Hermé’s Cannelés

I’ll be curious to give these a try. They’re very sweet, but then even less sweet cannelés are quite sweet. As a note I should say that this recipe was written for a convection oven (50 minutes at 350 degrees), which I don’t own, so I fiddled with the baking temps and times in an effort to compensate for that.

16 ounces (2 cups) milk
1 vanilla bean
1.75 ounces (3 1/2 tablespoons) melted butter
8.75 ounces (2 cups, 3 tablespoons) powdered sugar, sifted
2 egg yolks
2 eggs
3.5 ounces (2/3 cup) all-purpose flour, sifted
1/2 ounce (1 tablespoon) dark rum

On the previous day, split and scrape the vanilla bean and add the seeds and pod to the milk in a small saucepan. Bring mixture to the boil. Once boiled, remove from heat and allow cool. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Discard pod before use.

Mix all ingredients in the following order…first the confectioner’s sugar follwed by the yolks and eggs, then the rum, the butter, the flour, and lastly the cold milk. Refrigerate for at least 24 hours before baking.

Grease molds with butter mixed in equal parts with a fat for greasing pans or beeswax. Keep in a cool place….molds must be very cold before filling and baking. Fill them with the cannele mixture up to 1-2 cm from the brim. The preparation must be mixed again each time it is going to be used. When kept in a cool place it will last up to 3-4 days.

Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 50 minutes. Unmold immediately. Eat once cool.