Serious Eats: Recipes
Canelés (Cannelés) de Bordeaux
[Photograph: Lauren Weisenthal]
If you attempt canelé at home it's important to keep these principles in mind:
- A coating of beeswax and butter, frozen to the molds before baking, helps create a protective outer skin that will help protect the shape of the canelés as they bake. Beeswax can be purchased on the Internet or at the honey stand at a farmers market.
- High heat at the outset encourages skin formation, especially on the bottom of the mold. To facilitate this, bake on a stone, and preheat the baking sheet that will hold the molds.
- If the canelés rise out of the molds early on without having time to form the protective skin, they will fall over or puff out and will be unable to sink vertically back into the molds. I found it critical to watch them carefully for the first 30-45 minutes, and remove them from the oven before they rose too high in the beginning.
- Many people on the internet advise baking until they are nearly black on the tops. I advise against this;- there's a big difference between caramelized and carbonized, in flavor, texture, and appearance. I'm happy to put up with some blond patches to avoid a charred, burned bottom part.
- Copper really is the best if your goal is the perfect canelé. However, the aluminum are pretty good too, and if you're okay with canelés that are a little less that perfect, the one's baked in aluminum are still plenty delicious and cost a fraction of the price of the copper.
- Practice makes perfect, and mistakes are still delicious.
Note: We strongly recommend using a scale for all pastry projects. Serious Eats' recommended kitchen scale is the Oxo Good Grips Scale with Pull Out Display.
Learn The Technique!
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