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!
Cantonese Rice
Here it is, the famous Cantonese rice! A lot of people were looking forward to having the recipe on my blog. But I wanted to do things the right way. So here I am, back from Canton where I observed everything thoroughly, where I asked many questions, where I tasted many versions of this famous recipe. First observation: the Cantonese rice as we know it in France is not white. There is always a hint of soy sauce. Here I give you a recipe of this rice exactly as I liked it there. What is the origin of this special and delicious taste? Peking pork (which I make myself)! And cooking at high heat and fast in a real wok. Small precision: you can put what you want in the Cantonese rice, even if you have to respect some principles. There are always peas, corn, eggs etc… But you can remove the shrimps if you are allergic. Concerning the glazed pork: it is the one that gives the subtle taste to the rice. But it can be replaced by duck or chicken. I lacquer my own pork following the recipe for “char-siu” pork: recipe here!
Ingredients
- 3 eggs
- about ten raw shrimps peeled
- half a nice carrot
- 1 handful of peas
- 1 handful of bean sprouts
- 1 small can of corn
- 6 Chinese chives
- 500 g cooked white rice
- 125 g ready-made glazed pork or recipe here
- one or two tablespoons clear soy sauce
- oil and salt
For the “homemade” glazed pork: (there will be a little left over, but it is so delicious):
- 300 g pork chops
Char Siu sauce
- 40 g maltose syrup (or glucose syrup at G.Detou)
- 40 g honey
- 40 g Hoisin sauce (pronounced "oïe zine", available at Tang frères)
- 30 g clear soy sauce
- 15 g Mei Kuei Lu Chiew (the alcool of rose at 54°!)
- 1/2 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 3/4 spoonful of red dye
- 2 good pinches of baking soda
- 1 pinch of glutamate
Instructions
- For this recipe, my friends make fun of me because I lacquer my own pork with my char siu pork recipe!I use pork chops that I marinate in char siu sauce overnight. I then remove it from its marinade and place it in an ovenproof dish.
- Bake in the oven at 180°C for 20 minutes then cut into thin slices.
- Then in small cubes!
- We can start with the Cantonese rice!Start by preparing all the ingredients before starting to cook, which will be very quick!
- Cook the rice. I use an automatic rice cooker, very practical.
- Cut the carrot half into thin slices, then into sticks and finally into small cubes: a fine brunoise!
- Have the vegetables on hand: peas (frozen but thawed), drained corn and peking pork cut into small cubes.
- Cut the shrimp into pieces.
- Chop the Chinese onion.
- Put the wok on very high heat.
- Add a little oil and then pour in the beaten eggs.
- Spread the eggs well in the wok to cook them almost instantly .
- Quickly cut them into pieces.
- And clear in a cold dish. Set aside until ready to use.
- Add oil to the hot wok. Add the shrimp in pieces.
- Add corn and peas. Everything is actually going very fast!
- Add the carrots in brunoise.
- Peeled pork in small cubes and chives.
- And finally, soybeans.
- Cook for one minute, stirring constantly. Finally add the rice.
- Mix well so that all the ingredients blend into the rice. Finish with the omelet and soy sauce. One should not put too much soy sauce. Just enough to color very slightly . In France we only know the white Cantonese rice, but no trace of such a rice in Canton or elsewhere in China.
- Stir well. Salt.
- Serve immediately with the rice, possibly adding a few shrimp quickly cooked in the free wok for a luxurious Cantonese rice!
Nutrition
Serving: 9peopleCalories: 344kcalCarbohydrates: 65gProtein: 10gFat: 8gSaturated Fat: 3gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0.01gCholesterol: 82mgSodium: 582mgPotassium: 417mgFiber: 6gSugar: 7gVitamin A: 1498IUVitamin C: 8mgCalcium: 522mgIron: 20mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!