Sunday, 6th February – it had been a while since I wanted to create a dessert with three layers: crunchy, creamy, velvety. I thought I would never be able to realise what I had in mind. And this Sunday the miracle came true. Trying to realise an already existing recipe, it turned out to be a complete failure. Except that when baking, I am stubborn. So I started again and retwicked each steps. And there it was, the delicious entremet.

INGREDIENTS

Crust

• 250g biscuits (type Petit Beurre)
• 50g melted butter
• 1 tbsp caster sugar

Creme patissiere

• 180g caster suger
• 30g Maizena
• 30g flour
• 125mL cream 35% fat
• 3 egg yolks
• 500 mL warm milk
• 30g butter
• 1 tbsp liquid vanilla extract
• 3 bananas a bit mature

Creme chantilly

• 250 mL liquid full cream (35% fat)
• 35 mL icing sugar

PREPARATION

Crust

Material: oven, mixing bowl, food shredder, pan, wooden spatula, pie pan OR baking rings

Time: 5 to 10 minutes

1. Put the oven shelf at middle height in the oven and preheat at 180°.
2. Crush the petit beurre biscuits with a food shredder until you get fine crumbs.
3. In a pan melt the butter.
4. In a mixing bowl, put the crushed biscuits, melted butter and caster sugar and start mixing with your hands or a wooden spatula until the butter aggregates most of the crumbs.
5. Place a sheet of baking paper on a backing rack, then the baking rings. Place a bit of crust in the bottom and pack it until you have a 5mm crust. OR spread all the crust in a pie pan and pack it well.
6. Place the crusts in the oven for 9/10min. Take them out when they start to get a golden color. Let cool down.

Creme Patissiere

Material: 2 pans, wooden spoon OR wooden spatula, whisk, mixing bowl

Time: 15 minutes

1. Warm up the milk in a pan.
2. In another pan, away from the heat, mix the caster sugar, Maizena and flour. Add the cream, the egg yolks and whisk well. Add the warm milk and keep whiking.
3. Put the pan over medium heat and let it boil while continuing mixing and constantly scrapping the pan walls. Let simmer for 30s.
4. Add the butter and the liquid vanilla extract.
5. Put the creme patissiere in a mixing bowl. Cover it with cellophane – it needs to touch the cream to avoid oxydation. Place in the refrigerator for 1 hour / 1hour 30minutes.

Creme chantilly

Material: mixing bowl (aluminium if possible), electric whisk

Time: 5 minutes

1. Make sure that the liquid cream and the mixing bowl are fresh. For the cream, put it either 10 minutes in the freezer or at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator. For the mixing bowl, put it 10 minutes in the refrigerator.
2. Put the fresh liquid cream in the fresh bowl. Whisk it until the cream gets a bit consistent, and add the icing sugar and continue whisking. Be careful, if the cream starts having a yellow colour, it is starting the become butter. So stop before. The texture should be light.

Montage

1. Slice the bananas.
2. Spread a bit of creme patissiere on the crust, cover it with banana slices. Add a layer of creme patissiere and finish with a layer of creme chantilly.
3. You can unmold right away. Place the entremets in the refrigerator. Take them out at least 30 minutes before serving.

The Sweet Sunday Baker Tips & Tricks 

1. For the crust, it is important to put enough butter, otherwise the crust will not hold. While mixing the crumbs with the butter and sugar, try from time to time to spread a little bit of the mixture on a baking paper, and see if it’s holding like a pie crust. If not, keep adding butter.
2. For the creme patissiere, make sure that all your ingredients are ready and near you, as you need to be fast in the execution.
3. If the creme chantilly does not look fluffy, or if you see a lot of little clogs, this is because the bowl and / or the cream were not fresh enough. Start again.