Paris Brest dessert with roasted hazelnut and praline glaze by Alexandre Thabard
As Executive Pastry Chef at the Emirates Palace Mandarin Oriental Abu Dhabi, Alexandre Thabard manages stress with very good organization. “The stress I think I don’t have too much of because I know about organization and dealing with big volumes, and when I create one cake I take in consideration that I will have to make thousands of them, which is what I learned at the Lenotre research and development department where I worked for a year. So I apply that daily,” he recently explained to our correspondent, Santiago Corral.
Among his creations we find this Paris Brest that “is the definition of gourmandise: creamy, crunchy, soft, a play on texture, but above all, with a very roasted hazelnut flavor and caramel. I made this poaching with a turntable to make the visual more modern, with a praline glaze on top.”
Paris Brest
Choux pastry
- 500 g milk
- 500 g water
- 450 g butter
- 40 g sugar
- 20 g salt
- 550 g flour
- 800 g egg
Boil the milk and water with the butter, sugar and salt. Add the flour and cook a little bit to dry. With the paddle, add the egg little by little. Pipe and cook.
Hazelnuts praline
- 1.000 g hazelnuts
- 680 g sugar
- 3 g salt
Cook the sugar to get a caramel. Roast the hazelnuts for 15 minutes at 160ºC. Mix all ingredients together.
Hazelnuts glaze
- 1.000 g praline hazelnuts
- 100 g grapeseed oil
Mix together.
Hazelnuts Cream
- 178 g milk
- 30 g cream
- c.s. vanilla
- 20 g cornstarch
- 16 g sugar
- 41 g egg yolk
- 82 g hazelnuts praliné
- 30 g hazelnuts paste
- 92 g butter
- 2 g gelatin fish
- 10 g water
Heat the cream and milk. Mix the sugar, cornstarch, and egg yolk. Cook the cream. Add the gelatine and butter. Add the hazelnuts praliné and paste. Mix and cool. Whip the cream before using.
Assembly
Cut the choux pastry and dry it in the oven for 2 minutes at 160ºC. Add hazelnut praline (8 g) to the bottom, then poach the hazelnut cream 80 g by piece using a turn plate. Cover the lid with praline glaze 10g and add roasted hazelnuts and hazelnut skins. Place a lid on top of the Paris Brest.
