Craig Strong’s mini canelés
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
Craig Strong, chef de cuisine of the Langham, Huntington Hotel & Spa, began his career as a pastry chef, which means that -- unlike many chefs de cuisine -- he makes his own desserts and pastries. Like these awesome mini canelés, which Strong has made every day he’s been at work for the last eight years. As one might expect, they’re very good. After I did a recent profile of Strong, the chef was gracious enough to give me his recipe. Here it is, with a picture of the cakes and the little silicone molds that you bake them in. Unlike many canelé recipes, this one does not require expensive copper molds or hard-to-find beeswax.
Here’s the recipe (after the jump), which is in grams. Like many pastry chefs, particularly those who’ve trained in or are from Europe -- Strong worked in Barcelona for 3 years -- Strong writes his recipes in weight measurements. Baking recipes written in weights tend to be much more accurate than those given in measures. You can find conversion charts on the web. But really, if you’re the sort of person who is going to make canelés from scratch (canelé molds and all), then you’re probably the sort of person who will have a kitchen scale. The inexpensive gadgets are incredibly handy (check out Food Editor Russ Parsons’ and my recent list of worth-it kitchen tools), and they convert from ounces to grams too. And with ingredients so pricey these days, it’s worth getting recipes right the first time.
-- Amy Scattergood
Craig Strong’s canelé recipe:
1 liter whole milk
4 vanilla beans, scraped, with their seeds
100 grams unsalted butter
500 grams sugar
300 grams all-purpose flour
80 grams egg yolks
80 grams rum
1. Bring the milk, scraped vanilla beans and seeds and butter to a boil in a medium saucepan. Take off the heat and allow to come to room temperature. Remove the vanilla beans.
2. Mix the sugar and flour together in a large bowl. Slowly whisk the milk mixture into the dry ingredients. Add the yolks and rum and whisk to combine. Strain the mixture through a chinois and refrigerate, in a sealed container, overnight.
3. Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray the molds with a little bit of canola spray, mix the batter well and fill the molds 3/4 full. Bake 45-55 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown. Remove the canelés from the mold and cool on a rack. Repeat with remaining batter.
