I went to Strasbourg and loved the pastries. One of them, Christian, offers incredible gingerbread that I rushed to taste. One of them had this exact boot shape. I took…]]>
Santa's stuffed boots
I went to Strasbourg and loved the pastries. One of them, Christian, offers incredible gingerbread that I rushed to taste. One of them had this exact boot shape. I took some time to redo them from what I remember. I filled these bunches with an almond and walnut paste with Grand Marnier (the alcohol evaporates during cooking to leave a delicious taste). The dough itself is full of irresistible things. Upon arrival, Santa Claus boots that will be ideal to get in the festive mood of the holidays!
Ingredients
- 90 g candied orange peel
- 90 g candied lemon peel
- 150 g chopped almonds
- 90 g nuts
- 45 g hazelnut powder
- 325 g flour
- 5 g potash diluted in 10g water
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 teaspoons cinnamon powder
- 1 teaspoon ginger powder
- 1/2 teaspoon 4 spices mix
- the zest organic lemon
- the zest organic orange
- 100 g brown vergeoise
- 200 g honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 15 g water
Almond and walnut paste with Grand Marnier
- 80 g nuts
- 150 g almond powder
- 125 g sugar
- 90 g Grand Marnier
- 40 g glucose syrup
Icing
- 100 g powdered sugar
- 40 g water
Decoration
- 300 g tempered chocolate
- 2 candied cherries
- 20 almonds without skin
Instructions
- Put the candied orange and lemon peels in a blender to reduce them to small pieces.
- If you have chopped almonds, blend them to reduce them more finely.
- It looks like a very coarse almond powder.
- Also grind the nuts into a coarse powder.
- Put everything in a container or in the bowl of your food processor.
- Add flour, salt and spices.
- This is the potash. It is really the leavening agent used in gingerbread from the East and Germany. I bought it on a vegan website. I put you the link HERE !
- Pour 5g into a small container and add the 10ml of water. Mix until completely dissolved.
- Add the zest of one orange and one organic lemon to the container.
- Pour the brown vergeoise, honey, liquid vanilla and the 15g of water into a saucepan and bring to a simmer. On the picture it looks like butter, but it's really honey that I was offered!
- Pour into the dough and mix until you have a homogeneous paste.
- With everything in it, the dough is already delicious. Well, the potash gives a funny smell that will go away when cooking.
- Set aside. For the almond paste, mix the nuts to obtain a nice powder.
- Mix the almond powder and nuts.
- Add the sugar.
- Pour the Grand Marnier.
- Finish with the glucose syrup.
- Mix well. The smell alone is delicious.
- For the boot, I drew on a cardboard and cut it according to the shape I remembered. You can of course make any shape you want!
- Roll out the dough fairly thinly (5mm thick), making sure you have enough surface area for one bundle.
- Spread a second layer of dough with the same surface.With the blade of a knife, without incising, mark the dough. Put almond-nut paste (the layer is 3-4mm) leaving 1,5cm before the edge of the bundle.
- Place the second layer of rolled out dough.
- Place the stencil on the dough and cut the dough this time.
- And here is a nice boot!
- Do the same for all the dough and almond-nut paste. Place the bundles as they come on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- For the decoration, just like at Christian's, I put half a candied periwinkle and 5 raw almonds.
- Bake at 155°C on fan heat for 27-28 minutes. In fact, the firing depends totally on the size of your subject.
- The boots must be well cooked. The smell during cooking is just crazy.
- For the icing, mix the water and powdered sugar. This one is very fluid. Apply with a brush on the surface.
- Do the same for all the gingerbread.
- Return to the oven, this time at 90°C for 12 minutes (still in a revolving heat).
- For the finishing touch, temper the chocolate you have chosen. For the method, it's HERE!
- Dip the top of the boot to make the cuff or do it with a brush.
- I also brush the entire underside of the boots.
- Let the chocolate set. The boots are ready. Now let it sit for a day or two to allow the fragrances to develop even more! If well packaged, these cakes can be kept for a long time.
Nutrition
Serving: 4stuffed bundlesCalories: 1445kcalCarbohydrates: 230gProtein: 21gFat: 65gSaturated Fat: 22gPolyunsaturated Fat: 9gMonounsaturated Fat: 30gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 0.01mgSodium: 1051mgPotassium: 892mgFiber: 16gSugar: 135gVitamin A: 50IUVitamin C: 39mgCalcium: 298mgIron: 8mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Lemon cardamom shortbread
Just for the smell of them baking, you have to try these incredible shortbreads. They are very rich in butter, but that’s not all! I use fresh lemon peel and candied lemon peel (with sugar), but also cardamom. Since they are relatively low in sugar, the lemon juice glaze is perfect. I had read about this combination of flavors in the American “flavor” magazine and wanted to make my version in my studio. To be made quickly at home, because it is also very easy to make.
Ingredients
- 85 g sugar
- 225 g soft butter
- the zest of half a lemon untreated
- 60 g candied lemon peel
- 350 g flour
- 1/16 teaspoon yeast (a pinch ofo knife)
- 12 cardamom pods
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 200 g powdered sugar
- 45 g lemon juice
Instructions
- Pour the sugar and chopped butter into the bowl of your food processor or into a container.
- Mix with the sheet until you get a homogeneous cream.
- Add the zest of the half lemon.
- Cut the candied lemon peel (sweet!) into small pieces. For once, I took the vahiné brand from the supermarket and it works just fine.
- Put them in the tank.
- For the cardamom, I use my mortar.
- Put the seeds of 12 pods.
- Grind them into powder.
- Pour the flour, yeast, salt and cardamom into the bowl.
- Continue mixing with the leaf.
- Stop as soon as the dough clumps together.
- Bring it back in a ball.
- Spread it out immediately between two sheets of baking paper to a thickness of 6mm.
- Cut shortbread with a cookie cutter (here 6cm).
- Place them on baking sheets lined with baking paper.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 150°C for 30 minutes.
- Then let them cool on a wire rack.
- For the glaze: put the powdered sugar and lemon juice (freshly squeezed and weighed) in a container.
- Mix well.
- Dip half of the shortbread into the mixture and drain well.
- Put on the baking paper.
- To get the glaze just right, I then let them dry at 40°C in the oven for 25 minutes (dough lift function to get that temperature in my KitchenAid oven). When the icing is dry and soft to the touch, put the shortbread in an airtight box until you are ready to eat it.
Nutrition
Serving: 30shortbreadCalories: 104kcalCarbohydrates: 16gProtein: 1gFat: 7gSaturated Fat: 4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0.2gCholesterol: 16mgSodium: 154mgPotassium: 30mgFiber: 1gSugar: 3gVitamin A: 189IUVitamin C: 3mgCalcium: 25mgIron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!