Baking French Pastries With Marion

1. What was your routine like during the lock down?

Marion: I tried to stick to a normal routine as much as possible. I would wake up early in the morning, do some tasks for work, exercise 2-3 times a week and learn new things like a new foreign language and baking.

2. Why did you choose these 4 recipes?

Marion: I found apples and rhubarb at the farmers’ market (I only buy my fruits and vegetables at the farmers’ markets because of the higher quality and freshness) and honestly I wasn’t sure of what to do with rhubarb so I decided to make a pie and use apples to sweeten the taste. 

It’s the season of cherries, and the best recipe (in my opinion) with cherries is to make a cherry clafoutis, just like my mom used to make when I was a kid. 

And well, who doesn’t like chocolate cake? 

Raspberry Financier is a recipe from one of my favorite French Chefs. He did a TV show during the lock down to teach people easy recipes to make at home and I thought I would give it a try.

3. Around when did you make them?

Marion: I would make one or two cakes every week. I also made a lot of banana bread and raspberry financier (soooo good!). 

4. How did you find the ingredients during the lock down?

Marion: The most challenging ingredient was to find flour, at least for the first 2 weeks of the lock down. Luckily I had 1 extra pack at home and was later able to find flour in a very small local shop.

5. Which was your favorite recipe? and why?

Marion: I loved all of them! But if I had to choose one, it would be the raspberry financier. The mix between the raspberries and the almond flavor was just so delicious, and every time I’d eat the entire thing. Oops. haha 

Cherry Clafoutis

Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of cherries
• 2 tbsp of butter  
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup of milk 
• 2/3 cup / 75 g flour
• 1/2 cup of powdered sugar 
• 1 1/2 teaspoon of Vanilla extract
• 1 pinch of salt 
• icing sugar
  

Steps:

1.  Preheat the oven to 410°F.
2. Wash the cherries. You may remove the pits if you want to but the traditional recipe says to keep them since it adds some kind of almond flavor.
3. Melt the butter.
4. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, salt, and vanilla extract. Add the eggs, the milk, and finally the melted butter. Whisk the mixture. 
5. Grease a round baking dish with some softened butter. Add the cherries and then the mixture. 
6. Put in the oven and leave it for 10 minutes at 210°C/410°F and then lower at 180°C/350°F for 20 minutes. 
7. READY! You can add some icing sugar on the clafoutis and some vanilla ice cream on the side, it’s delicious! 

Chocolate Cake 

Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 6 ounces of dark chocolate
• ⅓ cup of butter
• 3 eggs
• ½ cup of flour
• 1 cup of powdered sugar 

Steps: 

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Coarsely chop the chocolate and add it into a pan with the butter.
3. In a large bowl, whisk the sugar, eggs, and flour.
4. Pour the chocolate/butter mixture into the bowl and stir everything together using a rubber spatula. 
5. Grease a round baking dish or ramekins with some softened butter and add the mixture. 
6. Bake for 20 minutes. 
7. Allow to cool down for a few minutes. 
8. Serve with some delicious ice cream! 
   
   
   

Rhubarb & Apple Pie 

Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 1 pie dough 
• 18 oz of rhubarb
• 2 apples
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup of powdered sugar
• 7 oz of creme fraiche
• 2 tbsp of butter
• Vanilla extract

Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Dice the rhubarb and apples. 
2. In a pan, add the rhubarb, the apple, ¼ cup of sugar, 1 ½ glass of water until it’s melted. 
3. In the meantime, pre-cook the pie dough in the oven for 5 minutes. 
4. In a large bowl, add the eggs, the crème Fraiche, the rest of the sugar, 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, and whisk. 
5. Add the rhubarb and apples on the dough and then the mixture. 
6. Bake at 350°F for 35 minutes. 

Raspberry Financier Recipe 

Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 4  Egg Whites
• 2 oz of flour (60 g)
• 3 oz of Almond flour (90 g) 
• 5.3 of powdered sugar (150 g)
• 1/2 vanilla pod or extract
•  3.5 oz of butter (100 g)
• 4.4 oz of raspberries (125 g)

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 392°F (200°C) or thermostat 7
2. Mix the flour, almond flour, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. 
3. Add the egg whites. Then after mixing, add the melted butter
4. Butter the baking pan and pour the dough into the pan. Add the raspberries. 
5.  Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes to 356°F (180°C) or thermostat 6.
6.  Let the financier cool down.
7. Eat and enjoy!

There you go, that's all four recipes. Let us know which one your favorite is!