When looking through the many recipes in Baking From My Home to Yours, this is the one that scared me the most, with the floating islands a close second. Long after I'd made brioche (several times), pastry cream (many times) and far more complicated desserts in the book, this recipe still intimidated me.
Now that I finally have made it I don't want to suggest that it was easy, but broken up over multiple days it's definitely manageable. How I did it was to make the brioche dough one night, the pastry cream another, roll the brioche out and fill it another day, and slice and bake it on the fourth day. That taught me a good lesson, that breaking baking projects up into manageable pieces makes recipes formerly out of my reach time-wise now eminently doable.
The results were, if not swoon-worthy, quite impressive. I was impressed that I had made something quite delicious that didn't look half bad. Amazing. I wish I didn't skip soaking the raisins (I would have bypassed the alcohol and used apple or orange juice) because it would have plumped them up and helped them withstand the heat of the oven better.
This recipe is another one down in my quest to complete all of the recipes in BFMHTY. Margaret and Nancy are also playing catch up. Please visit and cheer them on in their countdowns to completion.
If you'd like the recipe for these lovely pastries, you can find it on Laurie's post here.
9 comments:
You're being too modest - your snails are gorgeous! The almond cream I used puffed which made the snails not as pretty but they were definitely tasty. One step closer!
I think this is a recipe I would like to go to a friends house and eat! Can I come to your house? Looks delicious.
They look beautiful, Leslie!!! Great idea on breaking this up into smaller tasks. Definitely more doable that way. I'll have to bookmark this one!
I've been wanting to make this recipe again but since my stand mixer broke I've not wanted to make brioche by hand...but maybe I will now because your snails look so good and delicious.
These look so great Leslie! They are my favorite recipe from the book (I make mine with chopped dark chocolate). Must make again! Love your post and photos!
Never thought I would say this, "Beautiful Snails". Of course these are baked and beautiful. I just didn't make it to these. But I will. Maybe with the sticky buns.
These are gorgeous! This is one recipe I missed (I think it was chosen before I joined?) and I keep meaning to go back and make it. Thanks for the inspiration!
Mmm, those look so yummy! I love this recipe; might be time to make it again. I'm really enjoying reading along as you and Nancy make some of the early recipes--it's reminding me of things that I enjoyed and should make again.
"Broken up over several days"--wow, I didn't even know there were pastry recipes that were so involved! (I guess that's why I've always been more of a cook than a baker.) These look like they'd make a great breakfast--and they are beautiful!
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