Tag: French holidays

  • New Orleans beignets of my dreams

    New Orleans beignets of my dreams

    I might have never been to New Orleans, but every time I make these beignets, I almost inevitably feel like I’m right in the heart of the French Quarter – where the air hums with music, and the scent of chicory coffee drifts from the iron-lace balconies.

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    New Orleans beignets

    Beignets – French for doughnuts – are made much like brioche. Flour, milk, eggs, sugar, yeast, and salt. A smooth dough, easy to work with.
    I like to place my shaped ones, ready for their final proof, onto parchment-lined trays, lightly sprayed with oil. And just before frying, I cut the paper into squares, each holding a beignet or two, and lower them into the hot oil, paper and all.
    They puff and turn golden in moments, crisp at the edges, impossibly light within. Straight from the fryer, they’re tossed in icing sugar, which melts into a delicate, fudgy glaze. Best eaten warm, while the sugar still clings to your fingertips.
    Bon Mardi Gras!!

    Notes

    On timing
    These beignets are best eaten the same day – preferably hot, fresh from the oil, when they’re at their lightest and crispest. If you need to plan ahead, you have two options: you can proof the dough overnight in the fridge, then shape, do the final rise, and fry the next day, which deepens the flavour and fits neatly into a morning schedule. Or, for a longer make-ahead option, freeze the shaped dough on a silicone mat until firm, then transfer to freezer bags, pressing out as much air as possible. When ready to fry, place the frozen beignets onto lightly greased baking trays, cover with clingfilm, and proof until doubled – around 4 hours (to account for the thawing time as well) – before frying as usual.
    On coating
    The traditional way to coat beignets is to toss them into a brown paper bag filled with icing sugar and give it a good shake – quick, effortless, and wonderfully nostalgic. A large bowl works just as well, allowing for a more controlled dusting, but either way, the goal is the same: a generous flurry of sugar while they’re still warm.
    Author: Fanny Zanotti
    Prep Time1 hour
    Cook Time30 minutes
    Total Time3 hours
    Makes 24 beignets

    Ingredients

    • 250 g whole milk
    • 2 eggs
    • 510 g plain flour
    • 55 g caster sugar
    • 20 g fresh yeast or 7g instant yeast
    • 3 g fine sea salt
    • 90 g salted butter thinly sliced
    • neutral oil for frying
    • 400 g icing sugar to coat

    Instructions

    • In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, add the milk, eggs, flour, sugar, yeast, salt, and butter. Knead on medium speed until smooth and elastic. The dough should pass the windowpane test.
    • Lightly spray a baking dish with cooking spray – my favourite is a 23×30cm Pyrex glass dish. Transfer the dough to the dish, turning it to coat the surface. Flatten it to fill the dish evenly, and cover with clingfilm.
    • Leave to rise in a warm place until nearly doubled in size, approximately 1 hour.
    • In the meantime, prepare 2 baking trays lined with parchment paper; spray lightly with cooking spray.
    • Lightly flour your work surface. Pat the dough into a slightly larger rectangle – around 2cm thick – and dust with a little flour.
    • Using a long knife, cut the dough into 24 pieces. Place them onto the prepared trays, loosely cover with clingfilm or clean kitchen towels, and leave to rise again for around 30 minutes.
    • While the beignets are rising, heat a generous amount of neutral oil in a deep-fryer or a heavy-bottomed pot to 180°C.
    • Put the icing sugar into a brown paper bag or a large bowl.
    • Fry 4–6 beignets at a time, turning with a metal spider or tongs, until deep golden brown, around 1-1½ minutes per side.
    • Transfer the hot beignets straight into the bag of icing sugar, close tightly, and shake well to coat. Place on a cooling rack over a tray. Repeat with the remaining beignets, adding more icing sugar as needed.
  • Crêpes complètes

    Crêpes complètes

    And my classical pâte à crêpes [crêpe batter] recipe!

