Over the weekend, chance upon a cookbook called “Just Desserts” – just by the title I knew that this would be my type of book and true enough, with a quick flip I knew that I won’t be leaving the bookshop without it. It has almost all the lovely desserts I heart like macaroons, strawberry shortcake, cannelé and many more delectable desserts. The other plus point is that it wasn’t expansive unlike other cookbooks where you have to think once, twice or may be more than that before getting – the book is available at an affordable RM20 and I think its definitely a good buy for the price!
Doing a search over the internet, found out there are two books, the one above and the other “Just Desserts and other baked treats”. Can’t tell the difference since both books were not available on shelf for comparison - could be a marketing-strategy rationale????
Anyway, if you don't know and I didn't until I read up more that, Daniel Tay is the owner of Bakerzin, a chain of dessert cafes originating from Singapore.
For more critique comments of the book, you can read more here. I agree that the instructions are some what simple and would have appreciated more tips on techniques to ensure a successful bake - so do take note for those new to baking.
Anyway back to the recipe at hand :) ….which came out well, easy to make and taste good. Only regret I have is not being able to make these the traditional way of using copper mould and bees wax! Oh well, if there were other recipes I could use for the copper molds, maybe I could consider getting them as they are rather pricey.
Ingredients
250g full cream milk
1 vanilla bean
30g butter
125g all purpose flour, sieved
3 egg yolks (45g)
1 egg white (25g)
195g caster sugar
3 tbsp rum
My method used:
1. Infuse vanilla bean (seeds & pod) in milk overnight (optional).
2. In a heavy base pot, gently warm milk with butter. Do not boil, once butter melts, turn off fire and set aside to cool.
3. In meantime, whisk eggs and sugar until pale and fluffy, ie. ribbon batter test - draw and '8' with batter and count at least 10sec before it disappears.
4. Fold in flour in parts into egg mixture.
5. Slowly pour in slightly cooled milk into flour-egg mixture. Use spatula to combine mixture until you get a nice smooth batter.
6. Rest batter in refrigerator overnight (highly recommended) or at least 8 hours. Next day, stir in rum and refrigerate until ready to bake.
7. Pre-heat oven to 190C degrees. Grease moulds and bake for about 45min to 1 hour, depending on type & size of mould used.
8. Once cooled, can be stored in air-tight container for up to 7 days.
