French toast strata with apple cider syrup

For the french toast :

1 pound french bread,  cut into cubes

8 oz cream cheese cut into small cubes

8 eggs

2 1/2 cup milk

6 t butter or margarine, melted

1/4 c maple syrup

Layer half of the bread in a greased 9x13 baking dish. Top with the cream cheese and remaining bread. Blend the eggs, milk, butter ad maple syrup in a blender ; pour over the bread and cheese. Press the layers down with a spatula. Refrigerate, covered, 2-24 hours, then bake, uncovered, at 325 for 35-40min or until center is set and edges are golden brown. Let stand for 10 min before serving.

For the syrup :

1 tsp cinnamon

8 tsp cornstarch

1 C sugar

2 T lemon juice

2 C apple cider or juice (if cider is no longer in season)

4 T butter or margarine

Combine the cinnamon, cornstarch and sugar in a small saucepan and mix well. Stir in the lemon juice and cider. Cook over medium heat until mixture thickens and boils, stirring constantly. Cook for 2 min longer. Remove from heat and stir in the butter. Can be made 1 day ahead.

Madeleine de Commercy

The story of the “Madeleine”… 

Stanislas, king of Poland used to have, as a second home, the

 castle of Commercy, in a small town of the Lorraine region (east part of France).
One day, in the year of grace 1755, he received, as guests, the great Voltaire and Madame du Châtelet, both known to him to have a sweet tooth. For this event, he ordered to his cook, a woman called Madeleine, to create a brand new sweet.
She then proposed to the king's guests small cakes with a fat belly who were declared to be excellent beccause, among other reasons, of their delicate bergamot orange flavour.
King Stanislas aprreciated them so much that he sent a parcel full of them to the king of France, Louis XV, in Versailles.
The cake became so successful that it was decided to call it "Cake of the Queen" but the queen prefered to call it "Madeleine", from the name of the one who invented this today famous cake.

And this is why the name of a modest cook of a noble house became famous for ever. 

Ingredients for 1 dozen of Madeleine :

 

3 eggs
- 50 g of milk
- 200 g of caster sugar
- 1 sachet or dose of vanilla sugar
- 250 g of flour - 1 sachet or dose of baking powder
-125 g of butter 

Direction :
 

Mix the eggs, milk, sugar, flour, vanilla sugar and baking powder. Once the batter is well blended you may add the melted butter. Continue mixing for 1 minute. 

Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C) for 10 min.
Butter the molds and fill them up halfway, cook in the oven for 10 / 15 minutes at 400°F (200°C).
Peel off when cold. 

You may obtain another variant of these madeleine cakes by incorporating chocolate powder to the original batter. 

Et voilà! Enjoy!

Mousse au chocolat - Chocolate mouss

- 250 gr of black chocolate 70%

- 10 cl of light cream but you can replace this ingredient by 20gr of butter if you do not want your chocolate to get too hard

- 4 eggs

Break your chocolate in pieces in a bowl

Let melt the chocolate in a bain-marie with hot water

When the chocolate is fully melted add the light cream and stir. Let it in the bain-marie.

Separate the egg whites of the yolk and beat the whites until very very compact.

Take the chocolate out of the bain-marie. Add and stir the yolk. Your chocolate needs to be very smooth and light.

Pour the mousse in small recipients and store them at least 6hours in the fridge.

Et voila! 

Tips :

Add some water (not too much) in the whites when still liquid and bubbly : you ll get more!

You can change the recipe by... changing of chocolate or why not make a mouss with 3 different chocolate layers! You just need to pour the first layer and wait some time for the mousse to  become a bit hard before to pour the second one and repeat for the 3 layer.

If you use black chocolate 90 % add a bit of sugar

For milk or white chocolate add a little bit of milk

You could even realise this mousse with some particular flavored chocolates...

Add a bit of extract of almond in your mousse, it is just delicious!

Decorate your mousse with grated chocolate white or black... and add a small fruit on the side - strawberry, orange...

You can also add a little stick of biscuit.

For a children dessert think about small and colorful sweets for the top - Trust me they will just love it!

Rochers a la noix de coco or Congolais

Ingredients :

180gr of sugar

2 eggs

250gr of coconut

Break the eggs and add the sugar then the coconut. Mix well until the dough is becoming easy to cut. On a buttered baking sheet make small mountains/triangular shapes and bake in the oven for about 15minutes or until creamy golden colored. Let them cool down before to unstick.

note : this recipe contains full eggs and not just the white part.