    I’m often asked about the difference between French crêpes and Swedish plättar. It’s a fair question – they share, after all, the same simple pantry ingredients: milk, eggs, flour, salt, sugar and butter. But where crêpes spread thin across a wide pan, plättar are poured into a special cast-iron griddle, forming small, perfectly round pancakes.

    In my world, crêpes are meant to be folded, rolled, filled; while plättar are stacked, eaten by the dozen – best with a spoonful of jam and a cloud of loosely whipped cream.

    I’ve shared my plättar recipe in the past, and it’s still an everyday favourite, happening in our kitchen on an almost-weekly basis. Sometimes, I will even make savoury plättar, although I must admit I’m fond of the slightly chewier, sturdier texture of crêpes for this.
    However, since moving to Sweden, I’ve adapted my crêpe recipe: adding more salt and always using my trusted cast-iron pannkakspanna.

    Let’s have a look at the different ratios between crêpes and plättar. While both share the same base ingredients – milk, eggs, flour, butter, and salt – their proportions create distinct textures.

    Crêpes vs plättar

    CrêpesBakers %PlättarBakers %
    Milk500 ml200%500 ml277.8%
    Eggs480%255.6%
    Flour250 g100%180 g100%
    Butter50 g20%30 g16.7%
    Flaky sea salt2.5 g1%2.5 g1.4%

    Crêpes have a higher proportion of eggs and flour to liquid, giving them structure and elasticity. This makes them sturdy enough to be folded, rolled, or wrapped around both sweet and savoury fillings. The added chewiness also means they hold up well.

    Plättar, on the other hand, have more milk relative to flour and fewer eggs, resulting in a looser, more fluid batter. This makes them feel more custardy than crêpes, with a soft, tender texture. They are also cooked in a larger amount of salted butter, which pools around each pancake, creating lacy, crisp, golden edges with a hint of saltiness.

    Bonne chandeleur!

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    Crêpes complètes

    A thin, golden crêpe, crisp at the edges, soft in the center. The kind you fold around ham, cheese, and a runny egg for a classic crêpe complète or stack with butter and sugar, and a drizzle of lemon juice, for something simple and sweet.
    When making crêpes complètes, one has to stand by the stove, making and serving the crêpes one by one. With the leftover batter, I always make a stack of crêpes, later eaten with jam, crème de marron and chantilly (a favourite), or simply sugar and lemon juice.
    More often than not, I use my basic recipe for both savoury and sweet crêpes. However, if you wanted to make only sweet ones – for a goûter – you’ll find what I usually add to the batter in the notes below.

    Notes

    – For a sweet pâte à crêpes, add 2 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp vanilla extract, and 2 tbsp dark rum or orange blossom water to the batter.
    – If the batter thickens too much after resting, whisk in a little water to reach a thin, pourable consistency.
    – To grease the pan, my mémé, grand-mère, and my mum always used a halved potato dipped in melted butter or oil. I still do, and often wonder if this is just something we do, or if more people know about it. It works beautifully – coating the pan evenly without excess fat and keeping the crêpes from sticking.
    – This cast-iron pan by Swedish Skeppshult is my ride-or-die whenever making pancakes and crêpes!
    Author: Fanny Zanotti
    Prep Time10 minutes
    Cook Time30 minutes
    Makes 12 22cm crêpes

    Ingredients

    For the batter

    • 250 g plain flour
    • 4 eggs
    • 500 ml milk
    • 50 g melted butter
    • 1 tsp flaky sea salt

    For cooking

    • Butter for the pan

    For a classic crêpe complète (per crêpe)

    • 40 g grated Emmental or cheese of choice
    • 1 slice of ham
    • 1 egg pan-fried sunny-side up

    Instructions

    • In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, flour and salt into a lumpy batter. Blend using a hand blender, until just smooth. Adjust the batter consistency with a dash of water if needed.
    • Add the melted butter, and blend until incorporated.
    • Cover and let the batter rest for 30 minutes.
    • Heat a knob of butter in a pan over medium heat. Pour in a ladleful of batter, swirling to coat the base. Cook until the surface looks set and no wet patches remain.
    • Sprinkle the cheese evenly over the crêpe, then place a slice of ham and a pan-fried egg in the center.
    • Fold in the edges of the crêpe to create a triangle or a square, leaving the yolk visible in the center. Cook for another minute, then serve immediately.

