Saint Honore (A French Pastry!)

Saint honore (saint on-oh-ree!)...I don't know, I butcher every French word that comes out of my mouth...but I don't actually butcher the pastry! My baking buddy, Mac, and I were instructed to make saint honore. At first it seemed super easy, and it was, until we got to caramelizing the decorative mini cream puffs. Never stick your fingers in a pot of molten sugar! I didn't, cause I'm smart, but Mac thought it would be quicker...so guess who got a sugar burn?

Anyways, that was just the first time we made it. Now we got it down! We're sugar dippin' mastas meow.

Imagine this: A disk of rolled out puff pastry with pate choux (eclair mix) piped around the edges. The pate choux puffs up, the puff pastry is nice and buttery, and the whole thing looks like a shiny golden donut. This is just the base. Now, that donut is cut in half, like how you would cut a bagel. And a hazelnut cream made of whipped cream, hazelnut paste (tastes like nutella!), and pastry cream, is sandwiched in the middle. The top goes back on and now the garnishings...mini cream puffs are filled with more cream. They are dipped in hot caramel sugar--top & bottom!--and are carefully glued to the edges of the pastry. 

Okay maybe my description helped, maybe it didn't...but I'm sure these pictures will :) 

Yum yum, see what I mean? They look like golden cream-filled donuts with caramel cream puffs! So pretty and shiny! I haven't gotten to eat one...but I certainly tasted everything along the way. I snuck a fair share of the mini caramel cream puffs...a chef-in-training is supposed know what her food tastes like, right? ;) 

And now...check out this BIG MAMA

This mama goes by the name of gateau saint honore...basically, a cake-version! It's essentially the same thing, just bigger (the cream puffs, too!) and there is whipped cream for garnish. 

I've actually never seen this pastry in a bakery. So keep an eye out and let me know if you ever see it! It's always cool to see different bakeries variations of a certain dessert. I'm actually trying to get inspiration for my final by looking at different bakeries online...hey and surprisingly YouTube had some good stuff. Check out this white chocolate flower here! (It's the one I used on my midterm cake.)

And for the near future, I'm hoping to make some ghetto-style cooking vids for whoever wants to watch. Because a lot of this stuff sounds fancy and complicated to make, but it really isn't. With a few modifications all of this stuff could be made at home! And I'll have some free time on my hands...so why not? Heheee.