Tarte au chocolat facile

Cooking & Baking : 10 mn + 25 mn
Ingredients :
- 1 baking dough (sablee or brisee)
- 1 chocolate bar for cooking (250 g)
- 10 cl of light cream
- 1 vanilla sugar bag

Instructions :
Place the dough on a cooking tin and cook it empty for about 25 min (180°C). During this time, melt the chocolate - cut in small pieces - using the Marie bath technic with the light cream and a little bit of water on very light heat. Stir well on and off. Add the vanilla sugar.

Pour this preparation on the dough, spread well evenly with a spoon. Cover with paper and put the tart in the fridge for at least 4 hours for the chocolate to be solid.

Note : for a little bit of fantasy add coconut bits, a walnut or strawberry at the middle.

Creme patissiere

Crème pâtissière - known also as pastry cream - is a delicious and rich egg custard that provides the filling for a variety of pastries. Crème pâtissière can substitute for whipping cream in cream puffs or éclairs, or it may fill the center of a cake. The traditional crème pâtissière is vanilla flavored but it can be replaced easily - just be creative!

Boil 1 litre of milk
Beat 250g of sugar (or a little bit less) + 4 eggs in a saucepan. Add 100g of flour
Add if you wish vanilla sugar, rhum etc...
Pour the milk on top of the prepartion and mix on mild fire.
The cream becomes thick. Mix well until smooth.

Tips : it can be freezed easily.

Chicken, mousse of green peas with sweet curry

Ingredients:

Mousse : 100g of young peas fresch or frozen, 1 egg,

12cl of light cream, 1/2 tspoon of curry, salt, pepper.

Meat : 4 chicken breasts, 1/2 cube of chicken bouillon, salt, pepper

Sauce : 1 minced scallion, 1 glass of dry white wine, 1 cube of chicken bouillon, 20cl of light cream, tabasco, lemon jus, sweet curry.

Store your small dishes you will be using to cook in your fridge for a while.

Boil some water in a pan and add 5g of butter + 1 table spoon of sugar.

Cook 5min in the young peas. Strain. Mix together with the egg, 12cl of light creamm add salt and pepper and a bit of sweet curry. Poor everything in little dishes buttered and cook bain-marie way for about 25mn /170°c.

During the cooking of the mousses, poach the chicken breasts usses, pocher les blancs de poulet seasoned - saucepan closed - for10 to 15mn in a little bit of water with 1/2 a cube of chicken bouillon in.

Cooking the sauce : cook until dry the scallion, bouillon with the white wine. Add the cream, tabasco and lemon, wait until boiling and add the curry.
For the dressage, pour 1 mousse on each plate, cit the chicken breasts in pieces, add the sauce on top and add pink berries for the eyes... et voilà!

Moules marinieres - mussels in white wine

Brush and wash the mussels several times under running water. Do not leave them soaking in water. Remove the thread (byssus), which is sometimes caught in the mussel.

Fry the shallots until transparent in a pan with a little oil. Add the wine and season with pepper. Pour in the mussels and stir them with a skimming ladle to bring the ones at the bottom to the top. When they have all opened, remove them with the skimming ladle. Do not serve unopened mussels.

Wash and chop the parsley. Sprinkle it over the mussels just before serving.

Strain the cooking juices to remove the sand which drops from the mussels as they open. Return the juices to the pan with 1 tablespoon of oil, the wine and the chopped parsley. Season with pepper. Return the mussels to the pan and cook for 2 or 3 minutes. Serve hot.

Tip: You can add 2 crushed garlic cloves to the cooking juices, if liked. You can also add a spoonful of cream to the juices at the end of the cooking time.

Butterbredele (Butter Biscuits) from Alsace

This is the most traditional ones. Makes 60.

2 cup flour, 1/2 cup sugar, 125 g. butter, 4 egg yolks.

Eggs wash : 1 egg yolk diluted in a bit of milk.

Sift flour and dig a pool in it. Add sugar, egg yolks and diced butter in this pool.

Cover with flour and combine everything. Shape dough into a ball and leave for 2 hours.

Roll out on a lightly floured surface to 5mm thickness. Cut into pieces with a cookie cutter.

Brush surface of biscuits with egg wash. Place on a greased oven tray and bake at 180°C for 5 to 10 minutes.

