If you can't make it to the Bordeaux region of France, but CAN make it to Honoré Artisan Bakery for a Saturday morning coffee and a canelé treat, I highly recommend it. If you want a little baking project, these are sweet and taste like a mixture between cake and baked pudding. Or baked cake soaked in pudding.
Canelés with Cardamom Crème Anglaise
2 cups milk
3 tbsp. salted butter, diced
1 vanilla bean, split
¾ cup all-purpose flour
pinch of salt
1 cup minus 2 tablespoons sugar
4 egg yolks
1/3 cup rum
Yields about 20 canelés.
Cardamom Crème Anglaise
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
7 cardamom pods
4 egg yolks
1/3 cup white sugar
To prepare the cardamom cream…Start by boiling the milk with the cardamom pods. Filter it. Mix together the egg yolks and sugar until very white. Add to the milk, stirring constantly. Place on heat again and slowing thicken the preparation without making it boil. It thickens slowly. Make sure mixture doesn't boil. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon.
To prepare the canelés…Combine the milk, butter and vanilla in a medium saucepan, and bring to a simmer. In the meantime, combine the flour and sugar in a medium mixing-bowl. Separate the eggs in another, smaller bowl, and beat yolks gently. When the milk mixture starts to simmer, remove from heat, take out the vanilla pod if using, and set it aside.
Pour the yolks all at once into the flour mixture (don't stir yet), pour in the milk mixture, and whisk until well combined and a little frothy. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod, and return the seeds and pod to the mixture. Add the rum and whisk well. Let cool to room temperature on the counter, then cover and refrigerate for at least 24 hours and up to 3 days.
The next day, preheat the oven to 480° F. Remove the batter from the fridge: and whisk until blended. Pour into silicon molds, filling them almost to the top. Put into the oven to bake for 20 minutes, then (without opening the oven door) lower the heat to 400° F and bake for another 40 to 60 minutes. The canelés are ready when the bottoms are a very dark brown, but not burnt. If you feel they are darkening too fast, cover the molds with a piece of parchment paper.
Unmold onto a cooling rack (wait for about ten minutes first if you're using silicon molds or they will collapse a little) and let cool completely before eating.
