Recipe for pierre erme on italian meringue. Pierre Erme: recipes for cakes and pastries

He began learning the confectionery trade at the age of 14. And at 20 he was already appointed chief confectioner of the Fauchon Grocery House.

In 1996, Herme left Fauchon to open his own Maison Pierre Herme Paris with his partner Charles Nobles. Their first boutique appeared in Tokyo in 1998, and in 2000 the patisserie of the same name opened its doors. 2001 - the year of the return of Pierre Herme to the French culinary scene. His boutique, located at 72 rue Bonaparte, in the trendy district of Boulevard Saint-Germain, became an instant hit. At the end of 2004, a second boutique, with an unexpected modern design, opened its doors on Rue Vaugirard. Together with him, the Atelier was opened, in partnership with the prestigious culinary school Ferrandi and the Chamber of Commerce of Paris, where young chefs are taught sweet magic.

In early 2005, Tokyo witnessed a new concept from Pierre Herme Paris, a luxury supermarket and chocolate bar. These two spaces are located on Omotesando Street (表参道), where every self-respecting Fashion House has staked out a place for itself. Finally, a new boutique opened in the world's largest food mall, Isetan Shinjuku, in 2006.

Today, the name of Pierre Erme is associated all over the world with high art in confectionery. Pierre Herme is considered by many to be the best pastry chef in the world. VOGUE magazine called him the "Picasso of confectionery art", Food & Wine awarded him the title "Confectioner provocateur", Paris-Match speaks of him as "Avant-garde confectioner and magician of tastes", and " New York The Times calls him "Kitchen Emperor". Gourmets pronounce his name with respect and admiration.

Pierre Erme is not just a professional, specialist and first-class connoisseur of the craft, but also a true pioneer in the field of taste, daring, self-confident and incredibly talented. He manages to cook the most classic desserts french cuisine in a way that no one else can. His own creations are amazing, thought out to the smallest detail, bold, revolutionary combinations of completely different shades of taste, absolutely unusual products and ingredients atypical for the confectionery business. Sometimes it just doesn’t fit in my head, how they can get along in one dish, in one dessert. Pierre Herme stands for the convergence of opposite matters, bitter, sour, spicy and fruity tastes, for a combination of different temperatures, colors, textures, aromas. Rose is combined with almonds and raspberries, avocado with chocolate, tomato with vanilla, milk chocolate with ginger ... Isn't it a miracle?

Pierre Erme does not get tired of experimenting, trying, inventing, creating. "Architect of taste", he creates new and new collections, offering gourmets hitherto unseen desserts. As a couturier, Pierre Herme produces two collections a year: Spring-Summer and Autumn-Winter. Each of them is inspired by some idea and dedicated to a specific topic, each has its own name.

One of the maestro's collections is called F.E.T.I.S.H.

Here are just a few of the desserts included in this collection:

- Cheesecake Isfahan. Shortcrust pastry base, delicate cheesecake with rose water, mousse with lychee and raspberry, light cream cheese with rose water.

It's the fruity flavor that comes first and it feels like everything is completely reinvented in this cheesecake. Cheesecake with cream cheese and sauce, where each component is in different textures and reveals successively all of its so many different tastes, but so harmoniously. This is one of the most favorite flavors of the Erme confectionery house.

Milfey Isfahan. Caramel puff pastry, cream with rose water, raspberry sauce and pieces of lychee.

Confectionery dream? Provocation? Fruity and tangy, surrounded by the sweetness of a rose. Crispy, caramelized puff pastry and butter cream from mascarpone - together for the best taste!

"Tart Isfahan". Sweet shortbread dough, almond cream with rose water and lychee, fresh raspberries, lychee jelly and pink macarons.

The relationship between the sweetness of rose, the tartness of raspberry and exotic taste lychee can seem complicated. However, it is clear how aromatic flavor complements and expands from one to the other. It is a triad that is expressed once more here in the pie version.

- "Feeling Isfahan". Raspberry jelly, pink jelly, lychee pieces.

Very fragrant, with exotic notes. Wonderful balance between sour and intoxicating. This dessert, where every translucent layers are visible, awakens the senses to new experiences and achievements.

"Emotions of Isfahan". Lychee and raspberry jelly, fresh raspberries, raspberry sauce, rosewater buttercream.

The rose expresses itself in a register of softness and sweetness, while the specific sourness of the raspberry comes suddenly. As a result, your mouth is filled with vivacity of taste and freshness. And the “gray” layer of fragrant lychee only enhances and spreads the aroma.

Surprise Isfahan. Crispy meringue, rose cream, lychee and raspberry sauce.

Delicious sweet and crunchy meringues that hide the melted heart of subtle flavors. Altogether it forms a kind of alliance between "North and South", sweet and sour. Dessert, wrapped like a candy, comes to support our desire for beautiful and delicious days.

Cupcake Isfahan. Rose water almond cake with raspberry pieces and raspberry jelly.

A subtle union between the sweetness of a rose and the sourness of a raspberry.

