Pierre Herme's Vanilla Tart

This was a dessert experience like no other.

And therefore has a post entirely devoted to it.

It was epic.

Not in proportions.

But here's how it went.

Last night in Paris.

Out on the streets along Rue Madeline till 720pm

We climbed the 6 floors to our loft style apartment on Rue de Lille to drop off our stuff and literally RAN off into the streets towards St Sulpice.

My feet were hurting as hell. I limped my way along while I told the brothers to run ahead.

Last chance for Pierre Herme.

It was now or never.

Before I knew it, I had already lost sight of them both.

By the time I got in, these boys were already making payment.

What did you choose?

Why not the mille-feuille? What about that tart? Did you get macarons?

Oh I wish I was there to choose too.

I chose this vanilla tart because I read that it's made of 4 vanilla pods! says Nigel.

Sure.

Well. Hang on. Mum wanted a crossiant.

Pain aux chocolate.

I had excellent service. I'd pay for service like that. And the food of course. :)

Satisfied, we left the shop.

It was a dear price to pay for a tart. EUR $6.50?

We took a walk home while I looked out for cabs.

But decided to head home soon to cook dinner.

Then.

It was the after dinner.

The tart.

First fall.

Fall into love.

At first taste.

The creme Anglais.

The tart shell.

The mascarpone.

The ohdearme vanilla scent.

This was amazing.

Amazingly delicious.

And even the word doesn't suffice.

Decadent.

And throw in whatever word you wish.

You just need to taste it to believe it.

YUM.

Check it out here: http://kitchenmusings.com/2009/07/pierre-hermes-vanilla-tart.html

Pierre Herme's Vanilla Tart
Sugar dough
150 g Butter
30 g Almond Powder
95 g Confectionary Sugar
0.5 g Vanilla Powder
60 g Eggs
1 g Sea salt
250 g Flour type (55)
Method:
Soften butter and add the ingredients one by one. Keep the dough in the cooler wrapped in plastic wrap.
Sugar dough Tart Shells
Roll out the dough 2mm thin and cut with round cutter to the desired size. Line tarts on a tray covered with a silpat and poke the bottom with a fork. Let the shells set in the freezer.
Place some beans into the bottom of the shell and bake at 335F for 25 minutes, remove the beans and bake for another 5-8 minutes until golden brown.
Biscuit cuillere
360 g Egg white
5 g Egg white powder
225 g Sugar
200 g Egg yolk
20 g invert sugar
125 g Flour type (55)
125 g Potato starch
Make meringue with the egg white, egg white powder and sugar to stiff peaks. Add in the egg yolks and trimoline slowly. Fold in the flour. Layer on a pan and bake at 445F for 10 minutes and let cool on a cooling rack. Store wrapped in plastic.
Titanium dioxide paste25 g Titanium dioxide powder
15 g Water
Mix well and set aside
Syrup 30B
50 g Sucrose
45 g Water
Boil Together.
Neutral Glaze
500 g water
2 already used vanilla beans
200 g sucrose
20 g NH pectin
10 g lemon juice
Mix the sucrose with the NH pectin, add the water and vanilla beans and bring to a boil for 2 to 3 minutes. Turn off heat, add the lemon juice. Let steep for 30 minutes before straining into a container. Keep refrigerated, reheat before use.
Vanilla Glaze
480 g White chocolate couverture
180 g Cream
10 g Glucose
25 g Syrup 30b
360 g Neutral glaze
0.5 g Vanilla bean Madagascar
12.5 g Titanium dioxide paste
Melt the chocolate. Boil the cream with the grated vanilla bean and pour into the chocolate in three additions. Boil the neutral glaze with the sugar syrup and glucose. Pour this sugar mixture into the ganache and add the titanium dioxide paste. Blend the mixture to obtain a smooth and homogeneous texture; avoid incorporating air. Keep in cooler until ready to use.
English Vanilla cream
500 g Cream
1 Vanilla bean, Mexican
1 Vanilla bean, Madagascar
1 Vanilla bean, Tahitian
100 g Egg yolks
125 g Sucrose
7 g Gelatin leaves gold quality
Soak the gelatin leaves in cold water. Mix the egg yolk and sucrose together. Bring the cream to a boil and pour half of it on the egg yolk/sucrose mixture. Pour this mixture back into to the remaining cream and cook until the it coats the back of a spoon. Strain this mixture onto the squeezed gelatin leaves and blend. Keep in the cooler
Vanilla Mascarpone Cream
375 g English vanilla cream
250 g Mascarpone
Vanilla ganache
225 g Cream
1 Vanilla bean, Mexican
1 Vanilla bean, Madagascar
1 Vanilla bean, Tahitian
4 g Vanilla extract - none alcoholic
2 g Vanilla powder
250 g White chocolate couverture
Split open and scrap out the vanilla beans and place in the cream. Bring to boil and infuse for about 20 minutes. Melt the chocolate.. Take the vanilla beans out of the cream and add in the vanilla extract and vanilla powder. Bring to boil, pour the cream in 3 additions over the chocolate, mix well Blend the ganache to a smooth consistency. Store in cool place before using.
Vanilla Syrup
500 g bottled water
0.5 g vanilla bean, Mexican
0.5 g vanilla bean, Madagascar
0.5 g vanilla bean, Tahitian
10 g Vanilla extract
250 g Sucrose
25 g Brown rum
Boil the water with the sugar and vanilla beans and let infuse for 30 minutes. Add the vanilla extract and the rum. Keep in the cooler.
Assembly:
Fill the baked sugar dough shell with a little melted vanilla ganache. Then place a piece of biscuit cuillere soaked in the vanilla syrup on it. Fill the rest of the tart with vanilla ganache. Let cool in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
Coat the vanilla mascarpone cream disc with vanilla glaze and place it on the tart.
Dust the left side of the tart with some vanilla powder.

