Osler's Razor

Please advise: where is one to purchase pollen? But I daresay a cup of pollen (any pollen) would cost more than saffron which must be collected by hand from the autumn crocus.

Or is pollen an allusion to honey?

Chocolate lovers everywhere want to know.
 

You have to collect the pollen by hand. The best time to harvest is coming up soon! In Waco, you could just scrape it off your car by the pound.
 

Just in time for Neil Alan Willard's birthday! Wahoo!
 

Thanks Mark - I should be able to scrap enough off the window screens I am finally cleaning this week.
 

Different strokes - I always add a handful of dried ladybugs; they add a little crunch. (That requires a slight adjustment in the amount of pollen, but you need to go by your own taste on this one.)
 

Pay Back!

This Canadian "Lassy" awoke yesterday to a stinging comment, "Silly Canadians!" and, by evening, the devastation of our failed get-out-the-vote efforts in western Wisconsin also had me craving a chocolate fix...

A call to my cousin in Kelowna, British Columbia for her favorite chocolate 'eclair recipe will go a long way to sweetening my disposition.

While I enjoy my self-indulgent, decadent delights, I pray you are tempted to try her (easy to make, ha...ha..) (Raymond Blanc's) recipe during the coming humid weekend - May the heat of your kitchen be "payback" for your "Silly Canadians!" comment.

Recipe to Follow. Enjoy!
 

Chocolate éclairs are among the world's most famous pastries and they are certainly one of my great favourites. Choux pastry is really very easy to make, so do give it a try. It also translates into so many wonderful desserts – gâteau saint-honoré, profiteroles and my pièce montée croquembouche.

• Difficulty: medium complexity
• Makes: 10
• Preparation: 40 mins, plus cooling
• Cooking: 25–30 mins
• Special equipment: 2 piping bags, 1.5cm and 5mm plain nozzles
You can prepare, cook and • Planning ahead: freeze the éclairs in advance; defrost 1 hour before needed, then fill and glaze them. You can also pipe the éclairs and freeze them uncooked; bake directly from the freezer, adding an extra 5 minutes to the cooking time. The crème patissière (see below) can be made 2–3 days in advance and kept in the fridge.

For the choux pastry:
65ml water
65ml whole milk
55g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tsp caster sugar
pinch of fine sea salt
100g plain flour
4 organic/free-range medium eggs, beaten
For the filling:
450ml crème patissière, at room temperature (see below)
20g good-quality dark chocolate
15g cocoa powder
For the glaze
200g white fondant¹
12g cocoa powder
1–2 tsp water

Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4. Put the water, To prepare the choux pastry milk², butter, sugar and salt into a small saucepan and bring to the boil over a high heat. Take off the heat, immediately tip in the flour and quickly stir with a wooden spoon until completely smooth.

Return to a medium heat and cook for about 1 minute until the mixture comes away from the side of the pan³. Remove from the heat and gradually whisk in the beaten eggs until you have a smooth, dropping consistency⁴.

To pipe and bake the éclairs
Spoon the mixture into a large piping bag fitted with a 1.5cm plain nozzle and leave to cool and stiffen slightly, for about 5 minutes; this will make it easier to pipe.

Line a large baking tray with greaseproof paper. Pipe 10 large éclairs, each about 15cm long, onto the paper, spacing them well apart to allow them room to expand. Bake in the oven for 25–30 minutes⁵ until golden brown, then transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool.

To make the filling
Have the crème patissière ready in a bowl. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Pour the melted chocolate into the crème patissière, add the cocoa powder and whisk to a smooth consistency. Transfer the filling to a piping bag fitted with a 5mm nozzle. Using the tip of the nozzle, pierce the underside of the éclairs in 4 places along their length and gently fill each éclair evenly.

To make the glaze
In a wide saucepan over a low heat, gently warm the fondant to make it easier to work with⁶. Stir in the cocoa powder and water until evenly combined. One at a time, dip the top of each éclair into the mixture to glaze, lift vertically and wipe off excess from the lower end with the back of your finger⁷. Place on a board or rack and allow to set in the fridge before serving.

Getting Close to "yummy..."
 

Variations

Pipe small choux buns, 8–12g, and cook for 20–25 minutes. Large choux buns will take 25–30 minutes.

Flavour the crème patissière with a little extra vanilla or coffee extract instead of chocolate and keep the fondant for the glaze white.

