caneles!!

Wow - I told you I made batter for these yummy french pastries, then left you hanging for over two weeks.

Sorry about that.

I did make the things, and the results were okay by the second batch, tho I've yet to experience the custardy center that is the stuff of legend. Aside from winging it with the mini muffin tins, I also preheated the tins as noted in the traditional recipe, tho this step wasn't mentioned in the recipe I was using. So perhaps they cooked quicker than they ordinarily would, and so the timer was ultimately useless.

The first batch had an aroma not unlike toasted marshmallows. And a similar appearance, too:

A little too dark, and definitely overdone, though Matt was certainly not complaining. I think this might be one case where he preferred the mistake.

I had enough batter left to try again, so I did:

The color was better this time around, and the center was definitely softer than the surrounding crust, but it was still firmly in "cake" category. Very good, nonetheless, but I don't think it's quite what French pastry chefs would call successful.

Third time's the charm?

We shall see.

I think it mainly comes down to the molds, or possibly to tweaking the recipe to work with the tools available to me.

Alternately, if anyone's wanting gift ideas for the coming holiday season, the traditional molds are only $20.00 a piece!

I need eighteen of them.

Get on that, will you?