Flour, Too's Cinnamon Cream Brioche

So although this isn't a beautiful picture, this is a beautiful pastry :).  Flour, Too, a great cookbook, came through for us again.  I have previously mentioned my love of pastry cream, and since this pastry uses that, I knew I would love this, and I did.  Owen and I gave this a perfect 10, and Noah and Aaron gave it a 9.  While high in calories, not surprisingly, this is so delicious and worth it.  Each pastry was 596 calories, and the recipe makes 8 pastries.  Here's what to do:

1/2 batch Joanne Chang's brioche dough
1 3/4 c pastry cream, or any recipe
3/4 c (or a little less) sour cream
1 1/4 c sugar
1 t cinnamon

Preheat the oven(s) to 350 and line the baking sheets with parchment paper.
Mix the cinnamon and sugar together.
Shape the brioche into 8 rounds, similar to mini pizzas, making sure the center is quite thin.
Spread the pastry cream into the center, then top with about 1 T sour cream, or a little more.  Top with the cinnamon sugar mixture, making sure to sprinkle the entire pastry with the mixture.  Bake the pastries for 25-30 minutes.  Let them cool and serve them warm.

Flour's Brioche au Chocolat

I love brioche, and I love chocolate, and Flour's recipes are always amazing, so it's hard to go wrong here.  Aaron, Owen and Noah all gave this a 9, and I gave them an 8 because I felt like they were a tiny bit dry, my fault because I cooked them a little too long.

My picture isn't great, but these are some delicious pastries, each one 450 calories.  

The brioche is the same as Flour's Sticky Sticky buns that I made before, and you can find the recipe here for the sticky buns, and the brioche dough I used.  I made the full batch this time, and I made one loaf of brioche bread, then made these with the other half.  

1/2 recipe brioche dough

1-2 c pastry cream

4 oz bittersweet chocolate

1 egg beaten

Roll out the brioche dough into a large rectangle on a lightly floured surface.  Spread the pastry cream all over the dough, then scatter the chocolate over the bottom half.  Fold the top half over the bottom, then cut into 10 (I only got 9) pastries.  Lay on a parchment lined cookie sheet, and allow to rise for two hours in a warm place.  After 2 hours, preheat the oven to 350, and brush the tops of the pastries with the egg.  Bake for 35-45 minutes, until the pastries are golden brown.  Serve after cooling for a few minutes.

Fresh Fruit Tart With Pastry Cream

I love pastry cream.  It's a sickness.  I could probably eat an entire bowl of it, just for fun.  I wouldn't, but I could. :)  Anyway, I knew I would love this tart, and having it look so pretty and summery, and having a cute little four year old help me is even better.  This was a sweet pastry crust, a pastry cream, and then just fruit glazed with apple jelly.  It was delcious.  Noah and I gave it a perfect 10, and Aaron and Owen gave it an 8.  Aaron and Owen liked the crust best, I liked the pastry cream the best, and Noah liked all the fruit the best.  Something for everyone I guess.  The recipes (tart, crust, and cream) all came from Cook's Illustrated New Best Recipe cookbook.  Here are the recipes:
Sweet Pastry Dough
1 large egg yolk
1/2 t vanilla
1 T heavy cream
1 1/4 c flour, plus more for dusting the work surface
2/3 c powdered sugar
1/4 t salt
8 T cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

Whisk together the yolk, cream, and vanilla and set aside.  Place the flour, powdered sugar, and salt in a food processor and process briefly to combine.  Scatter the butter pieces over the flour mixture; process to cut butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse meal.  With the machine running, add the egg mixture and process until the dough just comes together.  Turn the dough onto plastic wrap, and press into a six-inch disk.  Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 2 days.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator.  Unwrap and roll out between 2 lightly floured sheets of plastic wrap.  Transfer the dough to a tart pan.  Ease the dough into the corners, and remove excess from the outside.  Set the dough-lined tart panon a large plate and freeze for 30 mintues.
Heat the oven to 375.  Set the pan on a baking sheet, press a square of foil into the frozen tart shell and over the edge, and fill with pie weights.  Bake for 30 minutes, rotating halfway through the baking time.  Remove from oven and carefully remove the foil and weights.  Bake until a deep golden brown, 5-8 minutes longer.  Cool completely.

Pastry Cream
2 c half-and-half
1/2 c sugar
pinch of salt
5 large egg yolks
3 T cornstarch
4 T cold unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
1 1/2 t vanilla extract

Heat the half-and-half, 6 T sugar and the salt in a saucepan over medium heat until simmering, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar.
Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks in a medium bowl until thoroughly combined.  Whisk in the remaining 2 T sugar and whisk until the sugar has begun to dissolve and the mixture is creamy, about 15 seconds.  Whisk in the cornstarch until combined and the mixture is pale yellow and thick, about 30 seconds.
When the half-and-half mixture reaches a full simmer, gradually whisk the simmering half-and-half mixture into the yolk mixture to temper.  Return the mixture to the saucepan, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula; return to a simmer over medium heat, whisking constantly, until a few bubbles burst on the surface and the mixture is thickened and glossy, about 30 seconds.  Off the heat, whisk in the butter and vanilla.  Strain the pastry cream through a fine-mesh sieve set over a medium bowl.  Press plastic wrap directly on the surface to prevent a skin from forming and refrigerate until cold and set, at least 3 hours or up to 2 days.

You assemble the tart crust first, then pastry cream, then pretty fruit, then glaze it with 1/2 c of warmed jelly (I used apple).  It's so pretty, and definitely delicious.

Tomorrow we're having fish and savory scones.