For classic choux à la crème, fill large choux buns with crème Chantilly, dust with icing sugar and serve with chocolate sauce.
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¹ You can now buy fondant in specialist cake decorating shops. White fondant is a solution of sugar and water, cooked and pummelled as it cools to incorporate air. It is this process that gives the fondant its white colour and shine.
² It is customary to use all water in a choux pastry, but adding some milk gives a softer texture, which I prefer. Using all water will give you a drier, crustier finish.
³ When the choux paste starts to come away from the side of the pan you know you have evaporated enough water from the mixture.
⁴ It is important to add the eggs slowly, to ensure they are incorporated evenly. It will also be easier to judge the texture. You are looking for the mixture to just drop from the spoon, not run off it; you may not need all of the egg to reach this stage. The eggs add flavour and colour, and help to lift the choux on baking.
⁵ As the choux pastry cooks, the moisture escapes as steam, which helps to puff out the choux, giving it lift and lightness; the dry heat of the oven will create a crust. Do not bake more than one batch at a time, or the amount of steam they generate will cause your pastry to crack.
⁶ For the correct consistency, the white fondant must be used at 35C (body temperature). If it is hotter, you will lose the shiny finish to your glaze. Regulate the heat of the glaze by placing it back on a low heat and stirring to regain the correct thickness.
⁷ Alternatively, you can pipe the glaze on top of the éclairs, using a piping bag fitted with a 1.5cm flat nozzle.

Crème patissière

Crème patissière is the easiest of all creams, as the flour makes it completely stable. It has many uses – as a filling for cakes and éclairs, as a lining for fruit tartlets, and as a base for soufflés, for example.
• Difficulty: easy
• Makes: 600ml
• Preparation: 10 mins, plus cooling
• Cooking: 8 mins
This pastry cream can be made • Planning ahead up to 2–3 days in advance and kept covered in the fridge.

500ml whole milk
1 tbsp vanilla syrup or 1 tsp best vanilla extract
6 organic / free-range medium egg yolks
75g caster sugar, plus extra for dusting
25g plain flour
20g cornflour
To make the crème patissière
Put the milk and vanilla into a heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring to the boil and simmer very gently for about 5 minutes. Take off the heat and let cool for 30 seconds.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and caster sugar until they turn a pale straw colour, then whisk in the flour and cornflour. Pour on the milk,

whisking continuously¹, then pour back into the pan.
Whisking constantly², bring back to the boil over a medium heat and cook for 1 minute. Pour the crème pâtissière into a bowl. Cover the surface with a light dusting of caster sugar to prevent a skin from forming and leave to cool.
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¹ When you are making custards or pastry creams, always pour the hot milk/cream mixture onto the cold beaten eggs before returning to the heat to cook through. If you reverse this process you are in danger of scrambling the eggs before the sauce has had a chance to thicken.
² Constant whisking is important to get rid of any small lumps and keep the crème patissière smooth.
• This recipe is taken from Kitchen Secrets by Raymond Blanc
 

New Christine--

Look, I didn't spend four hours yesterday collecting cat hair to not use it in a cake! Is it ok if I toss some in to your recipe?
 

A suggestion regarding the tedious collection of cat hair to be used for superior texture in brilliant recipes such as the one you so generously share (thanks BTW)...watch out when your cat delivers hairballs and collect them in sealed plastic bags for later usage.
Now here is a slightly less inspired recipe, but equally delicious...hope you all try it and enjoy!
Strawberry Cake Summer
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for pie plate
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (if you feel nutty, swap 3/4 cup all-purpose flour with 3/4 cup of barley flour)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 cup sugar plus some (depending on how sweet your teeth are) for sprinkling over the berries
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pound strawberries, hulled and halved (if tiny do not bother to halve)
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 10-inch pie pan or 9-inch deep-dish pie pan. This cake does not work in a standard 9-inch pie pan; it will overflow and it will be ugly…the cleanup and the expletives, that is. The 10-inch would make a thinner cake.
Whisk flour (or flours), baking powder and salt together in a small bowl. In a larger bowl, beat butter and 1 cup sugar until pale and fluffy with an electric mixer (or by hand, if you like summer dresses and will take any chance you got to work that underarm thing). Mix in egg, milk and vanilla until just combined. Add dry mixture gradually, mixing until just smooth.
Pour into buttered pie plate. Arrange strawberries, cut side down (if you’re anal) or just dump them (what I did) on top of batter, as closely as possible in a single layer (I had to overlap a few to get them all in). Sprinkle however much sugar you like over berries.
Bake cake for 10 minutes then reduce oven temperature to 325°F and bake until golden brown and a toothpick comes out free of wet batter, about 50 minutes to 60 minutes (gooey strawberries on the toothpick are a given) Let cool in pan on a rack. Cut into wedges. Serve with lightly whipped cream or slightly sweetened crème fraiche (if you’re in a chichi mood and like to throw some money away at glorified sour cream) or good old vanilla ice cream.
Cake can be stored at room temperature for up to 2 days, loosely covered (to prevent soggy surface) but good luck with that!
 

Definitely!

And please save me a couple of your 'eclairs. I can imagine my cousin Carol's response if I sent her "an Osler 'Eclair" from your revised recipe...
 

I think I'll stick to making some fresh vanilla ice cream.

Those eclairs sound divine