"Picasso of Culinary Art":

From the 2011 collection: .

It's not quite chocolate and not quite macarons. Pierre Herme never ceases to improve tastes, creating new types of desserts. Moments of pure wonder.

From the 2011 collection for Valentine's Day.

2000 Feuilles. 2000 Layers (petals).Caramel puff pastry, Piedmont walnut pralines, muslin pralines with cream.

2000 petals - an extremely harmonious texture. Soft cream with muslin praline. Crispy caramel puff pastry and pralines with thin broken Breton lace give it a unique beauty of lines. Sublimely delicious.

Biscuit "dacquoise" with hazelnuts, crispy pralines of thin sheets chocolate pudding, chocolate ganache and cream with whipped milk chocolate.

Chocolate Macaron, dark chocolate with fleur de sel, mousse and ganache with dark chocolate and crunchy caramel.

Cycle of "Infinity":

Tarte Infiniment Citron - Tarte "Endless Lemon". sand base, lemon cream, candied fruit lemon peel, lemon jelly.

This is the kind of winter we have this year. January, and a tree in flowers. I haven't been on Instagram for a long time. Even this photo just forced myself to put it in memory of this miracle of nature. It's minus three outside, by the way.

The tradition of holding a Thanksgiving Day parade dates back to 1924. Macy's is one of the oldest and largest department store chains in the United States. It was then, in 1924, that Macy's department store management decided to hold a Christmas parade in order to attract customers. Department store employees dressed up as clowns, cowboys and knights, there were festive floats and musical groups. There were no giant balloons back then. But, the main feature of this parade was the animals that Macy's took from the Central Park Zoo. Imagine, live elephants, bears, camels and monkeys. The success was tremendous. More than 250,000 people gathered to watch the parade. And soon Macy's announced, that the parade will become an annual event. The parade was exhausting for the animals and their growling frightened the spectators, so live animals had to be abandoned and replaced by balloons in 1927. In the same year, the parade was renamed Macy's Thanksgiving parade (Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade). The parade has become much shorter in length (reduced from 6 miles to 2.5 miles). But the constant tradition of the parade is the appearance of Santa Claus in a sleigh pulled by reindeer, and his arrival heralds the beginning of the Christmas season. The first balloon this year was astronaut Snoopy, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo space program and the moon landings. I added photos of the first parade in 1924 to the carousel.

Today is Thanksgiving Day in America. All week long children tell us the story of the pilgrims from England who sailed on the ship "Mayflower" to the shores of America .... and how she found them Cold winter and because of cold and sickness many of them perished. And the next year, the Indians taught them how to take care of the land and grow different products on it. And in the first autumn they gathered a rich harvest. And the pilgrims gathered at a large table and invited the Indians, who helped them survive in the new land, to share a meal with them. And this meal was the first Thanksgiving celebration. Here is such a story. And now we're racing to New York for the parade.

We still have 10 minutes left in Philadelphia before the start of a new day. Therefore, while it is still November 21, it is relevant to talk about Rocky. November 21, 1976, 43 years ago, the movie "Rocky" was released. And, as a big fan of all the Rocky series, I'll tell you a few interesting facts about the creation of the first part. Sylvester Stallone wrote the script for the first Rocky movie in 3 and a half days. And speaking to the producers, his main demand was that he himself would play Rocky Balboa. Before Rocky, Sylvester Stallone was so poor that he even had to sell his dog for $50. But a week later, the script for the film Rocky was bought and he was able to return the dog. And it is this dog Stallone plays the dog Rocky in the film. (There is a photo of Stallone with a dog in the carousel.) There are two turtles living with Rocky in the film. So, imagine, these turtles still live with Stallone. (Pictures of the turtles from the film are also on the carousel.) Due to the film's low budget, Stallone's relatives played various supporting roles. The first date of Rocky and his beloved Adrian in the film was at a closed empty skating rink, although initially, according to the script, the skating rink was supposed to be open and other visitors were supposed to ride there. But, for financial reasons, the producers could not hire extras, so they changed the script. All filming in Philadelphia was carried out without preparation, without additional lighting and equipment. The scene where Rocky runs through the bazaar in the Italian Quarter was filmed just from the car and people were at a loss from what was happening, what kind of person was running after the car and why was he being filmed. Therefore, in the film, people in the bazaar look slightly surprised. And there, while running through the Italian quarter, a man throws an orange to Stallone. It was an improvisation by the owner of the shop, which was later included in the film. In the carousel, I added a YouTube video of Rocky's run to the fantastic Gonna Fly now soundtrack. Happy birthday Rocky movie!

Quote:
"Getting up from the table hungry - you ate; if you get up after eating - you overate; if you get up overeaten - you are poisoned."
A.P. Chekhov

The name of the Black Forest cake immediately brings to mind Germany, whipped cream, chocolate and a cake decorated with cocktail cherries. This recipe was indeed invented in Germany in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and the cake became literally a national emblem. The first recipe was printed in 1934 and after the 50s, a huge number of interpretations of the famous cake appeared all over the world. I have the execution of the recipe of the famous confectioner Pierre Herme. When tasting a cake, try all the layers at the same time. The taste is harmonious, unobtrusive. And the cake is not at all sweet. I was honestly worried that the chocolate flavor would be too strong, and I'm not a big fan of it, but no - it smooths out amazingly. tender cream and custard with cherries.

