I thought croissants would be more difficult to make. But, if you've made puff pastry, croissants are just "baby" puff pastries with fewer turns and a rest in the refrigerator overnight. Still, I need to practice to get the perfect croissant and attain the flakiness that you get with a Parisien croissant.


Recipe for Croissants

Makes 12-16


1 pound all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups milk
1/2 ounce fresh yeast or 1/4 ounce dried yeast
1 1/3 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 egg yolks, lightly beaten

[You can find the recipe for Croissants in the book Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cook Home Collection.] You can watch this video to see the method: How to Make Croissants.

Tasting Notes
With all that butter and fresh dough, what's not to love about these croissants. I will keep practicing and aim for crumb-explosion perfection.

Croissant in Paris

Next Time
Brioche in Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cook Home Collection page 430

Links
Food Timeline's Croissant History
Times Colonist: To bake or to buy tender, flaky croissants?

Croissant in Paris

::Whisk::
I'm baking my way through a cooking school curriculum using the Le Cordon Bleu at Home cookbook. The "classes" are based on the Le Cordon Bleu curriculum found online and used as a guideline. Not all the items in the curriculum are in the cookbook, but most are. Where the items are not in the book, I try to find a suitable substitution.

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Though my goal was to make a cake called Concorde (Chocolate Meringue Cake Filled with Chocolate Mousse), I simplified my job by making meringue kisses and filled them with chocolate mousse instead.

The real deal consists of layers of chocolate meringue and chocolate pudding with sticks of chocolate meringue to decorate the outside. It was created by the famous French pastry chef Gaston Lenôtre to celebrate the first flight of the Concorde. Or is it named after the Place de la Concorde in Paris?


The recipe for Lenôtre’s Concorde appears in Lenôtre's Desserts and Pastries. At age 14, Pierre Hermé started apprenticing with Lenôtre and a recipe for Concorde can also be found in Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé.

The Pastry Chef's Companion: A Comprehensive Resource Guide for the Baking
by Glenn Rinsky, Laura Halpin Rinsky

Someday, I’ll make this supersonic Concorde cake, but these little chocolate kisses were simple yet decadent.

Recipe

Serves 6



Chocolate Meringue:
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
6 tablespoons cocoa powder
5 egg whites
¾ cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Mousse:
3½ ounces semi-sweet chocolate, cut into small pieces
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
5 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 egg yolks
4 egg whites

Confectioner’s sugar, for dusting

[You can find the recipe for Concorde (Chocolate Meringue Cake Filled with Chocolate Mousse) in the book Le Cordon Bleu at Home or here.]

To make the meringue kisses, sift the confectioner’s sugar and cocoa. Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Then gradually add the granulated sugar and whisk until stiff peaks form again. Fold in the sifted confectioner’s sugar, cocoa and vanilla. Pipe into kisses and bake at 200°F for about 1 hour, until crisp and dry. Let cool.

To make the mousse, melt the chocolate, butter and half the sugar in a heavy saucepan (or in a double-boiler). Remove from the heat and add the yolks. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Then gradually add the remaining granulated sugar and whisk until stiff peaks form again. When the chocolate mixture is cool, fold in the egg whites.

Assemble by sandwiching a spoonful of mousse between two kisses.


Tasting Notes
“I like the chewiness.”
“This is good; this is real good.”
“Can I have another?”
These were quotes from my three young taste testers.

Next Time
Croissants in Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cook Home Collection page 429

Links
Video: Chocolate Concorde cake recipe
Bonbini’s Concorde
Foodbeam’s Concorde
No Special Effects’ Concorde
Carnival’s Concorde cake that serves 400

::Whisk::
I'm baking my way through a cooking school curriculum using the Le Cordon Bleu at Home cookbook. The "classes" are based on the Le Cordon Bleu curriculum found online and used as a guideline. Not all the items in the curriculum are in the cookbook, but most are. Where the items are not in the book, I try to find a suitable substitution.

If you like this post, share it!


If you like this blog, you can subscribe and get updates automatically.

Click here to learn about subscribing.

Click here to subscribe.

To see an index of recipes, click here.
To see a visual index of recipes, click here.
To see an index of Julia Child-inspired recipes, click here.