Malgieri’s Cannelés

And now for something completely different. This recipe calls for sugar as well as sweetened condensed milk. Considering how sweet Hermé’s recipe is, I’m starting to see that successful cannelés may well fall into the realm of confectionery rather than pastry. I’ll make these at the same time as the below recipe in order to speed up the testing process.

16 ounces (2 1/4 cups) sugar
8.25 ounces (1 2/3 cups) unbleached, all-purpose flour
14 ounces (1 can) sweetened condensed milk
3 eggs
2 egg yolks
2 1/2 ounces (5 tablespoons) dark rum
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
18 ounces (2 1/2 cups) water
2 ounces ( 1/2 stick) butter
1.25 ounces (1/2 cup) nonfat dry milk

The day before you intend to bake the canneles, make the batter: Combine the sugar and flour in a large mixing bowl and whisk to mix evenly. Whisk in the condensed milk, eggs, yolks, rum and vanilla.

Combine the water, butter and dry milk in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over low heat, whisking occasionally. Whisk the hot mixture into the flour and egg mixture until thoroughly combined. Pass the batter through a fine-meshed strainer into a container; let cool slightly, then cover tightly and refrigerate a minimum of 24 hours, a maximum of 5 days.

When you are ready to bake the canneles, heat the oven to 400 degrees. Remove the batter from the refrigerator and whisk to combine, 1 minute. Fill cannele molds 3/4 full. (If using silicone molds, do not grease; tins should be lightly coated with oil.)

Bake until the canneles are firm and very dark brown, about 1 hour, changing the position of the pans several times — back to front and top to bottom during baking. Let sit 5 minutes, then invert onto a rack. Gently pull the sides of the silicone mold out to release the canneles onto a rack. Serve warm.