Ingredients

For marinade:
Water 90 gr
Sugar (small) 2/3 cup
Cherry sour can be frozen300 gr

Chocolate biscuit:
Butter 60 gr
Flour 25 gr
potato flour 25 gr
Cocoa 30 gr
Yolks 120 gr (6 pcs)
Sugar (small) 100 gr
Squirrels 125 gr (4 pcs)

Custard:
Vanilla ½ pod
Milk 125 gr
fine sugar 30 gr
Corn starch 5 gr
Flour 5 gr
Yolk 35 gr
Butter 10 gr

Cherry Syrup:
Water 30 gr
fine sugar 35 gr
Kirsch (Kirschwasser) 30 gr

:
Gelatin 5 gr
Whipping cream 33% 240 gr
Custard 130 gr

Chocolate cream:
Dark chocolate (cocoa content 66%)80 gr
Cream 170 gr

Decoration:
Whipping cream 33% 350 gr
fine sugar 20 gr
cocktail cherry
100 gr

Cooking

Measure conversion table

Pickle the cherries the day before making the cake:

Biscuit:

Custard:

Drain cherry syrup

Syrup:

Assembly:

Light vanilla custard

Assembly:
- Put a thin layer of cream (half cream) on the biscuit lying in the cake ring

Chocolate cream:

Assembly:

Decoration:

- Go over the sides with a pastry spatula to add texture. No spatula - you can make grooves with a teaspoon or something else that is in the kitchen

Enjoy your meal!

print version

Ingredients

For marinade:
Water 90 gr
Sugar (small) 2/3 cup
Cherry sour can be frozen300 gr

Chocolate biscuit:
Butter 60 gr
Flour 25 gr
potato flour 25 gr
Cocoa 30 gr
Yolks 120 gr (6 pcs)
Sugar (small) 100 gr
Squirrels 125 gr (4 pcs)

Custard:
Vanilla ½ pod
Milk 125 gr
fine sugar 30 gr
Corn starch 5 gr
Flour 5 gr
Yolk 35 gr
Butter 10 gr

Cherry Syrup:
Water 30 gr
fine sugar 35 gr
Kirsch (Kirschwasser) 30 gr

Gelatin 5 gr
Whipping cream 33% 240 gr
Custard 130 gr

Chocolate cream:
Dark chocolate (cocoa content 66%)80 gr
Cream 170 gr

Decoration:
Whipping cream 33% 350 gr
fine sugar 20 gr
cocktail cherry
Dark chocolate (60-70% cocoa) 100 gr

Cooking

Pickle the cherries the day before making the cake:
- Bring soda and sugar to a boil
- Remove from heat and add cherries
- Set aside to marinate until the next day

Biscuit:
- Preheat oven to 220°C (425°F)
- Melt the butter and leave to cool
- Sift flour, potato flour and cocoa into a bowl. Set aside
- Beat the yolks with ¾ of the sugar at high speed for 5 minutes
- In a separate clean and dry bowl, beat the egg whites with the remaining sugar until stiff peaks
- Fold the beaten egg yolks and butter into the egg whites with gentle swirling motions.
- Mix the dry ingredients into the proteins with gentle movements
- Bake cakes. The author advises simply pouring the dough onto a baking sheet large enough to cut out three circles with a diameter of 20 cm. You can divide the dough into 3 parts and bake 3 biscuits
- Bake until done. About 10 minutes

Custard:
- Butter for custard should be room temperature
- Prepare a bowl with cold water and ice
- Split the vanilla pod and take out the seeds
- Pour milk into a saucepan, add vanilla seeds, vanilla bean and sugar and bring to a boil
- In a bowl, mix the starch, flour and yolks
- Add ⅓ hot milk to the yolks, stirring constantly
- Pour the yolks mixed with milk into a saucepan with milk
- Bring to a boil, stirring
- Put in a metal bowl and put it in a bowl of cold water and ice. Remove the vanilla pod from the cream and discard.
- When the cream has cooled to 60°C (140°F), stir in the cut butter and stir until smooth
- If there is a fear that lumps have appeared, then wipe through a sieve
- Close with cling film in a joint and refrigerate until further use

Drain cherry syrup

Syrup:
- Bring water and sugar to a boil
- Remove from heat and add kirsch

Assembly:
- Cut the biscuit into 3 cakes with a diameter of 20 cm
- Put one cake in a ring with a diameter of 20 cm and grease it with kirsch syrup. To make it easier to get it out, you can lay the ring from the inside with an acetate film

Light vanilla custard
- Soak gelatine in cold water for 15 minutes
- Whip the cream to soft peaks
- Squeeze out the gelatin, melt it and stir in the cooled custard
- Stir cream into custard
- Transfer to a pastry bag

Assembly:
- Put a thin layer of cream on the biscuit lying in the cake ring
- Spread pickled cherries and again spread a thin layer of cream
- Put the second biscuit and soak it with syrup too

Chocolate cream:
- Break the chocolate into small pieces and melt it
- Mix 2 tablespoons cream with melted chocolate
- Whip the remaining cream to peaks and fold the chocolate into the cream.

