Paris-Brest

I'm lucky enough to be a recipe tester for Cook's Illustrated, the ne plus ultra cooking authorities, so when a Paris-Brest recipe landed in my Inbox many, many, many months ago I was super excited.  I had every intention of making it straight away until procrastination and summer vacation distracted me.  When I saw that the recipe was published in the current issue of the magazine (November/December 2011) I figured it was about time to make it.

If you're not familiar with this classic French dessert it's a large ring of pâte à choux filled with a praline-infused pastry cream.  They say the Paris-Brest was the brainchild of a very ingenious baker to commemorate the famous bicycle race between the two cities.  Leave it to a Frenchie to think of something like that...love it!

I'm sending this cake across cyberspace to my dear friend Mimi who is celebrating her birthday today.  Joyeux anniversaire mon amie!  

Cream Puffs and a Giveaway

Earlier this year Martha Stewart launched a great new show all about baking called "Martha Bakes".  If you haven't seen it already check it out on the Hallmark Channel.  Every week she presents different recipes and techniques around a common theme.   A recent episode was all about pâte à choux. 

Pâte à choux is one of my favorite doughs because of its versatility.  You start with a basic recipe which can be made into so many things: eclairs, profiteroles, gougeres and croquembouche to name a few. 

After watching Martha's show I was inspired to make the most traditional version of pâte à choux, cream puffs.   The golden brown puffs were filled with vanilla bean diplomat cream (pastry cream mixed with whipped heavy cream) and then dusted with powdered sugar.  Perfection! 

Now to the giveaway....

Once again the nice people at CSN have provided a $35 gift code for use at their online stores.   They literally sell anything you can imagine at great prices - from Le Creuset cookware that I love so much to a beautiful tufted velvet headboard my friend Christine recently purchased.

To enter just leave a comment to this blog post by Friday April 8.

RULES: Only one entry per person allowed and you MUST include your email address  in the comment to be eligible.  Sorry, but that's the only way the winner can be notified to claim the gift code.  CSN only ships to addresses in the US and Canada.   There may be international shipping charges for Canadian addresses.

The winner of the gift card is comment #34.  I'll be contacting you directly with your prize!