This year too, I really wanted to make little tree-shaped entremets. Last year, I made little pistachio and morello cherry trees in a rather different mould (but a very nice one too). My partner Silikomart sent me a few moulds before the holidays so that I could test a few recipes, and I was lucky enough to receive the Soffice Incanto mould, which I had already spotted last year and was about to buy this year. I was frankly delighted!
I’ve become quite a fan of pecans; it’s fairly recent, to be honest. While I’m not a fan of nuts as such (I don’t like nibbling on them just like that), I’m crazy about praline of all kinds. Hazelnut is a safe bet (my guilty pleasure, I should rather say ^^) but pecan praline now comes just behind. The flavour is very different but totally addictive! And paired with vanilla, it’s just to die for!
For the crunchy base, I took inspiration from my friend Catherine of the blog J’en reste baba. As for the vanilla sponge, I owe it to my new partner in indulgence, Maamar of the blog MD Ré’Kréation.
These little vanilla and pecan Christmas tree entremets were gobbled up in no time. We really loved them! Honestly, that little praline insert is truly amazing.
The recipe really isn’t very complicated. Don’t forget that you can organise yourself over several days to lighten the workload. It would be a shame to miss out on this little treat =)
Ingredients & method
7 components · Full recipe
Pecan praline (about 200 g (7.1 oz) of praline, can be made in advance)
Ingredients
- 150 g (5.3 oz) pecan nuts
- 100 g (3.5 oz) sugar
- 25 g (0.9 oz) water
- 1 pinch fleur de sel
Method
1
Toast the pecan nuts in the oven for about 10–15 min at 150°C / 300°F.
2
In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring the water and sugar to a boil. At 116°C / 241°F, remove from the heat, pour the nuts over the sugar syrup and stir so the sugar coats all the nuts. The mixture will turn whitish – this is normal.
3
Return to medium heat and stir until the sugar melts again and caramelises (this may take a little time). It’s important not to stop stirring to prevent the nut mixture from burning.
4
At the end of cooking, the nuts should be nicely shiny and have taken on a lovely auburn colour. Spread them on baking paper and leave to cool.
5
Once completely cool, break up the nut brittle and put it in a food processor with the fleur de sel.
6
Blend, taking regular breaks (to prevent the paste from overheating), until you reach a praline consistency. The more you blend, the more liquid it will become. You can choose to make an old-fashioned praline with some texture, or a very smooth one.
7
Fill the Soffice Incanto moulds with pecan praline to a height of 2–2.5 cm (1 in) and freeze. Once the praline inserts are frozen, unmould them and store in an airtight container. The mould will be reused for the final assembly.
Vanilla whipped ganache (start the day before)
Ingredients
- 75 g (2.6 oz) heavy cream
- 42 g (1.5 oz) white chocolate
- 1 vanilla bean
- 1.25 g (0 oz) powdered gelatin
- 7.5 g (0.3 oz) water (to rehydrate the gelatin)
- 125 g (4.4 oz) very cold heavy cream
Method
1
Rehydrate the gelatin in the water.
2
Break the white chocolate into pieces in a bowl (you can melt it slightly in a bain-marie or microwave).
3
Heat the 75 g (2.6 oz) of cream with the split and scraped vanilla bean in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Then cover and leave to infuse for 15 minutes.
4
Remove the vanilla bean then heat the cream again.
5
Off the heat, add the rehydrated gelatin and stir.
6
Pour a third of the cream over the white chocolate and mix with a spatula to create an emulsion. Then add a second third, then the final third, to obtain a smooth and homogeneous mixture.
7
Add the 125 g (4.4 oz) of cold cream and stir again. Blend for a few seconds with a hand blender to fully combine.
8
Cover with cling film and refrigerate for several hours (ideally overnight).
