Sunday, April 20, 2014

Baking Bouchon - Recipe 94: Hazelnut Streusel Spiced Caramel Chiboust

My hiatus lasted a little longer than I expected.  Stuff happened, it happens.

For those of you who remember my last post know that I spent a week in Kansas at "wife school" which was actually pretty good.  I didn't learn anything about being a wife in the sense of how to cook or clean or iron or curl my hair in the perfect 50's hairstyle but that wasn't exactly the point.  I did learn a lot about how to support Captain America in the new role he'll be taking when we get to Korea (which is happening in 3 days people - I don't know how that snuck up on me) and how to support all the families of the people working with CA.

I also learned a lot about myself.  For example...
  • I took a personality test that told me I'm an extrovert (obviously, considering I can't find enough live people to talk to so I talk to all of you), I'm sensing (given that I often miss the big picture by obsessing with details, I'd say that's right), I'm feeling (my brother in laws don't call me a face faucet for no reason) and I'm judging (which has nothing to do with being judgmental and everything to do with the lists I make for everything.  Except that I'm totally judging you).  This combination of traits makes me a caregiver.  I'm dependable and warm but I'm also very sensitive and need structure in my life so that I don't completely freak out.  Maybe that's why CA makes fun of me all the time for needing a plan.
  • I took another test that told me my conflict resolution style which I could have told you before I took the test is avoidance.  I hate conflict.  It's fine if you don't agree with me, just don't except me to agree with you either.  Let's talk about something else.
  • The other test I took was my leadership style which it turns out avoids everything that has to do with me taking all control or giving up all control.  I like collaboration.  What do you think?


You may have forgotten this is a food blog, I did for a minute too.  I desperately need to tell you about the final recipes in the Bouchon Bakery Cookbook including this Hazelnut Streusel Spiced Caramel Chiboust which is a terrible title that tells you nothing about what it actually is unless you speak bakery.
This thing is essentially two layers.  The base layer is a Hazelnut Streusel which is a shortbread made with primarily hazelnut flour, but it has cake flour and almond flour mixed in as well.


The next layer is a Spiced Caramel Chiboust.  Chiboust is pastry cream that is lightened with whipped egg whites.  I made this a long time ago so I don't really remember how the heck I made it.  Unfortunately, the movers packed my beloved cookbook so I can't go back and read the recipe to remind me.  What I do know is that it took just about every bowl and pot in my house to make this stuff. 
I believe the pictures above show me making the spiced caramel to incorporate into the pastry cream but I can't be sure.
I'm more confident that these pictures show me finishing the pastry cream and folding in the egg whites to finish off the Spiced Caramel Chiboust which gets frozen into a nice flat circle.


Once the Chiboust is set, it is placed atop the Hazelnut Streusel and garnished with peaches.

After all that work and all the dishes I had to clean I absolutely hated this dessert.  The hazelnut streusel was fine but the chiboust was one of the weirdest things I've ever tasted.  It was like licking the bottom of a Chai latte where all the dredges of the spices are but with the consistency of flan.  I also don't understand how the peaches relate to the other flavors at all.  I hated it.  CA didn't like it either.  All he said was "this is weird."  I did not subject anyone else to this dessert, it got tossed in the trash.

This is the last recipe in the Tart section of the Bouchon Bakery Cookbook and it was not my favorite chapter.  A lot of the recipes were really complicated and time consuming to execute.  My hands down favorite was the Caramel Nut Tart.  Making it was a complete disaster, but once I executed it the result was really incredible.

I'll be back tomorrow with something that you might actually want to make.

Enjoy!
Julie

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