Master A French Classic – Canelés

I can’t tell you how much I love discovering new sources of French inspiration.

A little while back, I came across a lovely blog – {French} Countryside Companion. The creator, Shannon, and her family share their time between the United States and – you guessed it – the French countryside.

Shannon strikes me as an incredibly creative woman. Not only is she a chocolatière and a pâtissière who is currently writing a cookbook, but she and her hubby are also renovating their French home.

I really look forward to her blog and Instagram posts. (Seriously friends, if you do nothing else, make sure you take a look at Shannon’s Instagram account. It’s full of dreamy shots and thoughtful captions.) Everything has a relaxed French vibe that I absolutely adore. 

Mastering Classics – Canelés

So when Shannon shared her recipe for canelés recently, I knew I had to try them. I fell in love with canelés when we visited Bordeaux – the city where they were believed to be originally created – a few years ago.

Canelés have an interesting flavour profile and they deliver both crunch and sweet chewiness in one delicious little cake. They basically have a whole lot going on, and because of this, I’d assumed they’d be difficult to make. It turns out that I was wrong. While they do require patience, they are actually relatively simple to make. Canelés make a big impression for the relatively small amount of effort required.

You can find Shannon’s canelé recipe here.

From memory, this is only the second time that I’ve shared a Master A French Classic recipe that I haven’t modified in some way to make it my own. The other was the recipe for madeleines. I find it interesting that I don’t feel the need to put my stamp on baked goods. It’s probably got something to do with the fact that I don’t cook them that often and if the recipe works for me first go, then there really isn’t any need for me to muck around with it!

A Slight Variation

That said, I did make one very tiny variation to the recipe. Despite trying three separate stores, I couldn’t track down any bees wax to line my canelé moulds with. So after a little bit of Google research, I decided that lining the moulds with butter alone would work just fine. And it did. The custardy batter seemingly fried in the butter which created a deliciously caramelised and crunchy canelé.

And while I’m on the topic of moulds, I have to confess that I didn’t use traditional copper moulds for my canelés. I wanted to, but for some reason they cost a fortune here in Australia. I decided against silicone moulds, and went for a canelé pan that allowed me to make nine canelés at once. Shannon’s recipe makes way more than nine canelés, so I’m planning to treat myself to a few individual moulds the next time I’m in France.

Have you ever made canelés? Do you have any tips for baking the perfect canelé? If so, please feel free to hare them in the comments section below.

And until next time – au revoir.