Cognac and Gastronomy: Tartelette Tatin & Dark and Stormy by Aurélien Cohen

By Aurélien Cohen, Pastry Chef & Instagram account owner @aureliencohen

Let's discover the recipe for a dessert in pair with our cognac "Dark and Stormy". A perfect gourmet marriage for this summer period.

An iodized Apple Tatin tartlet in perfect harmony with our new “Dark and Stormy” Cognac, to be enjoyed to relax with a glass of this Cognac harvested and distilled on the Île de Ré.

For this, Aurélien Cohen chose to salt the caramel of the tartlet with a natural salinity thanks to sea water contained in an oyster, the result is bluffing with a naturally salty and iodized caramel.

Inside this tartlet, a vanilla pastry cream, an almond-vanilla praline and to perfect the whole with a mini quenelle of namelaka as a nod to the traditional crème fraiche often served with a Tarte Tatin.

Preparation time: 3h

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Cold rest: 8 hours

Total time: 11 hours 30 minutes

Equipment

Pastry robot (optional)

Rolling pin 

7 cm diameter tart rings 

Silikomart Klassik silicone mold 

Silikomart mini dumpling mold 

Saucepan 

Ingredients :

Sweetened almond paste

60g butter


45g powder sugar


15 g almond powder

28g whole egg

125 g flour

1 g fine salt

Gilding

20g egg yolk

5 g whole liquid cream

Apple tatin

2 Golden apples

25 g chestnut or acacia honey

25 g of glucose syrup

25 g butter

100 g sugar

45 g whole liquid cream

water from a fresh oyster

4g gelatin

Raw almond cream

50g butter

50 g sugar

50g raw almond powder

50g eggs

Vanilla pastry cream

200g semi-skimmed milk

1⁄4 vanilla bean

32g egg yolks

32 g caster sugar

10g cornstarch

7g T55 flour

3g gelatin

16 g cold soft butter

Namelaka vanilla

43 g White chocolate couverture

0.5g gelatin

25 g whole milk

1⁄4 vanilla bean

50 g whole liquid cream

Vanilla almond praline

150 g whole almonds

75 g sugar

1 vanilla bean

Assembly

QS Neutral topping

QS hazelnuts

Instructions :

Namelaka Vanilla

1. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave. Set aside.
2. Scrape vanilla bean to remove seeds.
3. Bring the milk to a boil with the seeds from the scraped vanilla bean.
4. When the mixture boils, add the rehydrated gelatin and mix with a spatula to melt the gelatin.
5. Pour the hot preparation through a Chinese (to filter the vanilla bean) on the melted chocolate. Mix with the maryse to emulsify the mixture.
6. Add the cold cream and blend with an immersion blender.
7. Pour into Silikomart mini quenelles silicone moulds. Leave to freeze in the freezer for at least 4 hours before use.

Apple tatin

1. Peel and then cut the apples into cubes.
2. Melt butter, honey, glucose in a pan. Add the apple cubes.
3. Heat over medium heat and let cook while stirring in the pan for 3 minutes. Do not let the apple cubes get too soft.
4. Strain through a sieve to remove only the apple cubes.
5. Hydrate the gelatin in water.
6. Heat the liquid cream without boiling it.
7. Make a dry caramel, remove from the heat when the caramel is slightly brown, deglaze with the hot cream then the oyster water. Return to the heat slightly if necessary to dissolve hard pieces of caramel.
8. Remove from heat and add cooked apple cubes and hydrated gelatin. Stir to evenly distribute the pears and melt the gelatin.
9. Pour into the silikomart Klassik silicone molds and freeze for at least 8 hours or overnight until the tatin "palets" are completely frozen and can be removed from the molds.

Sweet almond paste

1. Mix the butter, powdered sugar, almond powder, flour and salt in a mixer by sanding. Add the egg and mix again. We stop as soon as the whole is homogeneous.
2. On a floured work surface, mill the dough with the palm of your hand to finish homogenizing it.
3. Shape the dough into a not too thick piece and roll it out to 2.5 mm thickness between two sheets of parchment paper. Place the dough on a freezer-safe baking sheet. Place in freezer for 20 minutes.
4. Cut out 6 discs of dough 10 cm in diameter for 6 tartlet circles 7 cm in diameter. Return pastry disks to the refrigerator for 10 min.
5. On a floured work surface, place the pastry in the buttered circles, remembering to finish by leveling the pastry (cut the pastry that protrudes from the circle with a knife) and let them rest for 2 hours in the freezer before baking (or 12 hours in the refrigerator).

Vanilla almond praline

1. Roast the almonds in the oven for 15 min at 160°C, shaking the tray a little during cooking. Then set aside and let cool.
2. In a saucepan, dry-cook the sugar until you obtain a dark blond caramel. Pour the caramel on a plate covered with parchment paper. Let cool completely.
3. When the caramel and almonds have cooled, pour them into the blender along with the fleur de sel and the seeds of the vanilla bean. 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. Set aside in an airtight jar.

Almond cream

1. In the bowl of the food processor fitted with the flat whisk (or with a spatula in a mixing bowl), mix the very soft butter with the sugar.
2. When the mixture is homogeneous, add the raw almond powder and mix again.
3. Then add the egg and finish mixing.
4. Transfer to a bowl and line the almond cream with food paper. Set aside in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Pastry cream

1. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the yolks and half the sugar. When the mixture has slightly whitened, add the cornstarch and flour and whisk again. Set aside.
2. In a saucepan, bring the milk with the other half of the sugar, the vanilla seeds and the bean (scraped off) to a gentle simmer. While the mixture is heating, cover the pan with cellophane paper to catch any water that evaporates.
3. When the milk is just beginning to simmer, remove the cellophane and try to squeeze it out to catch the drops of water in the pan.
4. Pour half of the hot milk into the mixing bowl with the egg yolks, whisking to prevent the yolks from cooking. Pour the contents of the bowl back into the saucepan and return to the heat, whisking constantly until the cream thickens (about 1-2 minutes). Remove from heat.
5. Add the cold butter, cut into pieces, and the gelatin, wringing it out well. Whisk to melt the butter and gelatin. Remove vanilla pods if not already done.
6. Place the cream in a shallow dish or bowl and cover with cellophane to prevent crusting. Place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or until the custard has cooled completely.

Baking tarts

1. Collect the dark tart shells after resting. Bake the tart shells blind for 15 minutes in a preheated oven at 160°C.
2. After 15 min, remove the baking sheet from the oven and unseal the tartlets. Brush the outer edges of the tarts with the gold.
3. Poach a base of almond cream and bake the tarts again for 15 minutes until they are nicely colored.
4. Set aside and let the tarts cool completely.

Assembly

1. In a food processor fitted with a whisk attachment, loosen the pastry cream (or by hand with a whisk) until it becomes smooth. Put the cream in a pocket. Set aside.
2. Bake the bottoms of the tarts, poach a layer of praline and then on top of the pastry cream and smooth out the edges with a spatula.
3. Turn out the pear taters and brush them with the heated neutral glaze.
4. Place the tatin discs on the tart base filled with pastry cream.
5. Decorate with the frozen namelaka dumplings.
6. Then let the tatin palate thaw by placing the tarts in the refrigerator for 2 hours before eating them.

Enjoy!

Order a bottle of our Dark & Stormy Cognac on our e-shop.