Ingredients
Method
Blanched Hazelnuts
- Fill a medium bowl with ice water. Bring 2 cups water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Carefully add 1 tbsp baking soda (it will bubble up furiously), then add 140 g hazelnuts. Boil for 3–5 minutes. Test one nut at 3 minutes, if the skin comes off easily proceed with the recipe—if not, give it a couple more minutes.
- Drain, then pour the hazelnuts into the ice water and leave for a few minutes. Drain again, and pour just the hazelnuts (without any remaining ice) onto a baking sheet lined with clean kitchen towels. Pat dry and begin squeezing and rubbing the skins off. This part can be fairly tedious so you may want to get comfortable and put some Netflix on.
Praline Paste
- Preheat the oven to 350˚F (175˚C). On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat, spread out 120 g sliced almonds and 120 g blanched hazelnuts evenly. Bake for 8–10 minutes until fragrant and lightly golden—but keep a close eye on this because nuts can burn quickly! Prepare a second baking sheet with a sheet of parchment paper or silicone baking mat and set it on a heat-proof surface near your stove—you'll need a safe place to pour the caramel out as soon as it's ready.
- Add 180 g granulated sugar and ¼ cup water to a small saucepan. Give it a stir with a rubber spatula. If any sugar granules got stuck to the side of the pan brush them down with a pastry brush dipped in water (making sure there are no stray sugar crystals will prevent the caramel from crystallizing). Set it on medium heat and keep stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Once dissolved, stop stirring. Let it keep bubbling away until it reaches a nice deep amber colour. The darker the caramel the more complex and delicious flavour it will have, but keep a very close watch on it because it can quickly go from nice and dark to burnt and disgusting. Aim for the colour of an old copper penny.
- Immediately remove from the heat, and carefully stir in the toasted almonds and hazelnuts. Pour it all out onto your prepared baking sheet and either leave at room temperature for a few hours or place in the fridge for 10–15 minutes until hardened and completely cool.
- Break all of the nutty caramel into pieces that will fit easily in the bowl of a food processor. Begin processing high speed, stopping every minute or so to scrape down the bowl as it's going to want to clump up around the sides and away from the blades. It's going to be very noisy at first, while the large hard caramel pieces are banging around the bowl but it will quiet down once the pieces start breaking down.
- Keep going until the paste is very smooth and almost pourable—this can take up to 10 minutes depending on your food processor. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to one month. I highly recommend making a double or even triple batch so you have lots extra left over to enjoy after making the Paris-Brest. This stuff is seriously addictive and you're going to want to put it on everything, and it's not a lot more effort to make extra.
Choux
- Preheat the oven to 375˚F (190˚C). Add 170 g whole milk, 56 g unsalted butter, 1½ tsp granulated sugar, and ½ tsp fine sea salt to a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat.
- As soon as it's boiling and the butter has completely melted, dump 96 g all-purpose flour in all at once, and stir until it forms a uniform mass that resembles mashed potatoes. Keep stirring and cooking over medium heat until a film forms on the bottom of the pan (about 2–3 minutes).
- Transfer to the bowl of a stand mixer (or you can do the rest of this recipe by hand by stirring with a wooden spoon or spatula, but it will be a workout). Beat on medium speed until the dough stops steaming, about 5 minutes. Gradually add the beaten 3 large eggs a little bit at a time—once you've added about ¾ of the eggs, start checking the consistency. You're looking for the choux to hang off the mixer paddle or your spoon or rubber spatula in a smooth V. If it's still chunky and thick, add more egg a little at a time, mix until combined, and test again. If your batter is flowing quickly off the paddle and not holding a V shape you've added too much egg (and unfortunately there's no fix for this, you'll have to start over—so it's better to add a little at a time and test often).
- Transfer the choux pastry to a piping bag fitted with a large French star tip. Trace around a large dinner plate on a sheet of parchment paper, then flip it over onto a baking sheet so the markings are on the bottom. Pipe one circle of choux right on top of the line. Pipe a second circle of choux directly to the inside of the first circle. Finally, pipe a third circle of choux right on top of where both of the two choux circles meet. If your piping breaks up or is uneven anywhere, you can either dip a finger in some water and smooth it out or just cover that spot with sliced almonds before baking (or cover it with decorations later).
- Brush all over with 1 large egg, beaten, and sprinkle the ½ cup sliced almonds all over (or you can leave a blank spot without any almonds to add decorations to later).