Assembly:
- Share chocolate cream for a biscuit
- Put the third cake on top and soak it with syrup too
- Put the cake in the freezer for 2 hours

Decoration:
- Whip cream with sugar until stiff peaks
- Take the cake out of the freezer and take it out of the mold.
- Put the cream on top of the cake and grease the sides with it
- Go over the sides with a pastry spatula to add texture
- Put the rest of the cream in a piping bag fitted with a star tip.
- Make flowers around the edge of the top of the cake
- Put a dried cocktail cherry in each flower
- Lightly heat the chocolate and cut it with sawdust (use a vegetable peeler)
- Put the chocolate in the center of the cake

I'm talking about Erme.

In the last six months, I have become terribly interested in reading culinary blogs and experimenting in the kitchen. I have had a craving for cooking for a long time, but while sitting at home in Lugano, it has acquired simply incredible proportions. I have always been especially attracted to pastries and cakes, so the confectionery has become just a favorite topic! Pretty quickly, I managed to isolate certain bloggers, instagrammers and all sorts of creators of "small businesses" in this area. And then I read, read, read ... And, of course, I cooked.

Several names of recognized masters in the confectionery business were repeated in the posts again and again. And apart, of course, is the name of the Frenchman Pierre Herme. He is one of the most famous confectioners of our time. Since childhood, he devoted himself to biscuits, creams, mousses, glazes ... But he became famous thanks to macaroons.

Many people who are interested in France and pasta (I will write them like this) tend to visit Ladurée, which are famous for these bezeshny cookies. The famous confectionery chain has been operating since the middle of the 19th century, now it belongs to a luxury brand and is considered one of the first instigators of the pasta hysteria.

Pierre Herme also worked at Ladurée and put a lot of effort into updating their range and expanding the business. Apparently, it was there that he received a lot of knowledge and skills for the production of these elegant multi-colored cakes, which gave him the opportunity to establish his own confectionery chain, named after him.

After reading various bloggers that Pierre Erme has the best macarons, cakes and croissants, I firmly decided to visit his boutique. I emphasize: this is a boutique, i.e. there are no tables inside. When I led my husband with a confident step to the cherished point on the map, I thought of myself as a kind of bearer of mysterious knowledge. Here, everyone goes to eiffel tower or, in extreme cases, in Ladurée. But I, I know where to go! And we go to Erma.

What was my disappointment when I found a queue of Chinese and Koreans near the boutique. They all stood in front of the doors with guidebooks in their hands - apparently, they have very accurate guidebooks, if Erme was included in the must-see list there. When we got inside, I was literally struck by the number of camera flashes bouncing off the windows, the tortured faces of the saleswomen who were ready to send everyone far and for a long time. Even the cakes themselves seemed tired. No prohibition on photography, desserts behind glass (so that visitors do not breathe on them), a sense of exclusivity - in general, everything that I read about in blogs.

But we, of course, still bought ourselves cakes, standing in line. Each was packed for us in a separate box, and when we received the coveted package, I carried it home like a crystal jewel. And, despite the disappointment from the purchase itself, I did not regret it at all when I tasted the desserts. Believe me, it's worth it!

So what did we take?

1. Désiré cake (“Desire”, €7.30): lemon, strawberry, banana, almond (here is the Niksya recipe):

Husband liked it: bright and unusual taste,
- I'm not very: lemon acid was too pronounced
- the cake quickly blurred and lost its shape without a refrigerator.

The photo is only in the window, because somehow I didn’t want to photograph the spreading porridge. (cake with raspberries on top)

2. The famous "Isfahan" (€7.50): Erme's trademark combination of rose, lychee and raspberry, it is in a bunch different options(the recipe is again from Niksya, from Maria Selyanina):

I really liked it: an unexpected exquisite combination, a very mild taste,
- the husband was not delighted: tasty, but without much interest,
- the cake lasted perfectly all day without a refrigerator, remaining just as fresh and tender,
- initially it was not as beautiful as in the advertising photo.

3. Pasta: pistachio and olive with vanilla (€2.10 each):

Both my husband and I were VERY impressed. There is no taste of proteins that all other pasta has. They are not dry, but richly soaked delicious cream. (by the way, in Laduree they are drier and more expensive - €2.50),
- to my displeasure, the macaroons are not as beautiful as in the pictures: the notorious skirt sticks out too much, and sometimes even crouches to the side. But, of course, this is nonsense compared to the divine taste (and also, I must say, once in Italy I saw such terrible pasta that nothing will frighten me).

