a treat to make you forget the flu

we've had a lot of snow lately and cold to last me a lifetime. my general tendency is to make stews and hearty comfort food to counter it. but as i'm having the third cold of the season i have no appetite so i figured i'd better make a dessert to bring my palate back to life. hey, i've only gained barely a pound this christmas! so no need to lighten up. beside, have i mentioned what's going on outside? how am i to eat salad in this weather:

they're called parisians, and they are puffy, wonderfully soft horns filled with the most amazing apple pastry cream. be warned: you are not going to believe how good this is. you are not going to be able to stop eating. just so we're clear.  original recipe by laura.

the dough:

3 3/4 cups flour

1/2 cube fresh yeast or 1 packet dry

1/3 cup sugar

10 oz milk

4 tb butter

1 egg

pinch salt

the filling:

2 apples, peeled and cubed

2 eggs

1 generous tb sugar

1 ts vanilla

1 tb cornstarch

4 tb butter

1/4 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup water

i make most of my doughs in my food processor. first be sure to have all ingredients at room temp. then sift the flour, add salt and sugar and make a well in the middle. cream fresh yeast with a bit of sugar and milk to dissolve and put it in the well. cover with flour. when the flour cracks add the soft butter and the beaten egg and pulse. slowly stream in the milk. transfer to bowl to rise.

place the apples with the sugar on medium high heat to caramelize. add the water and cook until it's all absorbed. puree the apples finely, or coarse if you want some texture. melt the butter and let cool. add the heavy cream, the eggs, vanilla and cornstarch and mix well. add this to the apple puree and cook until thickened. set aside to cool.

fetch the dough and divide into 8. roll each into rectangles. imagine the rectangle divided in half. now from the midline cut thin horizontal strips all the way out, so they're loose. place filling on the whole half and roll thightly. place seam side down.

 look here for detailed step-by-step pictures. let rise on their baking sheet for another 45 minutes. (i only had the patience the second time i made it). brush with egg wash and bake at 375F until golden brown, about 25 minutes.

if you can, wait until cooled to dig in. good-bye, ol' pastry cream. you have been replaced. i plan to use this filling in choux and eclairs and on pretty much everything. now before i knew how amazing it is, i used some nutella to fill a couple of horns, just to defend the idea of chocolate. it's not a bad way to go, but the apple filling is really fingerlickin' goooooood.

the second time i made them, which might have been the next day, i divided the dough into 16 parts to make smaller horns. we like miniature around here.