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Cannelés with amaretto (gluten-free option)

Traditional cannelés from Bordeaux have their particular taste because of a key ingredient : rum.  But I don't like rum in cakes, an experience that dates back to Christmas cakes that looked so yummy as a child and taking that first bite and discovering they were doused with rum.  So when I make cannelés I replace the rum with Amaretto, which stays more in the background and has such a nice almond fragrance.  

Here's the classic recipe with a twist (about 40 mini cannelés or 20 regular size)

500 ml of milk
125 g of flour (or gluten-free blend with xanthan gum)
250 g sugar
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
100 ml amaretto (or rum if you prefer original taste)
20 g melted butter (+ softened butter for molds)
2 tablespoons vanilla
A pinch of salt

In a bowl, beat yolks with sugar, add milk and melted butter.  Add other wet ingredients.  Add dry ingredients.  Cover and refrigerate about 24 hours.  

Preheat oven to 250° C / 450° F (in convection setting if possible). Butter the moulds. Fill molds with the batter up to 1/4" from top to allow rising.  Bake on bottom rack for about 15 minutes, then 25-35 minutes in middle rack, lowering temperature to 180° C / 350° F.  For mini-cannelés, total baking time is about 30-40 minutes.  For the normal size, about 45 minutes to an hour.

A friend gave me silicone cannelé moulds, which surprisingly worked wonders for well risen and easy to unmold cakes, they were even fairly caramelized because of placing on the lower rack of the oven in the beginning.  A little tip : if you want a nice darker caramelized crust, take the cannelés out of the mould once cooked and turn them upright, and bake another 5 minutes on "grill" setting to get a nice browned crust.

For a gluten-free variety, I did bake a batch with rice flour + corn flour (because I didn't have gluten-free flour) and they turned out good as well, but a bit smaller, and careful because the rice flour tends to seep to the bottom of the batter overnight, which makes for a thicker dough on only the bottom side of the cakes.  It's not easy to find gluten-free flour in shops where I'm from, lol.  You do what you can ;)

Enjoy this batch nonetheless!


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