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FOOD

COCKTAILS 

 

1 cup milk

1 2-inch piece vanilla bean, split (or 1 tsp extract)

1½ tablespoons butter

¾ cake flour

pinch of salt

½ cup less 1 tablespoon sugar

one large egg

one large egg yolk

1-2 tablespoons dark rum

4 ounces unsalted butter

1 ounce pure, edible beeswax

Special Equipment

  6 copper canelé molds

  one or two ounces pure, edible beeswax

  a small pastry or paint brush

  1. 1.Scald milk with vanilla bean.  Remove from heat and add butter.  Set aside to cool to luke warm.

  2. 2.Combine flour, salt, and sugar together in a bowl. Add egg, yolk, and rum.

  3. 3.Slowly add milk and mix until well combined.

  4. 4.Strain through chinois and cool to room temperature.

  5. 5.Chill for 24 hours.

  6. 6.THE NEXT DAY: Preheat oven to 400°. Put molds in the freezer. Melt  butter and beeswax over medium heat. Brush butter-wax mixture in molds and return to the freezer for a few minutes.

  7. 7.Mix batter well (it will have separated) and fill molds to within about a half inch of the tops.

  8. 8.Cook for 60 to 80 minutes turning half way through for even cooking.

  9. 9.When the tops are very dark brown remove from oven and tip canelés onto a cooling rack over a plate (to catch any excess butter and wax). If there are some pale spots, return to mold and bake another 5 to 10 minutes.

  10. 10.Cool for 15 minutes or so, during which time the crusts will become crispy.


      makes 6 canelés

CANELÉS DE BORDEAUX

Ingredients

Method

I don’t remember how it happened. Sometimes, that’s the way it works. I was surfing the web and happened upon a video on chow.com about these amazing pastries. All was proceeding normally until the mention of brushing the inside of the molds with a mixture of melted butter and beeswax. What the bleep?! Beeswax?! I was hooked. I immediately bought some molds from amazon.com and started to develop a recipe. The beeswax might be tough to track down. If you’ve been looking for a reason to befriend a beekeeper, here’s your chance. The beekeeper I contacted didn’t have any wax to spare, though. Art supply stores can’t guarantee the edibility of their waxes. I ended up using a candle from Big Dipper Wax Works (available at Whole Foods), which is edible.