Cannelés de Bordeaux

Imagine you're a Fairy Princess taking refreshments in the parlour of your castle, high on a hill overseeing your subjects. Would you like some cannelés with that?

NOTE: The batter needs to rest for 48 hours, so you'll need to start this recipe 2 days ahead.



Cannelés de Bordeaux
Makes 16
adapted from the instructions that came with the mold

1 vanilla bean split length ways and seeds scraped
2 cups full cream milk
1 piece lemon peel
25g unsalted butter, chilled
2 egg yolks, plus 1 whole egg
3/4 cup vanilla sugar
3/4 cup plain flour
Pinch salt
1 tablespoon dark rum

Put the milk, vanilla bean and seeds, lemon peel and butter into a saucepan and heat over medium heat until just simmering. Remove from the heat and set aside for 20 minutes to cool and infuse.

In a separate mixing bowl, gently mix the whole egg, egg yolks and sugar together. Do not use a whisk, as you don't want to create air bubbles in the batter. Stir in the rum and then add the flour and salt and stir until combined.

Remove the vanilla bean and lemon peel from the milk mixture. Gradually pour it over the egg mixture and stir until fully incorporated. Strain the batter through a fine mesh sieve into a jug. Cover the jug with plastic wrap and leave in the refrigerator for 48 hours.

Preheat the oven to 210C and brush the cannelé molds generously with butter.

Take the batter out of the refrigerator and give it a gentle stir. Fill the molds 3/4 full. Bake for 20 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 200C and bake for a further 50 - 60 minutes until they are bronzed and burnished. Cool in molds before removing to a wire rack.