Ice cream sandwich with warmed Orange caramel. Decorate with the nuts and candied fruit and serve with a chilled glass of Muscat and let the toes curl in front of the fire!
Prep Time40 minutesmins
Cook Time20 minutesmins
Total Time1 hourhr
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: French
Keyword: nougat
Servings: 8
Calories: 766kcal
Author: Namiko Chen
Ingredients
Orange Nougat and Honey Ice Cream:
60ghazelnuts(roughly chopped)
50gpecans or walnuts(roughly chopped)
100gcandied fruit(preferably orange peel and candied kumquats, roughly chopped)
Orange Nougat and Honey Ice Cream (Adapted from a recipe by Trish Deseine. Prep Time: 20 mins | Freezing Time: Minimum 12 hours)
Put a glass bowl in the freezer in preparation for whipping the cream.
Whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks.
Heat the honey in a pan until it starts to bubble. Pour it hot onto the egg whites then whisk for another minute or two.
Whip the cream in the chilled bowl until it’s stiff. Add the nuts and fruit (but keep some aside for the decoration) and fold the mixture gently into the beaten egg whites.
Pour into mini muffin molds (I used silicone), or simply into a sealed container and freeze.
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Boil the water, milk, orange flower water, salt, sugar and butter in a large saucepan.
Once boiling, quickly add the flour and whisk until the dough is smooth and comes away from the sides of the pan.
Transfer to a mixing bowl (or electric mixer) and gradually add the eggs. Whisk until you have a lovely smooth, sticky paste. At this point, you can transfer the pastry to a piping bag and keep refrigerated for up to 5 days.
Using a piping bag, pipe out small heaps on baking trays covered in greaseproof/baking paper (or Silpat) Leave a good space between each mound, as they will spread out during baking.
Brush with a glaze of one egg yolk mixed with a tablespoon of water. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.
Put the sugar with a few drops of water into a small saucepan. Using a wooden spoon, stir it now and again over a medium heat until a golden syrupy caramel forms. This should take about 10 minutes.
Mix in the butter, still over the gentle heat and keep stirring for about 10 minutes until thickened.
Turn down the heat and add the cream, zest and liqueur gradually.
The caramel can last up to 3 weeks if stored in a sealed jar in the fridge. When ready to serve, just reheat gently for a few seconds in the microwave and dribble (the sauce.)
Assembly
When choux buns are cool, cut them in half and fill with a scoop or mini mold of nougat ice cream. Warm the orange caramel in the microwave just for a few seconds and dribble over the buns (sorry, I can't help laughing on that one: you don't dribble but the sauce should be dribbled...). Decorate with candied fruits and the extra toasted nuts.