Ancient French Dessert – An Enticing Chocolate Religieuse Confection You Must Try

Recently, I visited Pâtisserie Viennoise to try their chocolate religieuse. It is an intricate french dessert stuffed with smooth, rich, creamy fillings. I still remember how sinfully delicious they were when I tried them for the first time and how I could not stop myself from having more. Read on to find out what it is, how chocolate religieuse recipe is made, and the different fillings you can try.

What Is Chocolate Religieuse Recipe?

A Chocolate religieuse is a royal dessert originally from France. It is a delightsome result of arranging two pastry cases above each other where one is larger in size than the other. These pastry cases are first filled with cream pastry and then dipped in chocolate ganache. Finally, they are glued together with buttercream.

Recipe

Following is the step-by-step recipe for Chocolate religieuse

• Chocolate Glaze
• Gelatin 11/2 tsp
• Corn Syrup 2tbsp
• Condense Milk 20g
• Xylitol/birch sugar 2tbsp
• Water 2tbsp
• Dark chocolate 45g

Method

1. Mix gelatine and water together and place them aside.
2. Place the pan on flame and add condensed milk, corn syrup, and xylitol or birch sugar. Bring it to a boil.
3. Pour this mixture into dark chocolate and stir it until it melts.
4. Microwave the gelatine until it melts.
5. Pour the gelatine into the mixture, blend it well and set it aside.

Chocolate Cream

• Dark Chocolate 65g
• Xylitol 20g
• Heavy Cream 70ml
• Egg yolks 2
• Milk 70ml

Method

1. Add xylitol, heavy cream, egg yolks, and milk in a bowl and mix them well.
2. Cook this mixture in the milk while stirring it until the temperature reaches 80°C.
3. Pour the prepared mixture on the dark chocolate by passing it through a strainer.
4. Stir it until the chocolate melts. Put it inside the refrigerator.

Sugar Free Caramel

• Monk Fruit Sweetener quarter cup (55g)
• Coconut Sugar 1/2 tbsp
• Heavy Cream 240 g
• Butter 56g
• Sea Salt Flakes 1 pinch

Method

1. Melt the monk fruit sweetener and coconut sugar in a pan.
2. Pour one third of the total heavy cream into the mixture. Stir and give it a boil.
3. Add the rest of the heavy cream into it.
4. Stir and give it a boil. Pour the mixture into a bowl and add butter.
5. Stir until the butter melts inside the mixture.
6. Add sea salt flakes to the mixture and mix it well. Refrigerate it for two hours.

Craquelin

• All Purpose Flour 35g
• Butter 35g
• Coconut Sugar 40g

Method

1. Add all-purpose flour, butter, and coconut sugar in a bowl and prepare a dough.
2. Place the dough between two butter papers.
3. Roll the dough with a rolling pin.
4. Remove the butter paper from the top.
5. Cut the dough in bigger and smaller round shapes with cutters.
6. Place the butter paper on it again and freeze.

Choux Pastry

• Egg 3
• Butter 135 g
• Xylitol 1tsp
• Sea Salt 1tsp
• Milk 145 ml
• Flour 165 g
• Water 150 g

Method

1. Put a pan on flame. Add milk, water, xylitol, sea salt, and butter, and bring them to a boil.
2. Now add flour and cook it while stirring for three minutes until it becomes a dough.
3. Beat the dough with an electric beater while adding eggs one at a time.
4. Beat it until it becomes a smooth paste.
5. Now spread butter paper on a tray. Fill the paste in a piping bag with a plain tip of 20 mm diameter.
6. Pipe four large and small choux buns. Place the craquelin on each choux by gently setting them with the help of a spatula.
7. Now bake them at 180°C for 30 minutes. Insert a nozzle into the underside of each choux bun.
8. Fill each bun with creamy chocolate and caramel. Microwave the chocolate ganache until the temperature reaches 28°C.

Icing

1. Take a choux bun and dip it in the hot chocolate icing.
2. Make sure to dip it thrice so that it covers the entire head of the choux.
3. Let the excess icing drip off. Now pipe a small amount of buttercream on the top of a large choux.
4. Place the small choux bun on it. Finally, make a ruffle with buttercream on top of it.

How To Decorate It?

Alternative To Topping

Here are the most tried suggestions for toppings:

• Pipe a circle of coffee cream to create a ruffle on the top of a large choux bun. Now place the small choux bun on it carefully. Make another ruffle on top of it. Repeat the procedure for all the choux buns. Place them in the fridge before serving.
• Another interesting idea for topping is chocolate discs. Take one choux bun and stick a tempered chocolate disc on its top with buttercream. Now stick the small choux bun on the disc with buttercream. Take another small chocolate disc and stick it on its top. Now pipe the sides of a small bun with buttercream. Finally, top it with a small piped flower.
• If you want to keep things simple yet appealing, you can dip both buns in chocolate ganache and stick them together with buttercream.

External Fillings

You can simply use chocolate ganache, coffee pastry cream, and buttercream as options for external fillings.

Internal Fillings

You can fill caramel, coffee/mocha pastry cream, and chocolate pastry cream inside a choux bun.

Coffee Pastry Cream

Coffee pastry cream is a type of custard that is rich, thick, and creamy in texture. It is piped into a variety of bakery items, such as cream puffs, cakes, and cream pies. It is made by cooking milk, sugar, eggs, starch, and coffee together.

Chocolate Pastry Cream

Known for its creamy, smooth, and chocolatey texture, chocolate pastry cream or crème patisserie is used as a filling for tarts, past,ies and cakes.

Chocolate Fondant

Fondant in French translates as melting. Chocolate Fondant is a famous French dessert. It is a small chocolate cake having two layers where; the outer layer is soft, consisting of mellow hot chocolate inside.

Choux Pastry

Choux pastry is a type of pastry that is hollow inside. It is light in weight and usually made up of eggs, water or milk, butter, and flour. Choux pastry is a versatile bakery item used to make profiteroles, religieuse, éclairs, and many other bakery products.

What Piping Tip To Use?

For making chocolate religieuse, the ideal diameter for the piping tip should be 20mm.

Final Thoughts

Chocolate religieuse is a French dessert resembling a nun in a habit. It is an appetizing sweet course and an important part of the French confectionery endowment. Chocolate religieuse is a delicious and popular pastry dessert. It is an ancient recipe developed by a royal chef named Popelini. Religieuse is thought to have a rectangular shape initially, but later, it was turned into a round shape by a choux chef named Frascati. Religieuse is one of the several types of éclairs having both cultural as well as religious importance in France. The article contains various details about chocolate religieuse. It contains particulars about what chocolate religieuse is, how it can easily be made at home and what alternative toppings and fillings can be used to make a perfect chocolate religieuse.

Feature Image: Stock.adobe

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