Vanilla sponge
Ingredients
- 105 g (3.7 oz) butter
- 130 g (4.6 oz) ground almonds
- 100 g (3.5 oz) light brown sugar (1)
- 20 g (0.7 oz) sugar
- 1 g (0 oz) salt
- 52 g (1.8 oz) flour
- 3 g (0.1 oz) baking powder
- 30 g (1.1 oz) egg whites (1)
- 52 g (1.8 oz) egg yolks
- 30 g (1.1 oz) heavy cream
- 135 g (4.8 oz) egg whites (2)
- 20 g (0.7 oz) light brown sugar (2)
- 1 vanilla bean
Method
1
Preheat the oven to 175°C / 350°F.
2
Melt the butter in a saucepan then cool it by placing it in the fridge.
3
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine all the dry ingredients: ground almonds, light brown sugar (1), sugar, salt, flour and baking powder.
4
Add egg whites (1), egg yolks and heavy cream and mix on low speed.
5
Add the cooled melted butter and the vanilla seeds.
6
In a bowl, whip the egg whites (2) to stiff peaks, adding the light brown sugar (2).
7
Gently fold the meringue into the previous mixture using a spatula.
8
Spread the batter on a lined baking tray to a thickness of 1 cm (0.4 in) and bake for 6 min. Rotate the tray and bake for a further 6 min.
9
Leave to cool on a wire rack, then cut out 3 cm (1.2 in) diameter circles using a cookie cutter. You will have some sponge left over – it’s hard to scale down the quantities. It’s a delicious sponge, feel free to snack on it! It can also be used for another entremet.
Cocoa and pecan streusel (Julien Alvarez recipe)
Ingredients
- 20 g (0.7 oz) butter
- 10 g (0.4 oz) light brown sugar
- 10 g (0.4 oz) dark muscovado sugar or muscovado sugar
- 24 g (0.8 oz) crushed pecan nuts
- 2 g (0.1 oz) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 24 g (0.8 oz) flour
Method
1
Preheat the oven to 140°C / 275°F.
2
Roughly chop the pecan nuts.
3
Put all the dry ingredients (light brown sugar, muscovado sugar, cocoa powder and flour) in a bowl and mix.
4
Add the softened butter and the pecan nuts and rub together with your fingertips, keeping large clumps.
5
Place the large clumps on a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake for about 20 min.
6
Leave to cool before using in the rest of the recipe.
Crunchy base
Ingredients
- 85 g (3 oz) cocoa and pecan streusel (recipe above)
- 70 g (2.5 oz) pecan praline (recipe above)
- 54 g (1.9 oz) hazelnut praline (you can use the pecan praline recipe replacing pecan nuts with hazelnuts)
- 40 g (1.4 oz) milk chocolate
- 1 pinch fleur de sel
Method
1
Break the milk chocolate into pieces in a bowl and melt in a bain-marie or microwave.
2
Add the 2 pralines, then the crumbled streusel, and finish with the fleur de sel.
3
Spread this mixture between 2 sheets of baking paper to a thickness of about 4 mm. Cut out 4 cm (1.6 in) diameter circles with a cookie cutter.
4
Freeze until assembly.
Assembly
Ingredients
- None
Method
1
Whip the vanilla ganache with a mixer – it should not be too firm. Transfer to a piping bag without a tip.
2
Fill the moulds with vanilla whipped ganache halfway. Run the ganache up the sides of the mould with a small spoon for a clean result and to fill all the gaps.
3
Press in a pecan praline insert and push down gently to bring the ganache up.
4
Add a disc of vanilla sponge and press down gently.
5
Pour a little more whipped ganache to within 5 mm of the edge.
6
Place the crunchy base and press it in gently to bring up the ganache. Smooth with a small spatula, cover with cling film and freeze overnight.
Decoration
Ingredients
- None
Method
1
Remove the entremets from the freezer, unmould them and place on a rack.
2
It’s best to protect your work surface (however you can). Personally, I spray mine directly in the dishwasher – it’s quite handy.
3
Spray a thin layer of white spray at a distance of 30–40 cm (15.7 in).
4
Add a few sugar balls.
5
Leave to defrost for 2–3 hours in the refrigerator before serving.
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