It was so good that we went back for more the next day. Paris-Brest is a delicious choux pastry filled with a hazelnut "mousseline" cream, and it involves one hard-to-find ingredient: praliné (hazelnut-almond paste). This recipe is great because it shows how simple it is to make your own praliné . It is an extra step you can do without if you can good quality praliné in a jar, but it was well worth the effort. PRALINÉ (HAZELNUT-ALMOND PASTE) 100 grams hazelnuts 125 grams almonds (preferably skinned) 180 grams sugar 50 grams water CHOUX PASTRY 125 ml (1/2 cup) whole milk 125 ml (1/2 cup) water 75 grams (1/3 cup) unsalted butter 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 cup all-purpose flour 4 large eggs 1/4 cup sliced almonds EGG WASH 1 egg 2 tabl...