Apple delights. Franchipán cream apples recipe

A rich apple dessert where there are, that’s what I present today. This weekend it was my turn to bring dessert to the meal of the clarinet group of the San Sebastián de los Reyes Music Band. Since I had a lot of apples, I decided on this classic tuned, apple pudding chip with an almond-flavored pastry cream . I recommend this recipe without hesitation: easy, with a very creamy and smooth texture, which tastes like those apple desserts that remain engraved in childhood, those poached little pieces of apple that manage to raise this fruit to an altar.

And the merit is, above all, a cream that I have discovered and that I will practice more often: Franchipán cream . I did not know it and it is delicious, tuned or untuned, I explain the two versions so you can choose. This dessert does not have a certain origin, although in the ” Encyclopedia of Basque gastronomy dictionary ” it says that a puff pastry cake with this type of cream was created in the early 20th century by the ” Casa Otaegui de San Sebastián ” patisserie , governed by the Tolosana Mrs. Emilia Malcorra.  The franchipán cream is a filling for cakes and other preparations where the almond is one of the main ingredients. La Panchineta, Franchispán or Frachipán was made fashionable by our great chef Berasategui.

The authentic Franchipán made up of two thin puff pastry discs filled with the pastry cream originally made with almond milk, sugar, flour, cornstarch, vanilla, egg yolks and almonds. Simply delicious, but this dessert as it will be for another day. I leave you with this tuning of the great French or Basque dessert, imagination to power. I hope you like it.

Preparation of apples and berries

The apples that best suit this recipe are Golden or some pippins. I have used a lot of small, slightly acidic apples that my father gave me at Christmas when I went up to Galicia. We have several apple trees and in the assortment that I brought there were several classes. You can also add some pear that goes very well and gives a different flavor to this kind of compote that will be the base of this dessert.

1. To prepare the apple base we have to peel and cut the apples into medium pieces or sheets of approximately 1 cm. We discard the heart of the fruit.
2. We wash the lemon well and grate its skin, we reserve the zest. We squeeze its juice and add it to the apples so that they do not rust and take on a dark color.
3. In a large, microwave-safe container, add the apple pieces, 2 tablespoons of sugar, the same amount of orange blossom scent, 3 tablespoons of cinnamon and the lemon zest. All these aromas are going to give an incredible flavor to apples. Add the vanilla essence or aroma and stir with your hands so that all the flavors mix well. Even without baking it smells like you’re dying.
4. We put the container with its lid ajar in the micro for 10 minutes on high power. Remove from the micro and stir with a spoon from bottom to top, combining the juice obtained from cooking well. We go back to the micro another 5 minutes and try a piece (let it cool a little or you will burn), so you will know if it is already or needs some more cooking because it will depend on the type of apple you have used. This process can also be done in the oven, but for me the mic is more comfortable. We will get the poached apple pieces with all the flavor and aroma of vanilla, orange blossom, citrus and cinnamon, great. We also managed to release a syrup with the fruit juice that we will use later in the cream. Let cool and reserve.
5. We choose the tray that we are going to use for the oven, in this case a rectangular glass of 32 x 24 cm. Do not worry about whether it sticks, it turns out quite well and since it is not a pudding or cake it does not cling to the bottom.
6. Brush the entire surface of the tray with butter, also on the sides.
7. We fill the tray with the apple pieces to which we have previously removed the liquid or syrup resulting from the cooking.
8. We heat a saucepan with half a glass of water and 2 tablespoons of aged rum or your favorite liquor. When it bubbles, add the dried fruit. In the fridge I had a bag of berries with cherries, blueberries and wild strawberries and I added half of another of dried grapes that I had left. Ale, to the saucepan and hydrate. They take only 5 minutes over high heat, then let cool and drain. Add all the fruit to the tray with the apples.

Cream preparation, baking and presentation

1. We only have to prepare the Franchipán cream. It is made with butter, sugar, almonds, eggs, rum and pastry cream. The one that we are going to use in this recipe is not 100% Franchipán, but a full-blown tuning adapted to the ingredients that I had at home. I leave you at the end of everything how to prepare the famous cream.
2. We are going to use: 8 eggs, 100 g of sugar, 15 cookies, the syrup from cooking apples (approximately 1/2 glass), 200 ml of melted butter and 1 teaspoon of water from cooking wild berries. It is super easy, we put everything in a bowl and pass with the mixer, in a minute you have the cream ready.
3. We pour the cream over the fruit and with a silicone spatula or similar we drag it so that it filters through all the holes of the fruit and is homogeneous.
4. We preheat the oven for 5 minutes at 200º and after that time we lower the temperature to 180º. We introduce the tray with the frankipan apples 20 minutes in the middle tray with temperature above and below with air. It should not be overcooked or the cream would be excessively dry and it does not matter, since the texture must be creamy. The last five minutes you can cover the tray with a little aluminum foil so that it does not toast too much, as I always tell you, each oven is a world and we have to keep it in mind when cooking.
5. We let it temper out of the oven since once it is tempered it is very easy to remove from the mold. For the presentation you can decorate the top as in the photo, with a little candied orange or whatever you have on hand. I prepared whipped cream and added a large ball to each piece, it would also be a luxury for some creamy ice cream. Remember that it is a dessert-cream and that it is delicious or at its optimum point 10 minutes after removing it from the oven, if you take it later it is better to give it a touch of micro.

No need to tell you that nothing was left over and that its delicate flavor will delight apple lovers. An easy, simple and fruitful dessert, come on … yummy.

Franchipán cream. History and elaboration:

The franchipán cream is usually used as a filling in cakes and other preparations where almond is one of the main ingredients. To make this cream you need: pastry cream : 2 eggs and 3 yolks, 1 glass of warm milk, 1/2 l of whole milk, 1 vanilla bean and 1 cinnamon stick, 2 ml of aged rum, 100 g of sugar , 100 g of almond powder and 40 g of butter.

1. Mix about 100 g of wheat flour and sugar, two eggs, three yolks, a splash of rum and a glass of warm milk, until a thick cream forms. We heat half a liter of the milk with a vanilla bean and a cinnamon stick to flavor the milk base. When it boils we remove from the heat, cover the saucepan where the milk has been heated and let the vanilla and cinnamon infuse and flavor the milk for about five minutes.
2. Strain and add the hot milk to the flour, egg and sugar mixture. Stir slowly with a few rods continuously and pour again into the saucepan where the milk has been heated. We put the cream over low heat and without stirring with the rods until the pastry cream thickens.
3. Remove the casserole from the heat and, while stirring, add 2 tablespoons of butter. Finally, and without stopping stirring, add 100 g of powdered almonds and mix with the cream. And here you have the true and untouched Franchipán cream.