Canneles

Don't many great things come to us by 'little accidents'? There I was in a bakery, watching the person in front of me take the last brioche that I was eyeing for a while! OK... I'll take a croissant instead. Oh... they don't have enough change to give me back so I get this "little burned cookie" instead. OK... I'll take it. And, what a "cookie" it was! :-) Crispy on the outside, soft and creme brulee-e on the inside. Next mornig, I go straight back and ask for few of these "little burned cookies", forgetting about brioches all together. These little cookies are called canneles. I was on a quest ever since to find a recipe so that I can recreate them at home. This web site has an extensive description of the method, but it uses copper molds and bees wax for coating, both of which were difficult to find here in USA (I will list other sites below that I've used for reference while searching for the recipe). So, I gave up pretty much.... until few weeks ago when I received the new cookbook by Rachel Khoo - "Little French Kitchen". Her first cookbook, called "My little Paris Kitchen", was a big success and I had to buy it for me and few of my friends; I have enjoyed it very much ever since and, if you remember, the previous post on "Madeleines with raspberry and lemon" was inspired by her recipe. In the new book among great many recipes, there it was... the recipe for canneles that calls for silicon mold and promisses excellent results every time! 
I am posting here my adaptation of her recipe. In the pictures below you'll also find why I call them "little upside down cakes". ;) They pop-out of the silicon mold so easily and are turned upside-down. In few recipes that I have found on the web, it says that during baking in the oven you can "distrub" them by shaking the mold so that they would "go back" inside and be regular in size. However, I don't recommend opening the oven and changing the temperature. They are so cute, anyways, and doesn't really matter. 
I have used this silicon mold and, with the measurments provided below, you can bake canneles twice, i.e. it gives about 16 canneles. They do taste the best while still warm, so you can bake them for a dessert on one day and keep the dough in the fridge for the next day to bake them fresh again. Few of my friends tried cannele on the 2nd after they were baked and it still tasted good even though it was cold. I imagine them to be good for a picnic as well. 

Ingredients: 

• 1/2 liter of whole milk
• 50g of butter
• 250g of powdered sugar
• 100g of all-purpose flour
• 2 eggs + 2 egg yolks
• 1tsp of salt
• 1Tbsp rum + vanilla 

Directions:

Bring milk with cubed butter to boil over medium heat. On the side, sift the flour and powdered sugar. Let the milk cool a bit while you beat the eggs lightly. Mix milk and eggs together, and then add the mixture to dry ingredients. Stir them together and don't worry if lumps are forming. Use a sieve to strain the mixture and press through any of the lumps. I have used mixer and didn't have any problem with lumps. Add vanilla and rum for flavoring, to your liking. :) 
Now we have the dough which will go in the fridge to rest for at least 2 days. It is important not to forget to stirr it ocasinally. They say the dough can last in the fridge for up to 5 days. The idea is that, by resting in the fridge, the gluten will relax and all the flavors will infuse together. 
Afer 2 days.... We are ready to bake our canneles! 
Preheat the oven to 460F. I use a cookie sheet to place the silicon mold on. Heat the silicon mold in the oven for 3 minutes. Fill it with the dough, leaving some space for cannele to rise, approximately about 3/4. 
Bake for 15min, then reduce the oven temperature to 370F and continue baking for an hour. Voila! When you take them out of the oven, they'll pop-out of the mold easily. Leave them to cool on the wire rack and enjoy them while still warm :)
You will be surprised how crunchy they are on the outside and yet so soft and custardy on the inside. Enjoy and please let me know how you liked them! :)

I've listed here more sources on canneles that I've found on my quest for the good recipe: 
www.chow.com/canneles ... includes video ;-)
www.thekitchn.com/perfecting-cannele-guest-post
www.101cookbooks.com/canneles
www.latartinegourmande.com/canele-creme-anglaise-a-la-cardamone
http://chocolateandzucchini.com/canneles

Bon appetit,

Miki