Gingerbread Apple Caramel Trifles
A must try! The perfect Autumnal dessert or an alternative to Thanksgiving – delicious with salted caramel macarons from ‘Teatime in Paris’.
Christmas Macaron Tree & New Email Alert Service!
At last! Many of you have been asking me to bring back the email alerts since I took it down due to spam problems. So here’s my Christmas present to you, thanks to Cédric Bonnard my web guru, who helped me get a brand new one up and running! Now you need never miss a blog post – just click the pink email notification button in that right hand corner —>
or sign up here to receive updates to le blog or recipes – and you can choose whether to receive them daily or weekly!
It has all been a bit crazy the last few days. I was so hoping to make a second bûche de Noël as, by the time I’d finished it, it was so dark and I gave up on photos and just enjoyed it with the family! Now that we’re leaving for Corsica to spend time with Antoine’s family, there’s no time left. I shall be better organised for you next year, promise.
When I realised I had some egg whites left, I piped out a batch of 3 different sizes of pistachio macarons (a bit quickly, I have to say) then simply sandwiched them with decadent layers of pistachio pastry cream (using egg yolks so now I have more egg whites I can freeze before I go!).
I made a big one for the photos here but simply 3 macaron layers are sufficient. If you want to be more organised, then ideally have the macaron shells prepared in advance (even stored in the freezer) and prepare the trees at the last minute. Decorate with berries of your choice.
All details about making macarons are in my first book, Mad About Macarons – but don’t forget that there’s a whole chapter on making macarons in my new book, Teatime in Paris, plus more recipes for éclairs, Réligieuses, Saint-Honorés, tarts, millefeuilles, financiers etc.
Don’t forget to dust on some food glitter – something which has stuck to my cell phone, as I quickly took photos of it for Instagram… It’s catching!
Have a very Merry Christmas and good luck with all your delicious preparations. Before I leave, I’ll post my new concoction – a great festive dessert to serve with your salted caramel macarons – Apple Gingerbread and Caramel Trifles, coming up next…
New Email Alert Service – Daily or Weekly
Don’t forget to sign up to the new e-mail alert service so that you don’t miss a post. You can even choose whether to receive it as it comes (daily) or weekly! How cool is that?
Mincemeat Pinwheels
A quick and handy vegetarian recipe that’s perfect to make in advance for your festive end-of-year parties
Jean-Paul Hévin: New French Touch Chocolate Collection 2016-2017
Thank Hévin for chocolate! Jean-Paul Hévin demonstrates stylish savoir-faire with his new French Touch chocolate collection for this holiday season 2016-2017.
New French Touch Chocolate Collection
Seven main ingredients are used by Hévin to give us that festive French Touch this year: fashion, joie de vivre, style, creativity, humour, terroir, and tradition – all illustrated in the following seven pure chocolate creations for Christmas and New Year. With FOUR new bûches in the collection, Hévin designs his chocolate yule log pastries around the quality of his chocolate first.
Bûche Fashion
Hévin has always had an fashionable element of la mode in his chocolate and this Bûche Fashion firmly puts it in the bag, as the saying goes (same in French: l’affaire est dans le sac). Not quite a “trunk”, this is a rather compact handbag for any chocoholic who appreciates a pure intense Venezuelan chocolate sensation. Could our hands be too hot to handle this chocolate handbag? You could also show you’re “well heeled” with his famous chocolate stiletto sculptures!
Bûche Cancan
A festive Bûche Cancan represents the French Joie de vivre party spirit. Like the Cancan dancers, the Tonka base has an exciting crunch, topped with frilly layers of chocolate and almond sponge, with a gutsy Peruvian Grand Cru chocolate mousse. A dark cherry jelly adds a suggestive lingering aftertaste.
Bûche Grand Style
Be transported to the regal gardens of Versailles with the Bûche Grand Style, especially designed to be easily transportable abroad for any stylish party, even if it’s next day to the USA. Based around a chocolate mousse (Grand Cru from the Equator), its subtle aftertaste brings out the pistachio in the chocolate gianduja base.
Bûche Rève or Dream
Creativity is given to Jean-Paul Hévin’s personal favourite Bûche Rêve – with dreams of a child being able to reach for the moon at Christmas. It’s the most complex: an orange crème brûlée is subtle but just enough to distinguish some balancing acidity and I loved the texture with the crunchy almond chocolate base. Although candied ginger is in there, it’s just a suggestive hint, all billowing around a Brazilian Grand Cru chocolate mousse.
Jean-Paul Hévin, Meilleur Ouvrier de France (MOF). Spot the orange crème brûlée?
Table Centre, Lumière
His French Touch continues with an ingredient of humour, demonstrated by a table centre-piece Lumière, as a chocolate candle – of course, not to be lit!
New Bordeaux chocolates put terroir (soil, climate etc. that distinguishes chocolate like wine) in the limelight with a Grand Cru from the Equator.
The same chocolate is highlighted in a new festive macaron range, Cocorico. Hévin pays homage to the traditional French sporting cockerel mascot, Cocorico (Cock-a-doodle-do!), symbolising the French pride of their country and culture.
This image of Jean-Paul Hévin to present the new French Touch chocolate collection sums up his quirky humour. I wonder what Renoir would have preferred for a festive dessert at this rather famous lively lunch on the Seine or Déjeuner des Canotiers in Chatou?
The French Touch festive collection is available as of 6 December.
Which one would you choose?
Jean-Paul Hévin
Avenue de la Motte Piquet
75007 Paris
Update! For more yule logs new this season in Paris, read my article at Paris Perfect!
Quick No-Suet Mincemeat – A Perfect Macaron Filling
A quick and deliciously easy mincemeat recipe, ideal for Vegetarians since it’s without suet – and great for filling macarons!