4. Croissants were already sold out by three o'clock in the afternoon, we had to be content with puff buns: with chocolate and with almonds and hazelnuts (for € 2.10):

My husband and I liked it, but we did not experience much enthusiasm,
- marketable condition was so-so, especially at the nut puff: icing stuck together in flakes
- the dough itself was very tasty,
- although the comparison with croissants is not entirely legitimate (after all, they were buns), but we liked the mass croissants at Le Pain Quotidien much more.

For me, macaroons are the perfection of form and content, the quintessence of the concept of dessert in the form of two small meringue-based cookies connected by a rich filling.

I like almost all versions of this dessert - with cracks and without filling, without a "skirt" and with funny "tails", and even American ones - coconut ones, which are not at all like real French macarons.

Pierre Herme is perhaps one of the most famous confectioners of our time, who became truly famous thanks to pasta, or rather, bringing to perfection what is now called “classic” pasta - vanilla, chocolate, caramel, pistachio, coffee, lemon and a few more others.

Erme "invented" new flavors and combinations - for example, pasta with olive oil, lime with basil, with Earl Gray tea.

For real lovers of this dessert, there is pasta with avocado, carrot and orange, pink pepper and even ketchup!

Unusual? But that's not all! Macarons with balsamic vinegar, white and black truffles, foie gras and sturgeon caviar, wasabi pasta.

Despite this variety of tastes and their combinations, Erme in his book, which is called "Macarons", begins with the most common truths, knowing which, you can relatively successfully repeat the recipes of the famous confectioner or create new combinations of tastes based on them.

The filling is what determines the taste of pasta to a greater extent, this is not an obvious detail for everyone, but Erme fills the pasta with filling without sparing (this is confirmed by the pasta sold in the Lafayette Gallery)

Erme prepares his own almond flour from a variety of almonds, which he also chose himself (Valencia Spanish) The quality of almonds and flour from it largely determine the taste and texture of future pasta

"Aging" chicken protein(from a few days to a week, what happens at this time with protein, I will write separately)

Once stuffed, pasta should not be served and eaten immediately, it is still too dry - it needs to be refrigerated for 24 hours at constant humidity for the taste and texture to be as it should be.

Pasta is served in advance, letting them “warm up” at room temperature, for this they need to be taken out of the refrigerator two hours before use

32 steps to perfect pasta:

Weigh the required amount of protein, and divide into 2 parts
Cover the container with the protein with cling film and cut a hole in it with a sharp knife.
On the day the pasta is baked, make 2 piping bags (Erme says plastic disposable bags are the best). Cut off the end of the bag
Insert the bag into the nozzle
Make sure that the bag is well inserted into the nozzle, twist it - otherwise the pasta mass may leak out
Prepare a baking sheet, on which place the stencil with the contours of pasta and baking paper on top. You will need 2 or 3 pans
Separately weigh powdered sugar and almond flour.
Mix both ingredients and sift through a medium mesh sieve.
If dye is used, add it to the first bowl of egg whites.
Add colored (or not) proteins to the mixture of almond flour and powder, do not mix
Weigh separately the required amount of water and fine sugar
Pour water into a small saucepan and add sugar. Cook over medium heat and as soon as the mixture reaches 115 degrees, at the same time start whipping the egg whites. Place a pastry brush in cold water and use it to “wash off” the remaining sugar from the walls of the saucepan when the liquid begins to boil
When sugar reaches 118 degrees, remove from heat and, continuing to beat the whites, add sugar, beat at high speed for another minute
Reduce beating speed and continue for another 2 minutes. Made italian meringue
Wait for the proteins to cool to 50 degrees (about 5 minutes)
Using a spatula, transfer the Italian meringue to the almond mixture and powdered sugar, mixing them with the "folding" method from the center to the edges, rotating the cup
When the mixture starts to become shiny, stop stirring. The dough should resemble sticky pie dough.
Fill a piping bag with half of the mixture using a spatula.
Squeeze the top of the bag. This is important because there should be no air bubbles left in the pasta dough.
Twist the end of the pastry bag
Transfer the dough to a baking sheet, each pasta should be smaller in diameter than on the stencil, as it needs room to spread
Continue to deposit pasta, leaving 2 cm between them and staggering. Why the stencil is so important
If you run out of pasta dough, fill the bag again and continue pouring the dough onto other baking sheets.
To even out the "tails" on the pasta, lift the baking sheet and lightly hit it on the surface of the table, covered with a kitchen towel
Remove the stencil from under the deposited pasta
Make sure the baking paper is secured to the tray (this can be done using a small amount dough, which will "fasten" the baking sheet and baking paper)
Leave a baking sheet with pasta at room temperature for 30 minutes, so that a crust forms on their surface, the dough should not be sticky if you touch it with your finger
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees, but in general the baking temperature for pasta is from 165 to 190 degrees Celsius and it depends on the type of oven
Depending on the size of the oven, you can bake 2-3 baking sheets at the same time, otherwise bake in several passes. Open the oven door at the eighth (the skirt is already formed) and the 10th minute
Once the pasta is ready, remove it (with paper) from the pan, otherwise the pasta will continue to cook due to the heat from the pan. Let the pasta cool on baking paper.
Carefully remove the pasta and turn over - one by one. They are ready to be stuffed. At this stage, they can be stored for 48 hours in the refrigerator or frozen.