Beard Papa- Pipin' Hot Cream Puffs

Almost ten years on for Beard Papa in Singapore and their flagship outlet at the basement level of Takashimaya used to be a routine for us on weekends during my cousin's national service stint. We ran like clockwork. Sundays at church, lunch somewhere, a book run at Kinokuniya and finally a stop for desserts at Beard Papa. It used to be one for each of us and takeaways for half a dozen till the takeaways didn't even last the car ride home. We had to double it to a dozen so that there'd be at least some left for the ride back to Hendon.

Their tagline was a leaf out of Carlsberg's own- Probably the Best Cream Puff, when they were first brought into Singapore. At $2.20 for a cream puff, it wasn't expensive but neither was it the most affordable snack around but I was lucky I got to eat it on most weekends for almost a year long.

Prices have since increased to $2.80 for a cream puff. When my colleague brought one for me today, it was an immediate perk-me-up. A little leftover cold from the overnight refrigeration but that just made the filling ever more so (ful)filling. It's the first time i've actually noticed the vanilla seeds in its fillings. Not too sweet, creamy rich and made with actual vanilla pods. Mmm. Was this a recent addition? Perhaps last time I just gobbled it all up fresh and never noticed the filling. Even cold, the puff was light and airy. It wasn't oily and it was a nice accompaniment to the cold creamy filling encased within.

I think I've just found a long lost love. :)

Have you tried their other product offerings? They have a chocolate and strawberry filling, tiramisu, a lava-ish chocolate fondant that requires a heat-up before consumption... (There's more, I haven't kept up with their latest product offerings except for what I've seen on a walkpast and in their advertorials) and their Tio Glutton Stick. A cream cheese cake on a biscuit base in an entirely non-guilt inducing stick form, the only item which costs less than $2 at their outlets. That's the only item I've tried besides their vanilla cream puff.

Well, time for more of Beard Papa sweets! :)

guess where?

                                       wasn't that hard to follow the trail scent of coffee to a
                                       nondescript area for some awesome latte. not so awesome
                                       latte art but i'll let that slip :)
                                                              

                                             who needs a champ? all hail the king!                                         

                                         with sesame, spicy beansprouts and low cholestrol white
                                         eggs and normal brown eggs. :) self service.

                                         a choice of light/normal/ strong broth, amount of chicken
                                         oil (minimally less. not none :p), doneness of noodles.
                                         a very personal touch. :)

                                         sticky date and butterscotch ice cream? forgettable ice
                                         cream. moist sticky date pudding saved the day.

random vanilla ice cream. and not so molten lava. but

chocolate saved us all. :)

and a vanilla dirt pot! a pleasant sight but an awfully

refrozen excuse of a dessert :(

how was your saturday? :)