Hazelnut, Milk Chocolate & Irish Cream Paris Brest
Nothing screams Christmas like hazelnut praline and Irish cream. These Paris Brest are such a treat and would make an amazing festive dessert to serve up to guests. They’re filled with homemade hazelnut praline and a milk chocolate and Irish cream whipped ganache. They’re so light and delicious, it'll be hard not to eat a whole one to yourself!
I garnished mine with more hazelnut praline, toasted hazelnut halves, gold leaf and little tempered chocolate bows that I made with a jewel-like dried cranberry in the middle. I love the way they look like little festive wreaths.
Ingredients - makes four large Paris Brest (each serves two)
Hazelnut Praline:
150g blanched hazelnuts, plus extra for garnish
75g caster sugar
Pinch of salt
Irish Cream & Milk Chocolate Whipped Ganache:
400ml double cream
70g double cream, cold
140g milk chocolate
100g Irish cream
50g hazelnut praline, from above recipe
140g mascarpone
Choux Pastry:
90g whole milk
90g water
35g unsalted butter
35g rapeseed oil
1/4 tsp salt
110g strong flour
150g eggs
A handful of chopped blanched hazelnuts & flaked almonds
To finish:
icing sugar
gold leaf
tempered chocolate bows (or other chocolate decorations)
toasted hazelnut halves
Method:
Day One:
Start by making your hazelnut praline. Roast the hazelnuts on a baking tray at 170°C for 10-15 minutes, rotating the tray halfway through. Remove from the oven when they are golden and smell nutty. Cut a nut in half to check that they are roasted the whole way through. Leave to cool while you make the caramel.
Place a silicone mat or baking paper onto a baking tray. Place the sugar into a dry saucepan over low heat. As the sugar begins to melt and caramelise, gently nudge the sugar around until all of it has melted. Try not to stir the sugar or it will crystalise and go lumpy. Once all the sugar has melted and you have a light golden caramel, pour the caramel onto your prepared tray. Be careful as the caramel will be very hot. Leave to cool completely for 20 minutes.
Place the toasted hazelnuts into a food processor. Break up the set caramel and add this in along with the salt. Blend the nuts on high until you have a liquid praline. It will first go into a thick paste. Just keep blending and eventually the oils from the hazelnuts will release creating a lovely thin praline. Place the praline into a container and refrigerate until needed.
Next, we can make the Irish cream & milk chocolate whipped ganache. Place the 400ml of double cream, Irish cream and hazelnut praline into a saucepan over low heat. Heat until simmering, stirring occasionally. While the cream warms up, break the chocolate into a mixing bowl or large jug and partially melt it in the microwave. Once the cream is simmering, pour it over the chocolate and leave it to sit for 2 minutes. Mix everything together, making sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl/jug well. Using a hand blender, or whisk if you don’t have one, blend the cream together and add in the remaining 70g of cold double cream. Once smooth, place clingfilm on the surface of the cream and refrigerate overnight.
Day Two:
Start with making your choux pastry. Preheat your oven to 200°C. Line a baking tray with a silicone mat or a sheet of baking paper.
Bring the milk, water, butter, oil and salt to a boil in a pan over medium heat. Once boiling add in the flour and quickly mix it together, still on the stove, until you have a dough. Continue to cook the choux pastry for a further two minutes or so, until it forms a smooth paste and no longer sticks to the pan. Take the pan off the heat and tip the pastry into a bowl. Leave the pastry to cool for 5 minutes, beating occasionally, before beating with a spoon whilst gradually adding in your eggs.
The amount of egg you will need will depend on how much you have cooked out your choux pastry. You may not need all of it or you may need a little more. You want to add enough so that it becomes glossy and forms a ‘V’ shape when you let it drop off of the spoon. Be careful, you can always add more egg but you can’t take it out.
Place the choux pastry into a piping bag fitted with a no.12 star nozzle. Dip a 9cm round cutter in flour and tap it onto your prepared baking tray to give yourself a guide size and shape. Do this four times, spaced well apart from each other as the choux will grow a lot during baking. Pipe one ring on each guide before piping another on top. Sprinkle each Paris Brest liberally with chopped hazelnuts and flaked almonds. Place the choux into the preheated oven and lower the temperature to 175°C. Bake for approx. 25 minutes, rotating the tray in the last 5 minutes to ensure even baking. Don’t open the oven before this though, as your choux may fall. The Paris Brest should be golden and crisp on top. Leave to cool completely.
When you’re ready to assemble, slice each Paris Brest in half horizontally so you have two rings. Dust the top ring with icing sugar. Place the hazelnut praline into a piping bag and cut a small hole. Pipe some into the bottom of each of the Paris Brest. Take any of the nuts that fell off of the choux during baking and sprinkle these inside. Whip the milk chocolate whipped ganache with the mascarpone until you reach medium-stiff peaks. Don’t whip it too much, you want it just holding its shape. Spoon the cream into a piping bag fitted with a ribbon nozzle.
Fill the bottom choux ring with the whipped ganache and flatten off with a small palette knife. Pipe two rows of the whipped ganache around the outside edge in a ribbon style. Pipe more cream on the inside of the ring if needed to fill. Place the top choux ring on top. Pipe a thin ring of hazelnut praline on top before garnishing it with hazelnut halves, gold leaf and chocolate decorations. Place into the fridge for 1 hour to firm up before serving.
These are best eaten the day they’re made but can be kept in the fridge for up to 3 days.