Paris Brest with Raspberry Whipped Cream Filling

by cakeduchess on April 27, 2012 · 46 comments

April in Paris. The city of lights and romance. The city of crispy baguettes and delicate pastries. The city I dream of visiting again. I felt for a moment I was there making my Paris Brest dessert.

My darling friend Jamie from the delicious blog Life’s a Feast lives in France and this month is hosting a Monthly Mingle. The Monthly Mingle created by the lovely Meeta of What’s For Lunch, Honey? I couldn’t wait to get baking something très français!

I settled on a Paris Brest…not the breast kind of a breast! Get your minds out of the gutter. Now what exactly is a Paris Brest. The Paris Brest is said to have been created by a pastry chef in honor of a bicycle race between Paris and Brest. It consists of a baked almond-topped choux pastry ring (patterned after a bicycle tire) that is split and filled with a praline-flavored buttercream. What was the race about? Paris–Brest–Paris (PBP) was originally a 1200km bicycle race from Paris to Brest and back to Paris. It is one of the oldest bicycling events still regularly run (the oldest being the Catford CC Hill Climb). The last time it was run as a race was 1951. (source Food Network and Wikipedia)

I’ve never been to the magical city in April but I did get to go there in a very cold November back when I was studying in France. Beautiful even on the dreary and frigid days.

Piping pastry cream is tricky. You have to practice and you have to move the bag swiftly, carefully and purposefully. If you move a little to the side, the pretty pattern will not be so pretty. This is the way I wanted all of my cream to look. They didn’t all look this way. But it didn’t matter…it was the taste! I don’t talk too often about puff pastries here. That doesn’t mean I don’t love them.

Piping pastry cream is tricky. You have to practice and you have to move the bag swiftly, carefully and purposefully. If you move a little to the side, the pretty pattern will not be so pretty. This is the way I wanted all of my cream to look. They didn’t all look this way. But it didn’t matter…it was the taste! I don’t talk too often about puff pastries here. That doesn’t mean I don’t love them.

Fabrizio’s zio Antonio lives in Valle D’Aosta. Many of his pastries are influenced by French recipes and his bignè are made with Pâte a Choux. These delicate puffs are filled mile high with the richest and most wonderful whipped cream. These little cream puffs are the ruin of me every year when we go to visit zio Antonio. That is why I hardly ever bake them here.;)

Fabrizio’s zio Antonio lives in Valle D’Aosta. Many of his pastries are influenced by French recipes and his bignè are made with Pâte a Choux. These delicate puffs are filled mile high with the richest and most wonderful whipped cream. These little cream puffs are the ruin of me every year when we go to visit zio Antonio. That is why I hardly ever bake them here.;)

Delicate and light as air puff pastry filled with a sweet raspberry whipped cream. Making your own cream puff dough is not as difficult as it may seem. You could make something sweet or savory with this basic dough recipe. If you are going savory, omit the sugar. The dough can be spooned onto your sheet to make puffs and freeze them until you’re ready to use them.

To read more about the Monthly Mingle, April in Paris, run over to my sweet friend Jamie’s blog and read all about it. If you do participate, be sure to link to the Monthly Mingle page.

Paris Brest with Raspberry Whipped Cream Filling

Pâte a Choux-Cream Puff Dough
dough adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table

1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup water
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup of almond slivers

Raspberry Whipped Cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 1/4 cup whipped cream
1 cup fresh raspberries

Raspberry Whipped Cream Directions:
Puree the raspberries in a mixer. Strain the raspberries through a fine sieve and set aside (you need to remove the seeds from raspberries).

If you like your cream sweeter, add a little more powdered sugar. In the bowl of a mixer, beat the cream with the powdered sugar until soft peaks form. Slowly add in the raspberry coulis and beat on low speed until combined. Set in refrigerator to chill while you prepare the dough.

To make the Pâte a Choux-Cream Puff Dough:

In a heavy sauce pan, combine the water, butter, sugar and salt to a boil. Add the flour and stir until smooth with a heavy wooden spoon.

Turn the heat up to high and cook the flour mixture stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon. The flour will be cooked when a thin film forms on on the bottom. You are essentially drying out the dough and the process should take about 4-5 minutes.

Transfer the dough to the bowl of a mixer (I used a stand mixer) and let the dough rest a minute or two. Add the eggs to the dough one at at time on medium speed until the dough is thick and smooth.

The dough needs to be used as soon as it’s made. It can’t be put in the refrigerator to use later, so make sure you are ready to go when it’s done.)

*You could draw with a pencil 8 circles on your parchment paper lining your baking pans to help you follow the design and make them evenly shaped. Place the dough in a pastry bag using a star tip (or plain round) 1/2 –inch tip and pipe onto parchment lined baking sheets forming 8 circles.

Sprinkle with almond slivers and bake at 375 F for about 22-26 minutes (omit the almonds if you need to. still will be wonderful!). If you open the door, the puffs may deflate. The dough should be golden colored. Allow the puffs to rest on the baking sheet.

Assembling the Paris Brest:

After the dough has cooled, carefully slice in half the pastry rings. Pipe the chilled whipped cream on the bottom layer of the rings. Top with the other halves and dust with powdered sugar.

Happy baking! Thanks for stopping by