Jill Colonna lives in Paris where she bakes the most delicious cakes and writes beautiful cake books but she is originally from Edinburgh in Scotland. True to her roots, for this festive pastry she adds a chocolate ganache with a touch of good Scottish malt whisky to complement the traditional hazelnut praline.
Choux dough:
75g water
50g milk
1 tsp sea salt (or fleur de sel)
1 tbsp sugar
45g butter
75g flour (plain, all-purpose)
2 eggs
Hazelnut praline:
80g whole hazelnuts
60g sugar
Praline buttercream filling:
250g milk
2 tsps instant/soluble coffee
3 egg yolks
40g caster sugar (superfine sugar)
15g cornflour (cornstarch)
Praline, crushed (as above)
100g unsalted butter, softened
Chocolate-whisky ganache
80g dark chocolate (70%)
90g whipping cream
2 tbsps malt whisky (light, not too peaty)
Preparation time: 1 hour
Cooking time: 1 hour
Chilling time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Temperature: 160°C/320°F fan (Gas 4)
Christmas Paris Brest
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