9 steps to the perfect chocolate ganache:

Using a serrated knife, cut the chocolate into small pieces. Place the cutting board on a kitchen towel and then on the table to make the work surface more stable. When cutting chocolate, with one hand hold on to the blade of the knife (on its blunt side), pressing and with different intensity
Place chocolate in a fireproof container. Fill a smaller saucepan with water, the container with chocolate should not touch the bottom of the saucepan. Place the container with chocolate on the saucepan over low heat.
Do not let the water boil violently, when the chocolate begins to melt, stir it with a spatula
In a small saucepan, heat the cream to a boil, using a whisk, making sure that the cream does not burn to the bottom of the saucepan.
Pour a third of the hot cream into the center of the chocolate bowl and start whisking. It's not scary if the cream separates.
Add the second third of the hot cream to the center of the chocolate mixture, stir with a whisk in a circular motion, the chocolate will begin to thicken
Add the last third of the cream
Fill a container with low sides with the resulting ganache (for example, for gratin)
Cover with cling film so that the film touches the chocolate. Make sure the ganache is completely cool before placing it in the refrigerator.

8 steps to filling pasta with stuffing:

Fill a second pastry bag with ganache using a spatula.
Twist the tip so that the ganache fills the bag tightly.
Unroll the bag around the nozzle
Hold the piping bag upright and press down very gently on the piping bag. Fill macarons, leaving about 3 mm from the edge
Put the other half of the pasta on the ganache and press down lightly
If you plan to place a piece of jelly inside the filling, squeeze out less filling than usual.
Squeeze a drop of ganache on the jelly, close with the second half and press lightly
Place filled pasta on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Place in the refrigerator for 24 hours and serve, removing from the refrigerator 2 hours before serving

Kitchen tools needed for cooking:

Cooking bags with nozzles 11-12 mm

Caramel thermometer and accurate scales

Medium sieve and several baking trays

Fine zest grater for making fruit jelly

Pastry brush, serrated knife (for chocolate in thick bars) and a regular knife

Shallow ceramic baking dish, cling film

Questions:

What to do with overdried or dry pasta?

Sprinkle some water on them.

What should I do if the ganache is too hard on cooling?

Place in a saucepan of simmering water or melt in the microwave

What you need to know when making ganache, jelly or pasta cream?

Cover the container where the cream or jelly cools with cling film. Jelly should not be made higher than 4 mm, otherwise the pieces will be too high. Put the jelly in freezer for an hour, take out, cut into cubes, and send back to the freezer until the pasta is ready to be stuffed. The jelly will thaw already into pasta when they are kept for 24 hours in the refrigerator and this will give the necessary moisture.

Why is titanium oxide added to some pasta?

To make them white. Dough for pasta without additives of beige color. Titanium oxide powder is odorless and tasteless, so it does not affect the taste of pasta in any way

I tried 4 types of pasta, which Erme calls "classic" in his book. He makes all his pasta with Italian meringue and the recipe always has more toppings, even if you follow Erme's advice about "as many toppings as possible." In addition, I did not use dyes in cooking, for several reasons - firstly, they are not sold where I live. But for those who want to cook pasta with a more saturated color, in the recipe I indicate their quantity and the time of addition.

Macarons with dark chocolate

For more rich taste you need to take chocolate with the highest percentage of cocoa beans. To do this, you can find 100% cocoa bean paste in professional stores, or 99% chocolate. It is produced in mass quantities by Lindt, and in Moscow I saw such chocolate from the Vernost Kachestvo company.

Ingredients

Preparation time: about an hour

Cooking time: 25 minutes

For macarons:

120 g cocoa bean paste or chocolate

300 g ground almonds

300 g powdered sugar

110 g "aged" proteins

4.5 red dye (carmine or cochineal)

110 g "aged" proteins

For the dark chocolate ganache:

400 g 35% cream

360 g chocolate couverture (Erme uses Valrhona Guana) - dark chocolate can be substituted

40 g cocoa bean paste or 99% chocolate

140 g butter room temperature (Ermé uses sweet cream butter from the Charente region)

To sprinkle:

Cocoa powder (a couple of tablespoons)

Sift together powdered sugar and ground almonds - almond flour (how to prepare almond flour, I will write soon). Chop the paste or chocolate and melt it in a water bath at 50 degrees Celsius, in a fireproof bowl over lightly simmering water. Add the coloring to half a serving of protein (110 grams) and add to the mixture of powdered sugar and almond flour, but do not mix.

Add whipped egg whites to the mixture of unwhipped egg whites, almond flour and powdered sugar. Mix with a spatula in a folding motion, then add the melted chocolate and mix more (see note).

