Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Palets Bretons:French cookies with the Bordier Butter











In France we are lucky to get very good culinary products and those who make them put them in spotlight.

French artisans encouraged by the trend back to culinary traditions compete for perfection in the manufacture of local products or deli.

There is a real escalation , there is the best Chocolatier , the best Baker , the best  Butcher, the best of the best ... 

I admit that sometimes we get lost a bit, so that was tasted here is as good as there. It is difficult to say which is better than the other. Sometimes I go to a good Chocolatier and say «this is the best of France " and go to another and say, "This is the best of France!" 

Finally everything is a matter of taste and sensitivity.

I heard of Bordier butter in a TV show. 
The talented and too discreet Chief Rougi Dia who currently heads the Buddha Bar restaurant in Paris, was invited to do a blind test of three different types of butter.
She had found the first acceptable, then the second butter was better than the first without being exceptional. 
And for the third, she immediately said something like "Oh the Butter Bordier, we immediately recognize its taste" I’ve been interested to know more about this butter and its history. 
So I did some research on the internet and then I bought a slab of salted Bordier butter. Honestly this butter has nothing to do with what I've eaten so far. 

The Bordier butter is a churned butter manufactured in the purest tradition of French creamery. 
What surprised me is that in addition to conventional soft butter and salted butter, the house also makes Yuzu butter (Japanese citrus), seaweed butter, Espelette pepper butter etc.
I'm not advertising here, but the product is exceptional enough to be underlined. I chose to make the famous French cookies, Palets Bretons in French.

So it’s a come back to the origin for this butter manufactured in Saint Malo. I found the recipe in the French magazine Country House, Cuisine du Terroir. This is a Christelle Captain recipe.


For some good Palets Bretons you will need:
  • 250 gr of all pupose flour
  • 150 gr soft salted butter (butter of your choice)
  • 100g caster sugar
  • 1 teaspoon orange blossom water
  • 1 drop of vanilla extract
  • 1 egg
  • 1 egg yolk for gilding
  • A little water


Method:

An hour before the preparation put the butter at room temperature.
In a bowl, mix the flour and sugar.

Cut the butter into pieces and add to flour and sugar mixture.

Add the vanilla extract and sand the preparation (kneading with the fingertips).

Add the egg and the orange blossom water, a tablespoon of water, continue to knead and form a ball.

Wrap the dough in a plastic wrap and let it rest in the fridge no more than 20 minutes. Beyond the dough will be too difficult to work.

Preheat oven to gas mark 6 or 180 ° C.

Lightly floured sheet of baking paper and your rolling pin, roll out the dough on the paper 5 mm thick.

Cut circles with a fluted pastry cutter. Remove the excess dough gently. Make streaks with a fork on the round cut dough.

Beat the egg yolk with a little milk and brush the round cut evenly. Bake 10 minutes.

Those French cookies cook quickly and should be golden.

Reform a ball with the remaining dough, spread and cut circles of dough, brush with egg yolk and bake, this until the end.

Those cookies are really delicious with a cup of tea or coffee.
Enjoy!
Thank you to share your comments
I’ll be glad to see you there again






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