canelés, attempt nº 3

It's been a while since I made canelés. Used Paula Wolfert's recipe again, using a vanilla bean in place of extract, AP flour in lieu of cake flour, and brandy instead of rum (didn't have any rum!)

The "white oil" that I used is sunflower oil and beeswax. It's messy, and beeswax is highly flamable, so I heated the wax and oil in a glass jar. This meant no messy pans to clean up (even solid, beeswax is sticky), and you can pour the oil into the moulds and dump the excess back into the jar, and then move into the next mold. These then sat overnight in the freezer.

The batter (2 c milk, 2 tbsp butter, ¾ c AP flour, pinch of salt, 1 c minus 2 tbsp sugar, 4 egg yolks, 1 tbsp brandy [or rum], 1 split vanilla bean) also sits overnight as to settle and be (almost entirely) free of bubbles.

I baked them at 400ºF for 30 mins, 360º for another 30 minutes. Soft inside, crusty and caramelized outside. Really fantastic.