Wikipedia says: “A canelé is a small French pastry with a soft and tender custard center and a dark, thick caramelized crust. The dessert, which is in the shape of small, striated cylinder approximately two inches in height, is a specialty of the Bordeaux region of France but can often be found in Parisian patisseries as well. Made from egg, sugar, milk and flour flavored with rum and vanilla, the custard batter is baked in a mold, giving the canelé a caramelized crust and custard-like inside.”

I have the special silicone form to make them their signature shape, but I am sure you could use small ramekins if you don't have them. My local Aldi had them on sale so look around and you might be able to get them where you are.

Francoise’s canneles are not the dark colour that most recipes ask for, and we really like them like that. However, to be puritanical about it, you should let them get really dark, almost burnt looking, to get the full caramel flavor.

This recipe also uses ground almonds, something I haven't seen used in canneles before, but these are so super I would recommend you give it a try.

THE RECIPE
This recipe is for a double batch – hey, if you're going to put the oven on you may as well go the whole hog! You can easily half the recipe should you so wish.

Makes 30 big or up to 100 small canneles.

1 liter milk
50g butter
400g sugar (divided 50g and 350g)
1 vanilla pod OR 1 tsp vanilla essence
2 spoons ground almonds
250g flour
4 eggs and 2 yolks
1 small glass of rum, about 125ml

METHOD:

1. Preheat the oven to 250°C.
2. Warm the milk and then add the butter, 50g of the sugar, vanilla and ground almonds.
3. In a separate bowl, mix the sugar and flour. Add the beaten eggs to the flour and then add the warm milk mix, beating well to form a smooth batter. Once it has cooled, add the rum.
4. Allow to rest in the fridge for at least 4 hours, but better is 24 hours. It can be left for 2-3 days if you can wait that long!
5. Remove from the fridge 10-30 minutes before baking. Butter the form generously, pour in the batter up to about 1cm below the top of the form, and bake for 10 minutes at 250°C. Reduce the temperature to 180°C and bake for 1hour.

Photos: canelles1
canelles2