Cognac and Gastronomy: Choux Macchiato & VSOP Borderies by Aurelien Cohen
By Aurélien Cohen, Pastry Chef & Instagram account owner @aureliencohen
"I had the chance to discover a new product: the VSOP Borderies Cognac from Maison Camus. When I tasted it, I quickly felt like thinking of a pairing with a pastry! Cognac is an alcohol that is made from grapes and it is a spirit whose richness and aromatic finesse led me to create this recipe for a Pastry / Cognac pairing!
Here I decided to associate cognac with coffee, here is my recipe."
Ingredients :
Choux pastry
55 g semi-skimmed milk
55 g water
50 g butter
2 g salt
2 g sugar
60 g T55 flour
110g whole eggs
Salted caramel
60 g sugar
60 g whole cream 30% fat
2 pinches flower of salt
5g butter
Coffee Praline
150 g almonds
75 g sugar
6 g instant coffee
Creamy Milk Chocolate Coffee
210 g plain cream
180 g whole liquid cream infused with coffee
35 g coffee beans
36 g egg yolks
7 g sugar
90 g milk chocolate - 40%
1,8 g gelatin
Coffee Ganache
110 g whole liquid cream infused with coffee (1)
20 g coffee beans
2,4 g gelatin
69 g Valrhona Ivory couverture
200 g full cream (2)
Instructions:
Coffee Ganache
Hydrate the gelatin in cold water. For powdered gelatin, use a weight of water equivalent to 6 times that of the gelatin.
In a saucepan, heat cream (1) with coffee beans. Once boiling, turn off the heat and let infuse for 3 minutes, cover the pan.
After infusion, reheat the cream to a boil then remove the cream from the heat, add the hydrated gelatin (wring out the gelatin if it is in sheets). Stir to combine. Pour the hot cream over the white chocolate, strain to remove the coffee beans. Melt the chocolate with the hot cream, mix as if making a ganache.
Add the second quantity of cold liquid cream (2). Mix with a whisk (you can also mix with a hand blender) and pour into a flat-bottomed container and cover with cellophane paper. Let cool for at least 8 hours in the refrigerator before assembling the ganache.
Creamy Milk Chocolate Coffee
Hydrate the gelatin.
In a saucepan, heat the plain cream with the coffee beans. Once boiling, turn off the heat and let infuse for 3 minutes, cover the pan.
Once infused, collect the cream by straining it through a sieve to remove the coffee beans and weigh the remaining cream. We must obtain at least 180g. If there is not enough cream, top up with uninfused cream.
Pour 180g of coffee-infused cream into a saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer.
Meanwhile, lightly whiten the egg yolks with the sugar.
Pour the hot infused cream over the yolk/sugar mix. Whisk to combine, then return to the pan and cook over medium heat at 84-85°C like a custard, stirring constantly with a pastry blender.
Remove from heat, add hydrated gelatin, stir to melt.
Pour the milk chocolate in a mixing bowl, stir to melt, then blend with an immersion blender.
Pour into a wide-bottomed container. Filter on contact and leave to crystallize for at least 3-4h in the refrigerator.
Coffee Praline
Roast the almonds in the oven for 15 minutes at 160°C, stir from time to time. Set aside and let cool.
In a saucepan, cook the sugar until you obtain a dark blond caramel. Pour the caramel onto a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Let cool completely.
When the caramel and almonds have cooled, pour them into the blender with the instant coffee. Start blending at maximum power. It is necessary to stop blending and scrape the mixture regularly because the mixture tends to get stuck as it turns into a paste. When the mixture has turned into a sufficiently liquid paste (like a spread), the praline is ready. Place in an airtight container. Set aside.
Salted caramel
In a saucepan, pour the sugar. Cook over medium heat.
At the same time, heat the cream in a saucepan. Bring the cream to a simmer, turn off the heat.
Cook the sugar until you get a dark blond caramel. Then pour the hot cream over the caramel off heat to deglaze. Return to the heat to homogenize the caramel, stirring to melt any pieces that may have hardened.
Remove the pan of caramel from the heat and add the salt flower and butter. Stir to melt. Remove from heat and set aside in a cool place, filming on contact.
Choux pastry
Bring the milk, water, sugar, salt and butter to the boil in a saucepan.
When the mixture boils, add the flour all at once, off the heat, mix with a spatula, then put the pan back on the heat and dry the dough by mixing it vigorously for about 40 seconds or until the dough comes away from the sides of the pan.
Remove the bowl from the food processor, mix the dough with the paddle attachment at low speed until the steam that escapes disappears. Then add the eggs little at a time, mixing between each addition.
To know if the dough is sufficiently hydrated by the addition of eggs, take a spoon and draw a big "line" in the dough. The dough should close (not completely) neither too quickly nor too slowly.
Using a piping bag, poach some choux pastry (on a perforated baking mat) up to a quarter of the height of the circles (7.5cm by 3cm high circles) lined with a strip of perforated baking mat. Repeat for all choux.
Place a second perforated baking mat over the circles and then another baking sheet with weights on it to prevent the choux pastry from spilling out of the circles. Bake at 180°C in a fan oven for at least 40 minutes. Then remove and unpeel the choux.
Assembly
Pierce the bottom of the choux with two small holes.
Fill the choux with salted caramel and then with coffee praline using a piping bag.
Loosen the coffee creamer with a whisk and place it in the bag. Finish filling the choux with cream until they are well filled.
Turn them upside down and place them on a presentation stand.
Whip the chilled coffee ganache with a mixer until it has a whipped cream texture that can be poached.
Place the ganache in a pastry bag fitted with a Saint Honoré tip and poach on the surface of the choux. Decorate with a few dots of coffee praline or caramel.
Enjoy with a glass of Camus Cognac after leaving the choux for a short period in the fridge to firm them up.
Order a CAMUS COGNAC VSOP BORDERIES on the e-shop.
