Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 2 (64 page)

2)
Chilling, glazing, and baking

Chill at least 30 minutes, but an hour is preferable, to relax dough before baking. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 425 degrees and set rack in middle level. Just before baking, paint tops and sides of horns with egg glaze (1 egg beaten in a small bowl with 1 tsp water), and make cross-hatching on surface with the point of a knife or the tines of a fork. Bake immediately; horns are done in 15 to 20 minutes, when molds slip easily out of them. For recipes where you are to fill the horns and bake them again, remove from oven when a pale brown so they will not darken too much during their second baking; otherwise leave them in a few minutes longer, to brown nicely.

(*) Pastries are at their best when eaten within a few hours of baking; you may keep them, however, in a warming oven at around 100 degrees for a day or so; otherwise wrap airtight and freeze them. To thaw, place on a lightly buttered baking sheet in a 400-degree oven; turn oven off, and leave about 10 minutes.

FONDUE DE FROMAGE POUR CORNETS, ROULEAUX, MILLE-FEUILLES, ET CROQUETTES

[
Cheese Filling for Cream Horns,
Mille-Feuilles
, and Croquettes]

This is a very thick sauce that will not run or flow out of shape when heated in pastries, or when coated with beaten eggs and bread crumbs and
deep-fried. Rather than cooking it in the usual way, with a flour and butter
roux
that is moistened with hot milk, you beat the milk into the flour and then add the butter, making what is technically known as a
bouilli
.

For about 2½ cups

¾ to 1 cup milk

½ cup all-purpose flour (measure by scooping dry-measure cup into flour and sweeping off excess with knife)

A heavy 2-quart saucepan

A wire whip and a rubber spatula

2 Tb butter

2 “large” eggs

Salt, pepper, pinch of nutmeg, and drops of Tabasco or a pinch of Cayenne pepper

4 ounces (about 1 cup) coarsely grated Swiss cheese

2 ounces (less than ½ cup) grated Parmesan cheese

3 to 4 Tb heavy cream

Gradually beat driblets of milk into the flour, in saucepan, adding ¾ cup and beating to a smooth consistency. Add butter, and set pan over moderate heat, stirring. When mixture comes near the boil and begins to be lumpy, remove from heat and beat vigorously to smooth it out. One by one, beat in the eggs, and bring to the boil, beating constantly. Sauce must be a thick paste; if very stiff, thin out over heat, beating in more milk by dribbles. Remove from heat, season with salt, pepper, a pinch of nutmeg, and rather strongly with Tabasco or Cayenne pepper. Let cool for a few minutes, then fold in the cheese. Fold in just enough cream to soften it slightly, but sauce must hold its shape when mounded in a spoon; it should not spread out later, when cooked with pastries.

(*)
AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE
: May be made several days in advance of using; may be frozen. Clean off sides of pan, and press a sheet of plastic wrap over the surface of the sauce to prevent a skin or crust from forming.

Additions

Use half the amount of cheese called for in the preceding filling, and fold in ⅓ to ½ cup of either diced ham or mushroom
duxelles
(diced fresh mushrooms sautéed in butter, Volume I, page 515).

CORNETS À LA FONDUE DE FROMAGE

[Cream Horns
Baked with Cheese Filling]

Bake in upper third of preheated oven 10 to 12 minutes, to melt cheese and heat filling to bubbling hot. Serve as soon as possible.

ROULEAUX

[Puff Pastry Cream
Rolls]