- Bake until very puffy and golden brown, about 30–40 minutes. You may want to turn the pan halfway through the bake time to ensure even baking. Leave to cool completely on the baking sheet.
Milk Chocolate Praline Ganache
- Add the 100 g chopped milk chocolate to a medium heat-proof bowl. Heat the 200 g heavy cream until steaming either in the microwave or on the stovetop, then pour over the chocolate. Let sit for 1-2 minutes to allow the chocolate to melt. Whisk until smooth.
- Add the 50 g praline paste and 20 g unsalted butter and whisk until smooth. Finish with an immersion blender to ensure it's completely combined. Transfer to a bowl covered with plastic wrap or airtight container, and chill in the fridge until it's set (about 2 hours). It should still be somewhat flexible (you should be able to poke your finger into it and easily leave an indentation) but not be completely fluid.
- When you're ready to assemble the Paris-Brest, transfer the ganache to the bowl of a stand mixer, or a large bowl if using a hand mixer, and beat on high speed until much lighter and about doubled in volume. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a large round tip.
Pastry Cream
- Add the 65 g granulated sugar and 25 g cornstarch to a medium heat-proof bowl and whisk together until no clumps remain. Add the 4 large egg yolks and whisk until smooth.
- Add the 268 g whole milk to a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Carefully and slowly pour over the egg yolk mixture while whisking constantly, then return it to the saucepan. Keep heating over medium while stirring constantly until thickened.
- Pass through a strainer to remove any accidentally-cooked egg bits, then add 55 g unsalted butter and stir until melted and smoothly combined. Press a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until cool and set (about 2 hours).
Praline Mousseline
- Whip 150 g unsalted butter using the paddle attachment on a stand mixer (or use the beaters of a hand mixer) until light and fluffy—about 5 minutes.
- Add 150 g praline paste and beat until combined. With the mixer running on medium, add 1 batch pastry cream one dollop at a time, waiting until each addition has been fully incorporated before adding the next. Switch to the whisk attachment (or keep using the beaters if using a hand mixer, but increase the speed to high) and whip on high speed until very light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
- Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a very large star-shaped tip. For the most dramatic swirls of mousseline, use the largest tip you can find!
Chocolate Butterflies
- Draw a bunch of pairs of mirror-image capital B's onto a sheet of parchment paper as templates for the butterfly wings, then flip it over so the markings are on the bottom. Place it on a baking sheet. I recommend making the B's in lots of different sizes for more visual interest on the finished Paris-Brest (but each mirror-image pair of B's should be about the same size so they'll match up when you assemble each butterfly.
- Transfer the 1 cup tempered dark chocolate or melted chocolate-flavoured candy melts to a piping bag fitted with a tiny round piping tip, or snip a little tiny bit off of the end of a disposable piping bag or ziploc bag. Pipe around each wing template and fill in the middle with random scribbles. Place the baking sheet in the fridge until the chocolate sets, about 20 minutes.
- To assemble, make a bunch of stands in the shape of capital M's using pieces of recycled cardboard and line the middle of the M with a piece of folded parchment paper. Place a wing on each side of the middle of the M, and pipe a line of tempered chocolate or candy melts down the middle between the wings to attach them to each other. Place back in the fridge (still on the M-shaped stand) until completely set, about 20 minutes.
Assemble & Decorate
- Place the 1 cup Nutella into a piping bag fitted with a small or medium round tip. Roughly chop the 2 cups chocolate-covered nuts and set aside. Carefully cut the top ⅓ off of the choux ring as evenly as possible, and set aside.
- Pipe 3 rings of Nutella around the base of the choux ring.
- Pipe 3 rings of whipped chocolate ganache on top of the Nutella, and sprinkle it all over with the chopped chocolate-covered nuts.
- Pipe big dramatic swirls of praline mousseline to cover over the nuts, whipped ganache, and Nutella. You'll likely have to stop multiple times to push the mousseline down into the bag toward the tip—try to stop piping at the bottom of a swirl if you can, then pick up where you left off.
- Sprinkle more chopped chocolate-covered nuts over the mousseline, then cover with the top of the choux ring.
- Pipe dollops of your leftover mousseline, whipped chocolate praline ganache, and Nutella on top of the choux ring anywhere you think it will look nice, and nestle some chocolate butterflies into the dollops wherever you like.
- Paris-Brest is best enjoyed the same day that it's assembled, but leftovers will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2-3 days.