Hazelnut paris-brest (Cédric Grolet)

One of the first recipes published on my blog, which is now getting a makeover ! Cédric Grolet's famous hazelnut Paris-brest, a choux pastry covered with a cocoa crunchy layer and topped with a praline cream and pure praline, in short, a lot of delicacies ! I had had the chance to taste the "real thing" at Le Meurice several years ago, so I picked up the recipe from Cédric Grolet's first book, Fruits. Contrary to the traditional recipe from Paris-brest, here there is no crème mousseline but a mixture of crème pâtissière and butter cream prepared with crème anglaise, Italian meringue and of course butter ! I chose to make them in individual version but you can also make a big paris-brest to share.

Prep time : 1h30 + cooling time + 40-45 minutes cooking
For 5 to 6 servings :

Cacao craquelin :

40g butter

45g flour

50g brown sugar

6g unsweetened cocoa powder

25g egg whites

40g hazelnuts

Mix the flour, brown sugar and cocoa in a hen's arse. Then add the butter at room temperature.

Spread the dough between two sheets of parchment paper 2mm thick and put it in the freezer for about 30 minutes.

Next, pre-cut circles of dough with a 8cm round pastry cutter, and inside these circles cut a 2cm circle.

Brush the craquelin with egg white, and spread the crushed hazelnuts on top. Press lightly with a rolling pin to encrust the hazelnuts into the craquelin, then return to the freezer.

Choux pastry :

62g milk

62g water

2g salt

55g butter

75g flour

100g eggs (about 2 eggs)

Bring water, milk, salt, sugar and butter to a boil.

Remove from the heat and add the sifted flour all at once.

Return to the heat and dry the dough over low heat with a spatula for a few minutes until a thin film forms at the bottom of the pan.

Pour the dough into the bowl of the food processor fitted with the beater and cool the dough at low speed until there is no more steam in the dough.

Then add the eggs little by little until the dough is smooth and homogeneous.

Draw a line with a knife in the dough, if the furrow closes gently it means that your dough is ready. If necessary, you can add a little egg if you see that the dough needs a little more hydration.

Put the dough in a pastry bag fitted with a 14 or 16 petit four tip (or if you don’t have one, a round tip of the same diameter), and pipe 7cm diameter circles of dough.

Then add the craquelin on top and bake in the preheated oven at 170°C for about 40 to 45 minutes (to be adjusted according to the oven, the choux should be golden brown when they come out of the oven. 

The hazelnut paste :

250g roasted hazelnuts

13.5g icing sugar

0.5g of fleur de sel

Mix the ingredients together until you obtain a peanut butter texture.

The praliné crème pâtissière :

3.5g powdered gelatine

16g water to hydrate the gelatine

150g milk

32g liquid cream

½ vanilla pod (I did not put one)

30g caster sugar

9g cornstarch

9g flour

30g egg yolks (about 2 yolks)

10g cocoa butter

17g butter

10g mascarpone

30g hazelnut paste

60g

hazelnut praliné

You can adjust the quantities of praliné and hazelnut paste according to your taste, for me the quantity is a bit light and you don't feel the praline enough to my taste ;-)

Rehydrate the powdered gelatin in cold water.

Bring the milk and cream with the vanilla seeds to the boil. Separately, beat the yolks with the sugar to whiten them, then add the cornstarch and flour.

When the milk-cream mixture is hot, pour half of it over the egg yolks while whisking, then pour it back into the saucepan.

Return to the heat and continue to stir until the cream thickens.

Off the heat, add the gelatine to the cream and then the cocoa butter. Finally add the butter and the mascarpone, then the praliné and the hazelnut paste. Mix and put a plastic wrap on it before putting in the fridge.

The buttercream :

The butter crème anglaise :

45g milk

45g sugar

35g egg yolks

200g softened butter

Bring the milk to the boil. Separately, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar. Remove from the heat, pour the hot milk over the yolks, stir and return to the heat.

Cook the custard up to 84°C : the cream must never exceed 84°C, otherwise the yolks will coagulate and the cream will become lumpy. To find out if the cream is ready without a thermometer, dip a spatula into it and run a finger over the spatula, if the cream does not run, it is ready ! Pour it into another container to stop the cooking.

In the bowl of the mixer with the beater attachment, work the butter so that it is well softened, then gradually pour the custard over the butter.

When the mixture is well blended, replace the beater with the whisk and whisk for several minutes until the mixture is well foamed and swollen.

The italian meringue :

20g water

60g sugar

30g egg whites

Cook the sugar and water to 121°C. When the syrup reaches 110°C, start whipping the egg whites so that they are frothy but not too firm. When the sugar syrup reaches 121°C, gradually pour it over the egg whites while whisking until you get a nice smooth and shiny meringue.

Then delicately incorporate this meringue into the butter cream.

The praliné cream :

390g pastry cream

(the totality of the previously prepared praliné crème pâtissière, if you have increased the quantities of praline and/or hazelnut paste do not take into account the 390g, use all the cream)

300g of butter cream

(you may have a little too much, but it's difficult to make a smaller quantity, especially for Italian meringue)

Lightly whip the cooled custard with a whisk.

Gently fold the butter cream into the hazelnut pastry cream, using a maryse, then put the cream thus obtained into a piping bag fitted with a star tip, and proceed with the assembly.

Assembly :

50g roasted and crushed hazelnuts

Praliné

Cut the choux in half.

Put some pure praline at the bottom of the choux (optional, but your paris-brest will have more taste).

Pipe the praliné cream, then pipe pure praliné in the cream.

Place the tops on the cream, then decorate with the crushed hazelnut.

There you go, your paris-brest are ready ! You can prepare them a little in advance (the day before), in this case take them out of the fridge 30 or 40 minutes before you enjoy them.