This time I felt like biting into something that is sweet, light and also crunchy. Though I didn’t know what it was. I started to browse recipes, but those keywords ’crispy light dessert’ gave me this search result which i found slightly revolting. Then I remember there actually is a solution to my craving – French cuisine! Everything they do has these characteristics. I noticed that French desserts have to have following characteristics:
- sophisticated bold flavor
- light texture
- crispy element
- stunning presentation
- small portion size
And this is what I aim to be consistent with, when creating my own desserts. Even with a Japanese flavors and south american baking techniques. This is what drives our taste buds and echoes in our minds: ’This was delicious, give me some more!’
I used a simplified method of substituting the puff pastry for phyllo dough. It emphasized even more the lightness and the crunchiness in the dessert.
Ingredients:
Pastry
- cca 15 sheets of phyllo
- 50 g Butter
- powder sugar
Filling
- 3 medium eggs
- 50gr cornflour
- 10cl Carte Noire Instinct/or other instant coffee
- 1 tbsp coffee liqor
- 200g caster sugar
- 200g whipping cream
Garnish
- Powder sugar
For the pastry, put a sheet of phyllo dough on a baking tray, brush it with melted butter and sprinkle powder sugar over it. Press a next sheet on top of it and repeat the process until you use 5 phyllo sheets (the top layer is also buttered and sugared).
Insert the pastry into a preheated oven to 180C and bake until golden brown ca 15 minutes. Repeat the process 2 more times, again with 5 phyllo sheets. What happens is that your pastry achieves beautiful caramelization with a hint of buttery nuttiness.
For the Créme lègére filling, bring the milk to a boil. In a mixing bowl using a whisk beat the sugar and the eggs together till pale and fluffy, add corn flour, the coffee and liquor to the mixture.
Pour half of the hot milk over the egg mixture, beat well and pour the mixture back into the saucepan. Take the milk back to boil constantly stirring. When the cream thickens, pour the créme into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave to cool. Whip your heavy cream until stiff and fold into your egg mixture that is at room temperature.
Layer cooled phyllo and cooled créme lègére and decorate the dessert with powered sugar.
