Paris-Brest with hazelnut crème au beurre

This light and airy dessert was created and named in honour of the ‘Paris-Brest’ – a famous French cycling race, and is presented in the shape of a bicycle wheel.

• serves

  6-8

• prep

  30 minutes

• cook

  1 hour

• difficulty

  Mid

Featuring choux pastry and a praline-flavoured cream, it originally became popular with cyclists because of its high-energy calorific value - but any sweet tooth will enjoy it!

Ingredients

Choux pastry

• 120 ml milk
• 120 ml filtered water
• 100 g unsalted butter
• 150 g plain flour
• ½ tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 20 g hazelnuts, chopped
• 1 egg yolk, slightly beaten

Crème au beurre

• 120 g caster sugar
• 100 ml water
• 5 egg yolks
• 250 g unsalted butter
• 2 tbsp hazelnut paste (see Note)

Instructions

1. Pre heat oven to 220°C (fan forced). Place milk, water and butter in a pot and bring to the boil. Add flour, salt and sugar and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, until a ball begins to form. Remove and place in a medium sized bowl. Using a whisk, beat the dough for 1 minute and then slowly add the eggs one at a time.
2. Once choux paste is smooth, place into a piping bag with a medium round nozzle. Line a baking tray with silicon paper and pipe choux pastry into 1 large 18-cm circle.
3. Pipe a smaller circle in the large circle, then pipe a third circle on top of the 2 circles.
4. Brush with egg yolk and arrange chopped hazelnuts on top of the rings, then bake for 45 mins.
5. Turn oven down to 180°C and bake for a further 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature.
6. Meanwhile, to make the crème au berre, dissolve the sugar in the water, stir over low heat then bring the syrup to the boil and cook until the syrup reaches 110°C on a sugar thermometer.
7. Whisk the egg yolks in the bowl of a stand mixer and continue whisking while you add the syrup in a thin stream. Whisk until it becomes light and fluffy and the mix has cooled down.
8. Add the butter in small pieces until incorporated.
9. Finally, add 2 tbsp hazelnut paste and whisk until incorporated. Set the cream aside until ready to use.
10. When the choux is completely cool, cut in half and pipe the crème au beurre onto the bottom half.
11. Place the top of the choux on top, sprinkle with icing sugar and serve.

Note

• Hazelnut paste is made from roasted, ground hazelnuts and can be found at specialty cake stores or bought online.

Enjoy a taste of France at home with Guillaume Brahimi on Plat du Tour, each night during each live stage of the Tour de France exclusive broadcast on SBS. For broadcast times, go to sbs.com.au/cyclingcentral

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

Featuring choux pastry and a praline-flavoured cream, it originally became popular with cyclists because of its high-energy calorific value - but any sweet tooth will enjoy it!