Paris Kiss
The last big surprise...
One overcast spring day in Paris, I was crossing the street near the Galleries Lafayette. I was on a work trip, my first time there. No doubt I was anxiety ridden, distracted about one thing or another not going to plan. One of my guiding philosophies is “How hard can it be?”- which often leads me into unexpectedly deep waters. Most of the time I pull off the magic trick but not without some big uncomfortable lessons. Everything felt like my responsibility, whether or not it was.
A beautiful, elegant, well-dressed stranger, crossed from the opposite side of the street. He confidently stepped in front of me, took me by my arms, stopping me in my tracks. He said something in French about a beautiful flower, smiled and kissed me. On the lips. With a smile and without another word in any language, he walked on. I stood stalled along with time, in the middle of the street. What the hell was that?
It was a lesson. Any moment could be the line between before and after. This beautiful, random moment in this iconic city shook me up, surprised me and turned me around. It was about joy, possibility and connection. It was a moment out of time that I needed, but never would have known it. Whatever worry I was most certainly carrying was gone, this new story taking its place permanently. I don’t remember anything else about that day, but I will never forget how I felt, like I had the power to stop and reset time.
Inspired by this indelible moment, my French Kiss.
Financiers are tender cakes, often small, two bite size. Two things set them apart; they always include brown butter, and they always include nut flour, two of my favorite things. Any nut can be processed fine enough to use instead of the almond. Toasting the nuts, cooling them, then adding to the food processor with the powdered sugar from the recipe will help make a nut flour, and give some protection from it turning into nut butter. Process in pulses until the nuts are fine enough to resemble flour. I used almond flour here because I wanted the champagne and passion fruit flavors to shine. They are meant to be smallish, thin cakes. The batter can be baked in a sheet also, or in any other small mold available. Mini cupcake pans work very well.
Like caramel, brown butter encourages you to live on the edge. First the butter melts, and it boils off the water. After the water has evaporated, the solids in the butter separate out, fall to the bottom and brown, resulting in this one of a kind flavor, nutty, fatty, and a little sweet. For me, I want it to be as dark as possible without burning. Its going into another recipe with many other ingredients and I want this magic flavor to stand out. Its not worth the trouble otherwise.
Once the boiling stops, its time to pay close attention. Past the point of blonde, I want the bits to be the color of dark chocolate. From that point on, constant stirring helps too. Scraping those bits from the bottom prevents them from staying in one place and burning. Carry over cooking is a factor, so when I think its close, I’ll move it off the heat for a few moments and see if it continues to brown. I may repeat this process a few times, heating and moving, heating and moving, to get it as far as I can before quickly cooling it. Leaving the butter golden is missing out.
Adding the vanilla bean pod during the cooking lets you get more life from used pods. The heat activates it, releasing more of the flavor contained within. They are expensive. I want the most I can possibly get from them. If not using a bean, then don’t add the vanilla yet. Cooking vanilla extract or paste too long, too high, and their delicate flavors are burnt off. This works only with the beans.
I like to cool the brown butter as quickly as possible, to avoid over cooking it. I put it in a cold bowl, and stir it over an ice bath until the temperature has come down to body temp. I know its body temp, because when I touch it, it feels neutral in temperature, matching my body temperature. I don’t want it to solidify, just neutralize the heat so it can be used in the recipe in liquid form. If the butter is too hot, it will hurt the final result of the recipe.
Aside from that technique, this recipe is incredibly easy. The batter can stay chilled in the refrigerator for several days before baking.
These are great to make when you have left over champagne or prosecco. Does anyone ever have leftover champagne? Its flavoring the cream and the glaze.
I made a quick icing glaze from confectioners sugar and just a little bit of champagne. Ignore the recipe. Add it very little by very little and stir with a fork. A thick, but pourable consistency is the goal. More confectioners sugar can be added to thicken it if necessary. The weather can effect the sugar, so this one I prefer to do by sight, by feel. It won’t be the same every time.
They are often served without any adornment, but if you know me, you know I can’t resist gilding. I wanted to flavor the stabilized whipped cream with passion fruit and champagne. Both are too liquid not to ruin the cream, so I made them into a fluid gel that I folded into the lightly sweetened whipped cream.
I topped these with sesame seeds coated in yuzu, and to pull in the “beautiful flower”, a scattering of edible dried peony petals though a dusting of powdered sugar may be all that is required.
Financier
112 grams unsalted butter
77 grams almond flour
50 grams cake flour
135 grams confectioners sugar
2 grams kosher salt
used vanilla bean pod or 1 tsp vanilla extract
120 grams egg whites
Preheat oven to 350˚.
Brown the butter. Place it in a saucepan with the vanilla bean pod if using. Melt it and continue cooking until it stops foaming and bubbling, and the solids have turned deep brown. Pour it off into a cool bowl, and cool at room temperature, or over an ice bath for efficiency.
Sift together the almond flour, cake flour, confectioners sugar and salt. Stir in the egg whites, beating by hand for about 4-5 minutes, or 2 minutes with a paddle in a stand mixer. Add in the room temperature brown butter. Place batter in a piping bag if using.
If using silicone molds, its not necessary to grease the baking pans. If using metal, make sure to spray with pan release spray or brush with softened butter to aid in clean removal. Pipe batter into prepared pans, 3/4 of the height up.
Bake at 350 until lightly browned and set. It will bounce back when you touch the top. The timing will depend on how large the molds are and what they are made of. For small cakes, start checking at 12 minutes. Silicone molds will need longer than aluminum pans.
Cool completely
Prosecco Glaze
100 grams confectioners sugar
1-2 tablespoons prosecco
Add the liquid into the confectioners sugar in very small amounts, stirring with a fork until smooth. You may not need all the liquid. The goal is a thickened but pourable icing.
Fluid Gel
155 grams passion fruit puree
50 grams prosecco
2 grams agar agar
25 grams granulated sugar
1 vanilla bean scraped
Combine the puree and champagne, and vanilla bean seeds in a medium saucepan.
Mix the agar with the sugar and add to the pot. Cook stirring often until boiling. Let the mix boil for approximately 3 minutes before pouring it off into a cool container and letting it sit to firm up at room temperature.
Once set, aerate this mixture in a blender.
Passion Fruit Prosecco Whipped Cream
236 ml heavy cream
60 grams mascarpone
25 grams confectioners sugar
Whip the cream along with the mascarpone until stiff. Gently stir in desired amount of the prepared passion fruit and prosecco fluid gel. Add to taste.
Assembly
Dip the tops of each financier in the prosecco glaze and let it sit to firm up a little. It will become a little dull when ready.
Place the Passion fruit whipped cream in a pipping bag and pipe rosettes or zigzags on each mini cake.
Garnish as desired.