Add the dough to a piping bag fitted with a nozzle (Erme uses 10-12mm nozzles)

Line pasta with a diameter of 3.5 cm on baking paper, leaving 2 cm between them. Using a sieve, sprinkle the seeded macarons with cocoa.

Leave for 30 minutes to allow the pasta to dry slightly on the surface.

Chocolate ganache:

Cut the butter into pieces. Chop the chocolate using a knife. Heat cream until boiling. Add hot cream to chocolate in three passes (one third of the amount of cream, mixing thoroughly with a whisk each time, if the cream starts to delaminate - this does not matter, you just need to continue mixing). When the mixture reaches 50 degrees, add oil and mix. Pour the ganache into a low-sided bowl and refrigerate until the ganache thickens for a few hours.

Transfer the ganache to a pastry bag, squeeze the macarons onto one rug and close the other.

Macarons Pietra (with hazelnuts)

Ingredients(makes 72 macarons or 144 halves)

Preparation time: about an hour

Cooking time: 35 minutes

Preparation time for baking: 30 minutes

Time in refrigerator: 24 hours

For macarons:

150 g ground almonds

150 g ground hazelnuts

300 g powdered sugar

110 g "aged" proteins

300 g finely crystalline sugar

75 g of mineral (still) water

110 g "aged" proteins

For pralines:

250 g whole hazelnuts in shell

Half a vanilla pod

250 g butter at room temperature

100 g "aged" proteins

160 g finely crystalline sugar

40 g of mineral (still) water

For sprinkling:

60 g whole hazelnuts

Prepare caramelized hazelnuts. To do this, preheat the oven to 170 degrees.

Spread 250 g + 60 g hazelnuts on a baking sheet and dry for 15 minutes. Pour the nuts into a colander and stir the nuts so that the dry skin separates from the kernel. Put 60 g of nuts in a bag and use a rolling pin to crush them into small pieces. Return the remaining portion of the nuts to a baking sheet and leave in the switched off oven.

Bring 40 g of water to a boil with 150 g of sugar, and also with a vanilla pod cut in half, remove the seeds from it with the sharp tip of a knife, add them to the sugar. When syrup reaches 121 degrees, add warm nuts. Remove from heat and stir until sugar turns white and crystallizes, then return to heat. The crystals will begin to melt again, while acquiring a deep caramel color. Spread the nuts on baking paper, remove the vanilla bean and leave to cool completely. Then break into small pieces, pour into a coffee grinder and grind to a powder state.

Macarons: Sift together powdered sugar, ground hazelnuts and almond flour. Add 110 g of "aged" proteins without stirring.

Bring water and sugar without stirring to a boil and heat to 115 degrees, start beating the second portion of the protein, when the syrup reaches 118 degrees, add to the proteins in a thin stream, without stopping beating. Beat at high speed for a few more minutes, and then leave to cool to 50 degrees.

Add whipped egg whites to the mixture of unwhipped egg whites, almond flour and powdered sugar. Mix with a spatula in a folding motion.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees (see note).

Bake for 12 minutes, quickly opening and closing the oven door twice during baking.

Remove the pasta pan from the oven and remove the baking paper from the hot pan. When they have cooled slightly, remove from paper and leave to cool further upside down.

For the praline filling:

Beat egg whites to soft peaks, at the same time heat 160 g sugar and 40 g water to 121 degrees. Pour into egg whites in a thin stream, whisking until no longer hot.

Beat softened butter until creamy consistency, add ground praline. Fold in egg whites with a spatula.

Fill a pastry bag with cream. Fill macarons.

Remove to refrigerator closed container 24 hours, 2 hours before serving, remove from the refrigerator.

Macarons with blackcurrant

I couldn't find currants, so I used raspberries combined with blueberries, which gave a charming color to the filling.

Ingredients(makes 72 macarons or 144 halves)

Preparation time: 10 minutes a day before preparation, an hour on the day of preparation

Preparation time: a few minutes the day before preparation, 20 minutes on the day of preparation

Preparation time for baking: 30 minutes

Refrigerator time: 4 hours + 24 hours

For macarons:

300 g ground almonds

300 g powdered sugar

110 g "aged" proteins

15 g titanium dioxide diluted in 10 g warm water

3 drops of blue dye

10 g red dye (carmine)

300 g finely crystalline sugar

75 g of mineral (still) water

110 g "aged" proteins

For the blackcurrant ganache:

400 g white chocolate

400 g fresh or frozen black currants

130 g red currants (or raspberries)

For filling:

200 g fresh or frozen currants

200 g water 100 g sugar

The day before cooking the pasta, make the ganache and stuffing. If frozen currants are used, pour 400 g into a colander and defrost.

Still the day before cooking the pasta, bring 200 g of water and sugar to a boil. Add 200 g of thawed currants to the syrup. Bring back to a boil and leave in the syrup until the next day.

The next day, for pasta, sift the ground almonds and powdered sugar together. Dissolve titanium dioxide in water and add to dyes (here it is used to achieve a lighter color, as an option you can take less dye, they do not use it at all). Mix the coloring with unbeaten protein, and add to the almond flour and powdered sugar, do not mix.