Spinach, tuna and feta cake

Preparation : 15 min

Ingredients :
- 120 g of tuna (in a can)
- 5 hands (or a little bit more) of fresh spinach
- 75 g of feta cheese (to adjust)
- 3 eggs
- 150 g of flour
- 1 sachet of yeast (= 7gr or 1/4 ounce)
- 5 cl of vegetal cooking oil
- 50 g of butter
- 120 ml of milk
- nutmeg, salt and pepper

Directiions :
In salty water , cook the spinash. When done dry them with a teatowel.
Fry them in some butter, then add the small pieces of tuna, then the feta chese cut in small cubes. Let cook for about 5minutes.
In a large bowl mix together the eggs (bit them like for an omelette), flour, yeast, milk and oil.
Add the mixture spinash-feta-tuna, and salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Pour in a cake pan. You do not need to oil it. Cook in the oven for 45 min - at temperture 180°C / 6-7.

Tips :
Use half and freeze the rest!

Pâtes brisée

Recipe for 3 tarts for 6 pers about

Flour : 500g
Butter : 375g
Salt : 10g
Egg : 50g
Water : 100g

Dissolve the salt in the water.
Mix well flour and butter.
Mix the salty water and the egg.
Mix together to get an homogeneous dough. It should come as a ball a tiny bit sicky only.
Reserve in the fridge for 12h before use.

Note :
When i want to use it straight away i usually add a little bit more flour.
This dough can be used for sugared or salty tart, as well as pizza.

Tips : This dough can be easily freezed.

Brioches

1hr preparation
3hr standing (to rise)
30mins cooking

Makes 12 small (or 6 small, 1 medium etc.)

Ingredients:
7g (¼oz) sachet dried yeast
½ cup (125ml/4 fl oz) warm milk
1 tsp sugar
4 cups (500g/1lb) unbleached plain flour
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar, extra
4 eggs, lightly beaten
175g (6oz) butter, chopped and softened
extra flour, for kneading
1 egg yolk, to glaze
1 tbsp cream (optional – you can use water instead)

Grease a large baking tray/brioche moulds/loaf tin
Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk. Stir in the sugar, cover with plastic wrap and leave for 5 mins of until frothy.
Sift the flour, salt and extra sugar into a bowl and make a well in the centre.
Pour in the eggs and the yeast mixture. Using a wooden spoon, beat well until the mixture forms a rough ball.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 mins, or until it is firm and smooth.
Gradually incorporate small amounts of the softened butter into the dough until all the butter has been incorporated. Do this with your fingers slightly apart and slap it into the dough, stretching the dough as you go. It takes about 10 mins and the dough will be very sticky.
Clean the work surface and your hands, and sprinkle the surface, the dough and your hands with some of the extra flour. Knead the dough lightly for 10 mins on until it is smooth and elastic. Place it is a large buttered bowl, brush the surface with oil and cover with plastic wrap. Leave in a warm place for 1½ - 2 hrs, or until the dough has doubled.
Punch down the dough (give it one good hard punch in the centre with your fist) and divide it in half.
Cover one half with plastic wrap. Divide the other half into 6 pieces and place into brioche moulds or onto a baking tray (that’s what I do) about 1½ inches apart. Brush with the egg yolk mixed with the cream or water. Cover with plastic and leave in a warm place for 45 mins or until well risen.
Put the other half in a loaf tin or put in desired shape on a baking tray. Cover and leave to rise for 1 hr.
Bake small brioche at 210C/415F/Gas 6-7 for 10 mins and then reduce heat to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and bake for another 10 minutes. For a large brioche cook at same temps for 15 mins each.
Turn out immediately onto a wire rack to cool.

Special thanks to cutty Claire - TP09 and delicously super english chef!

Crêpes

Ingredients :

300gr of flour + 100gr of maïzena (10 full soupspoons) or 100gr extra of flour

1 pinch of salt

10g of baking powder

6 eggs

1/2 a litre of milk (or even a little bit more if you want them lighter)

6 full soupspoons of oil

3 full soupspoons of sugar

Preparation :

In a large bowl mix all the ingredients : flour, maizena, sugar, salt, baking powder, oil and eggs.

Make a large hole at the middle. Little by little, dilute the milk to obtain a really smooth and liquid dough.

You can add if you wish rhum, fleur d'oranger, vanilla,...

Tips :

- If there is lumps, use a collander.

- I use a food processor to go faster

- In terms of quantity, for 6 real french kind of crepe eaters i do double proportions.

- The dough can be frozen!

Thanks to my mum!