My OperaApple Creme
Monday, September 29, 2008 2:20:47 AM
Last week, I have posted some late recipes, and this is the last one of that cicle... (Yay! Now back to the kitchen)
By Wednesday, I had some fresh cream in my fridge, and I wouldn't be able to wait till weekend. So, I needed to do something with it before it spoils (This is one of the expensive ingredients, here in Brazil). The problem is I only knew two things to do with fresh cream! Ice cream and custards. Ice cream would be a good option, weren't my freezer so full. So, I had to go for a custard. Searching on the web, I had found some good recipes, but custard isn't really a thing you need to follow a recipe, but just a general guidance of how would your combination be.
But well, just a custard? That's not really delicious, I must say. So, there I went to my fridge and search for a new add-on to that... Lucky enough, I had some apples. Apples go really good with custard (that's a sort of European taste, I think... Hehehe). In the end, I had two final results: The first one was a full pie sized of my cream, which later I turned to 6 ramekins and toped with a caramel toffee with fleur de sel. I will put all the recipes here, and feel free to choose which ones you'll use to make your own combination!
Enjoy it, guys!
- Higa
Last week, I have posted some late recipes, and this is the last one of that cicle... (Yay! Now back to the kitchen)
By Wednesday, I had some fresh cream in my fridge, and I wouldn't be able to wait till weekend. So, I needed to do something with it before it spoils (This is one of the expensive ingredients, here in Brazil). The problem is I only knew two things to do with fresh cream! Ice cream and custards. Ice cream would be a good option, weren't my freezer so full. So, I had to go for a custard. Searching on the web, I had found some good recipes, but custard isn't really a thing you need to follow a recipe, but just a general guidance of how would your combination be.
But well, just a custard? That's not really delicious, I must say. So, there I went to my fridge and search for a new add-on to that... Lucky enough, I had some apples. Apples go really good with custard (that's a sort of European taste, I think... Hehehe). In the end, I had two final results: The first one was a full pie sized of my cream, which later I turned to 6 ramekins and toped with a caramel toffee with fleur de sel. I will put all the recipes here, and feel free to choose which ones you'll use to make your own combination!
Enjoy it, guys!
- Higa
Apple Creme
Makes 6
APPLE BOTTOM
4 medium apples, peeled, seeded and thinly sliced
1/4 cup demerara or crystal sugar
1 tsp cinnamon powder
This one is quite simple! Put the apples in a pan, cover it with the sugar and leave it over medium heat. The apple will loose water, and start to cook, becoming tender and flavorful. Add cinnamon, and mix well, to incorporate it. All this process should take around 15 minutes, from having raw and cold apples' slices to the good and soft apple bottom.
ENGLISH CUSTARD
3 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp vanilla essence
Beat the sugar in the yolks, until it is completely incorporated.
Bring the cream to simmer (Do not allow it to boil, or your custard will be grainy!). Mix the cornstarch and vanilla with 1 tbsp simmering cream, and then return this mix to the rest of the cream.
Slowly pour the cream over the egg mixture, constantly whisking.
Return the custard to the heat, constantly mixing. Caution, because it might bubble and (you bet!) it's hot! When you feel it's thick enough for your taste, remove from heat, and allow it to cool to a warm temperature. Pour over the apples, only as a thin layer, or as thick as you can get, considering the amount of custar you have.
TOFFEE TOPPING
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 tsp fleur de sel (Optional, but it's really a very special bright)
This one's easy, too, but at the same time, tricky. Put the sugar into a pot and heat it until it melts. The sugar should turn to caramel, and soon it will start to brown. Watch closely: when it gets to a nice golden coloar, remove from the heat and slowly add the heavy cream. The sugar will bubble up (Because of the temperature difference), but stay calm. The sugar will cristalize again, but some of it should have already been incorporated to the cream. Return the pot to heat, and, as the cream gets warm, the caramel will start to dissolve. This is a very long process, and keep gently folding the caramel into the cream until it has all been incorporated again, and then, remove from heat and allow it to cool. When it reaches room temperature, add the fleur de sel and mix well. Use it to make a thin topping ofer the custard.
Unregistered user # Tuesday, September 30, 2008 11:54:33 AM
Unregistered user # Tuesday, September 30, 2008 1:52:26 PM
Unregistered user # Thursday, October 2, 2008 1:00:19 AM
TONYTechitone # Friday, October 3, 2008 2:01:00 AM
I going to make some - it's making me sooooooo hungrey ;-)
Tony.
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