Add the dough to a pastry bag fitted with a nozzle. Line pasta with a diameter of 3.5 cm on baking paper, leaving 2 cm between them.

Sprinkle the pasta with hazelnuts and leave for 30 minutes to allow the pasta to dry slightly on the surface (see note).

Preheat oven to 180 degrees (see note).

Bake for 12 minutes, quickly opening and closing the oven door twice during baking.

Remove the pasta pan from the oven and remove the baking paper from the hot pan. When they have cooled slightly, remove from paper and leave to cool further upside down.

For currant ganache: Grind 400 g of fresh or defrosted berries in a puree with a blender, rub them through a medium sieve, bring the resulting liquid to a boil. White chocolate melt in a water bath. Stir in hot currant juice, a third each time. Transfer the ganache to a shallow container (so that the ganache cools faster), cover with cling film and put in the refrigerator.

Dry the currants placed in the syrup with a paper towel an hour before filling the pasta.

Add ganache to a pastry bag, squeeze pasta into halves, place 2-3 currants in it and close with the second half.

Lemon Macarons

Ingredients(makes 72 macarons or 144 halves)

Preparation time: 15 minutes a day before preparation, an hour on the day of preparation

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Preparation time for baking: 30 minutes

Time in refrigerator: 2 hours + 24 hours

For macarons:

300 g ground almonds

300 g powdered sugar

110 g "aged" proteins

1/2 g gold dye (half a coffee spoon)

3 drops of blue dye

10 g yellow dye

300 g finely crystalline sugar

75 g of mineral (still) water

110 g "aged" proteins

For lemon cream:

225 g eggs (only yolks can be used)

240 g sugar

8 g finely grated lemon zest (you need about one and a half large lemons, as long as they are not pre-cooked)

160 gr lemon juice

350 g sweet cream butter, room temperature

100 g ground almonds

The day before cooking the pasta, prepare the lemon curd. Rinse, dry with a towel and peel the lemons. Rub the zest with sugar with your fingers until smooth.

Mix the eggs in a heatproof bowl lemon juice and zest with sugar. Put the dishes in a water bath (pot with slightly boiling water). Beat the mixture with a whisk until the mixture thickens slightly and reaches a temperature of 83-84 degrees. Cool to 60 degrees and add oil in portions. Blend with a whisk until creamy, then blend with a hand blender for 10 minutes.

Transfer the cream to a bowl with low sides, cover with cling film (so that the film touches the surface of the cream) and put in the refrigerator until the next day.

The next day, for pasta, sift the ground almonds and powdered sugar together. Add 110 grams of protein, do not mix.

Add the beaten egg whites to the mixture of unbeaten egg whites, almond flour and powdered sugar. Mix with a spatula in a folding motion.

Add the dough to a pastry bag fitted with a nozzle. Line pasta with a diameter of 3.5 cm on baking paper, leaving 2 cm between them.

Leave for 30 minutes to allow the pasta to dry slightly on the surface (see note).

Preheat oven to 180 degrees (see note).

Bake for 12 minutes, quickly opening and closing the oven door twice during the baking process (this is so that if the oven is slightly more humid, opening the oven door for just a second will help remove steam, see step 33 in steps to perfect pasta).

Remove the pasta pan from the oven and remove the baking paper from the hot pan. When they have cooled slightly, remove from paper and leave to cool further upside down.

Mix cream with ground almonds, transfer to a pastry bag.

Fill the pasta halves with cream and close with the second half.

Place in refrigerator for 24 hours, remove from refrigerator 2 hours before serving.

Notes:

pasta dough, especially with Italian meringue, don't be afraid to stir vigorously. The consistency of the dough should be similar to thick pie dough.

Macarons with hazelnuts much more time to form a dry film on the surface. I dried them for about an hour, despite this, they still cracked a little when baking.

But chocolate macaroons dry quickly, rise well and form a "skirt".

Time preparation for baking - the fact that pasta on the surface before baking is very different. Until even if the pasta does not dry out before baking for an hour or a half, they should not be put in the oven - they will crack.

titanium oxide"whitens" pasta, which, when baked, takes on the color of baked milk or creme brulee, depending on the temperature of the oven.

By the way, about temperature- Erme has 180 degrees, this temperature is too high for my pasta oven. I bake the pasta for 12 minutes at 160 degrees with convection, otherwise the pasta starts to brown a lot before it's done.

powdered sugar it is better to buy without additives of anti-caking components and starch, or do it yourself, using a sugar coffee grinder.

These four recipes are classic pasta from Pierre Herme's book and are the simplest in terms of ingredients. I'm also going to try the all chocolate (it uses bits of bittersweet chocolate with salt), the all vanilla (with three kinds of vanilla), and the salted caramel and apple macarons called Frivolite. It must be said that basic recipe macarons are the same, only the filling (and dyes!).

One of the most mysterious questions - why aging protein - how does it affect pasta and the most practical - how to cook almond flour - I will try to talk about this next time.