After seeing these delicious looking pastries, I had to give them a try – apparently they are a challenge to make. To get started, I bought a canelé pan on Amazon – one of the non-stick carbon steel varieties, and a bag of what was advertised on the Amazon site as food grade DIY beeswax pellets. Printed right on the bag, yet not mentioned on the site was a warning, clearly stating the product is not edible. Not sure how anyone could say something that is not edible could possibly be food grade. Oh well – back to Amazon it goes (keeping the pan though!). As I discovered, it doesn’t really seem the beeswax is even necessary.
So, after watching a number of different YouTube videos, and the recipe recommended by my future son-in-law, I mixed up the batter. I simmered the milk with couple dried up vanilla pods, along with some real extract for 10 minutes or so as per the Taste of Artisan instructions – from there I deviated, mixing the flour, eggs, butter, sugar and rum all together, and then adding 1/3 of the simmered milk (pouring through a fine strainer), and whipping until smooth. I then added the rest and continued stirring until mixed thoroughly.
The next evening I heated up the oven to 475 F, took the batter out of the fridge and gave it a good stir – being careful not to incorporate any air. I then just melted some butter, and brushed the butter into 8 of the 12 pan cups, then ladled batter into each of the buttered cups – filling them to about 3/4 full.
Into the oven for 15 minutes at 475 F, after which I lowered the temperature to 375F, for another 45 minutes.
Afterwards, I took the pan out of the oven, let it cool for 5 minutes, then flipped the pan over – dumping the delectable delights onto a wire cooling rack – they all popped out perfectly, and none of the dreaded “white butts” commonly referenced on Youtube and various other websites.
The next evening I cooked up the rest of the batter, making 12 more pastries (a little smaller than the first ones – but cups were still about 2/3’s full). Again, these popped out of the pan with no issues and no “white butts” as well. Just nice and crispy on the outside, and nice and custardy on the inside!
