ah. cannelés. a real institution in france, and not only in bordeaux.
where to start?
contrary to popular belief, cannelés are really easy to make. no fancy ingredients and all.
however, there are two really important things to have in mind : cooking time and rum. that's basically the two reasons why most of the cannelés you buy are mediocre: not enough crustiness and waaay too many low quality rum.
a perfect cannelé should have a crusty, caramelized crust, and a light rum flavor.
so frankly, nothing compares to homemade cannelés.
years ago, a friend of the family brought us homemade cannelés. they were delicious, but still, something was missing. she gave us her recipe and we made changes and adjustments to get the exact cannelés we wanted.
so we now have our very own cannelés recipe at home, and honestly it's a really huge success everytime we make them. when we're invited somewhere and we ask if we can bring something, we almost always get the same answer: "des cannelés !"!
a few practical details now:
it's really important to rest the mixture before cooking the cannelés. we usually prepare the batter the evening, rest it during the night, and cook the cannelés the next day. you can even go up to 48 hours rest if you can, but 12-24 hours gives very good results!
the original copper molds can be hard to find, and are quite expensive.
we actually use silicon cannelés molds, and though it's not really in the cannelés tradition, it works quite well. no need to butter them, we just rinse them with hot water before using them.
well, guess that's it!
oh, and as we eat them all in a blink, we always double the recipe...
for 12-15 cannelés:
1/2 liter milk
2 whole eggs
1 egg yolk
150 g sugar
125 g flour
1/2 vanilla bean
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp good quality rum
the day before:
in a saucepan place milk and vanilla bean, scraped. bring to a boil.
remove from heat and add butter. stir until butter is completely melted.
in a bowl, mix together flour and sugar, then add whole eggs and egg yolk.
when combined, add milk/butter mixture and mix until combined.
add rum.
place in the fridge for the night (12 to 24 hours).
the d-day:
preheat the oven to 150°C (300 F).
fill the cannelés molds three quarters full (we use silicon cannelés molds).
cook for 40 minutes, then increase the temperature and continue cooking for 20 minutes at 180°C (350 F), and finally cook for 10 minutes at 200°C (390 F).
keep an eye on the oven at the end. the tops should have a brown crust, but they should not be burnt.
remove from the oven. wait for a few minutes then unmold carefully while still warm (not too warm though!).
leave them to cool at room temperature for 1-2 hours before eating.
piece of advice:
cannelés can be stored in a airtight container in the fridge for 3 days. however they won't be crusty anymore. if you want them crusty again, just put them in the oven at 200°C (390 F) for 3-5 minutes