  • Galette des rois

    Galette des rois

    [Almond king’s cake]

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    Galette des rois

    The galette des rois is traditionally eaten throughout January to celebrate the Epiphany. Although, the its origin can be traced back to pagan celebrations of the winter solstice. In these celebrations, a cake was baked with a hidden bean inside, and whoever found the bean was crowned king of the feast.
    These days, galette des rois is composed of two disks of puff pastry encasing frangipane – a cream made by mixing both crème d’amandes and crème pâtissière, with a ceramic fève [trinket] baked into it.
    A southern version, called brioche des rois is a rich orange blossom brioche adorned with gorgeous candied fruits.
    When making galette, I like to freeze the shaped pastry for an hour or so, and then ALWAYS turn it upside-down on my baking mat/baking paper lined baking tray to provide a nice flat surface for scoring.
    Author: Fanny Zanotti
    Prep Time45 minutes
    Cook Time45 minutes
    Total Time1 hour 30 minutes
    Makes 1 large galette, enough for 8-10.

    Ingredients

    For the crème pâtissière

    • 185 g whole milk
    • seeds from 1 vanilla pod
    • 60 g egg yolks
    • 35 g demerara sugar
    • 20 g cornflour
    • a pinch of salt

    For the crème d’amandes

    • 125 g butter at room temperature
    • 150 g icing sugar
    • 1 tbsp vanilla sugar
    • 200 g ground almonds
    • 2 eggs
    • 20 g cornflour
    • a generous pinch of salt

    To assemble

    • 600 g puff pastry
    • one egg yolk beaten, to glaze

    For the glazing syrupe

    • 50 g demerara sugar
    • 50 g water
    • a pinch of salt

    Instructions

    • Make the crème pâtissière. Bring the milk and seeds from a vanilla pod to the boil.
    • in a bowl, combine the egg yolks, sugar, cornflour and salt using a whisk.
    • Temper the egg yolk mixture with the just-boiled milk and return to the sauce pan. Bring to the boil over low heat, whisking constantly.
    • Pour the crème pat into a heatproof container and cover with clingfilm to the touch.
    • Refrigerate until cold.
    • When the crème pat is cold, get on with the crème d’amandes.
    • Cream the butter, icing sugar and vanilla sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer fitted with the paddle attachement until light and fluffy.
    • Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
    • Add the ground almonds, cornflour and salt and mix to combine.
    • Then add the crème pâtissière, in three times, mixing well and scraping the sides of the bowl as you do so.
    • The frangipane is ready to be used.
    • To make a galette des rois, you will need around 600 g puff pastry. Roll into into two large discs, around 4-5mm thick. Pipe the frangipane in the center leaving a 2cm edge. If you wish, place a ceramic fève in the frangipane – the one who gets it in its slice will be crowned king/queen. Brush the edge with water and top with the second disc of puff pastry, pressing the edges together well.
    • For a perfect finish, cut around the galette – through both layers of puff pastry to create a neat edge. Use a large plate with the right diameter and a small sharp knife.
    • If you want, you can then freeze the galette as is for 1 hour, you just want the puff pastry to harden so that it creates a nice flat surface for scoring later.
    • Then pre-heat the oven to 190°C /fan 180°C. And prepare a baking tray lined with a silicon mat or baking paper.
    • Place the galette upside-down onto the prepared tray. Brush with a beaten egg yolk and allow to dry 10-15 minutes. Score using the tip of a small knife.
    • Poke a few holes as well to let the steam escape.
    • Bake for 40-45 minutes until golden brown.
    • In the meantime, make the glazing syrup: bring the water and sugar to the boil, with perhaps a pinch of salt. When the galette is ready, brush immediately with the syrup.
    • Leave to cool slightly and serve in wedges.