On this 25th December (so late sorry!!), I want to wish you a very merry Christmas! I hope that you found a lot of good things under your Christmas tree :) Maybe even some “kitchen” gifts that you could try soon!! It’s all I can wish to you :)
My present for you will be a recipe of a “Chinese”! A gift for eyes and especially for taste buds :) I was extremely afraid when I started to prepare it but I finally became impressed.
So, I should start by explaining you a bit everything! One month ago, I subscribed to my first interblog “round” proposed by “Un tour en cuisine”. The principle is simple: a round is made of several bloggers who have to choose a recipe on a specific blog and then try this recipe. In my case, it’s Laurence from “SucréSablé” who has to pick a recipe from some of mine’s (so eager to know her choice!) and I had to choose a good one from Caro’s recipes of “La pâtisseriede Caro”. My choice has been quickly done because I stumbled upon her “choco-coco Chinese” recipe. This Viennese pastry was completely unknown to me (even when it came the taste) and I wanted to try it for a while (because I found it cute ^^) but I was always scared to launch into it.
While I was reading Caro’s recipe, I though “so cool, it’s actually like a huge pépito, easy!” and well not at all! I had issues without food processor ^^ but the result was worth it :)
I have chosen to make the classic “Chinese” for this try, so without coconut. And I have also adjusted the quantities in my way :p
Follow me for the recipe:
For the brioche dough
- 250g flour
- 20g sugar (30g for Caro)
- 5g salt
- 10g yeast
- 40g butter (at room temperature for me)
- 1 egg
- 125g milk
- 10g vanilla sugar (1tbs of vanilla extract for Caro but I didn’t have some)
For the fresh custard
- 350g milk (400g for Caro)
- 50g sugar (70g for Caro)
- 30g maïzena
- 1 egg
- 10g vanilla sugar (1 vanilla bean for Caro but I didn’t have some)
For the garnish
- 130g dark chocolate (one packet of chocolate chips for Caro)
For the glaze
- Milk + sugar (yolk + milk for Caro, make your choice!)
We start with the fresh custard, to let it time to cool down:
Into a pan, boil the milk mixed with 25g of sugar (the half of the total quantity) and with the vanilla sugar (10g).
Into a bowl, mix the 25g sugar left with maïzena. Add the egg and mix well.
When the milk starts to boil, add it to the egg/sugar/maïzena mixture and mix vigorously.
Pour the mixture back into the pan and heat it on a low heat until getting the thickness you want (it was really quick in my case).
Let the fresh custard cool down and mix it frequently. You can even keep it in your fridge if it’s not too warm!
Then we prepare the brioche!
I don’t have any food processor to make my dough so I drew my inspiration from the pépito recipe for the steps.
Start by mixing the yeast with the slightly warm milk.
Into a salad bowl, mix the flour with the salt, make a hole in the center and pour the milk in it. Mix everything. Add the egg and mix again.
Then put the butter in chunks onto the dough and stir it in by kneading everything.
Caro says to mix with the food processors until the dough comes off the edges. Brave, I thought that my arm could stand in for the food processor ^^ but after kneading for 25 minutes with my hand (and with a spoon, I didn’t know how to get out of it :p), my dough didn’t want to come off… not cool! Disheartened, I told myself that some rest should be good for the dough (and for me too ^^, at least for my arm :D). So I let it rest for 30 minutes, cover by a dishcloth and ‘tadaa’ (maybe Christmas magic in advance? ;), it was way better afterwards!
Then, when your dough is ready, it’s a piece of cake!
Roll it out to form a big rectangle and spread the fresh custard out on it. Cut the chocolate in chunks and spread them on the custard.
Then roll the rectangle on the length to get a long roll. Cut it into 7 or 8 equal portions.
Grease a springform cake tin with butter (otherwise a round baking tin) and put the sections of the roll on it.
Let swallow 2H at warm temperature (close to the heater for me).
Brush the “Chinese” with some milk strongly sugared just before baking it.
COOKING
So for the cooking, Caro says to bake it at 150°C until getting the “Chinese” well browned.
After 30 minutes, mine was still very pale and not really cooked, I increased the temperature of the oven to 180°C, for extra 20 minutes and here is the result :)
TIPS AND TRICKS
- So for sure you have noticed that I had some issues with the dough… if you’re like me and you don’t have a food processor, 15 minutes of kneading and then 30 minutes of resting should be perfect :)
- To roll out the dough, put it between 2 parchment papers and roll it with a rolling pin. At least, we can roll this dough out easily :)
- To cut the roll of dough, avoid using a saw knife, it’s not useful ^^
SERVING SUGGESTIONS
The “Chinese” (I suggest you to read the story of the name (in French) if I didn’t tire you too much ^^) can be eaten whenever you want! Breakfast, dessert, snack, if you feel peckish in the middle of the night… it’s delicious on any occasion :D Although it’s quite big, it didn’t last long with us! A sweet mix between brioche and pépito, to be made again very soon!!
If you are also tempted by the “Chinese”, I would be curious to see your version so don’t hesitate to send me pictures of it :)
Rose.
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