Decadent Brioche with Crème Pâtissière and Cocoa Crumble

Throughout my years living in Paris, first alone and then together with Gali, we got to know quite a few people in our professional field. Pastry chefs, chocolatiers, bakers, chefs, raw material producers, and of course all the supporting cast like PR people, media, marketing, and many more. We built these connections with a lot of persistence, hard work, commitment to quality, truth, and above all, an endless passion for this world.

Usually, professional relationships in France remain within the work framework, unlike in Israel where the workplace is more informal. In France, friendships that develop at work tend to be more superficial and in most cases stay within the office walls. Of course, there are exceptions, but the work culture is completely different from what we’re used to.

Perhaps because we’re accustomed to a different culture—more open, warmer, and more collaborative—we managed to build strong connections with several colleagues that over the years turned into real friendships. One of the people closest to us in the Parisian pastry world is pastry chef Carl Marletti.

Marletti is a true friend, the kind who invites us to join him and his family on the sacred summer vacation, who comes with us to Israel, who checks in every few days to see what’s happening in Israel, how our families and friends are doing, the kind who expresses his opinion very clearly—I’m with you, without any buts or conditions.

When we bring our visitors during some of our tours to his boutique, he welcomes them with great warmth. He gets excited about every visit we make with Israelis to his shop and tells me that people also come to him independently because of us. Marletti is a warm home for every visitor in Paris, which is so touching.

Beyond being a wonderful and generous person, he’s one of my favorite pastry chefs. His desserts are marvelous, not too excessive, balanced and generous. He preserves the classics but also creates unique desserts of his own, and occasionally brilliantly comes up with a product that both I and you must try at home. During one of my recent visits with tour participants to his boutique, he served us the desserts we’d chosen and added a cardboard box containing a product I wasn’t familiar with. “Taste this together, it’s a new product we’ve created.”

After tasting the chef’s creation, I told my visitors that I was going to publish the recipe for this product on my blog, and here it is before you. A decadent personal-sized brioche with crème pâtissière and cocoa crumble. It’s a true delicacy that requires quite a bit of effort, but the result is simply wonderful. I’ve adapted the recipe for your home kitchen, and if you follow all the steps comme il faut (as they should be done), you’ll get a perfect result.

The brioche dough must be prepared the day before baking. I also like to prepare the other components (the crème pâtissière and the crumble) the day before, and then just assemble and bake on the day of serving.

Decadent Brioche with Crème Pâtissière and Cocoa Crumble
Makes 12 pieces (small paper pans 10 cm in diameter, 2 cm high)

Ingredients
Brioche dough (prepare the day before):
330g all-purpose flour
8g fresh yeast
50g muscovado sugar (or dark brown sugar)
5g fleur de sel
Seeds from 2 vanilla pods
100g eggs (about 2 small eggs)
100g whole milk
100g butter, cut into cubes

Crème Pâtissière:
400g whole milk
Seeds from 2 vanilla pods
50g sugar (divided into 25g + 25g)
80g egg yolks
25g all-purpose flour
25g cornstarch

Cocoa Crumble:
100g all-purpose flour
100g ground almonds
40g high-quality cocoa powder
A pinch of fleur de sel
80g light brown sugar
100g butter, cut into cubes

For the Assembley:
1 egg yolk mixed with 2 tablespoons milk for brushing
Muscovado sugar
60 tiny butter cubes (5 for each brioche)
Fleur de sel

Preparation
1. Brioche dough: In a mixer bowl, place flour and yeast, and mix lightly. Add sugar, salt, and vanilla and mix on low speed. Gradually add the eggs and milk. Mix for about 10-12 minutes at medium speed until the dough is homogeneous.
2. Add the butter pieces and continue to mix at low speed for another 10-12 minutes, until the dough is shiny and uniform. If necessary, stop the mixer and separate the dough from the sides to help knead all the dough evenly. Be careful not to let the dough get too warm.
3. Shape the dough into a ball, place in a lightly floured bowl, and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight.
4. Crème Pâtissière: In a medium saucepan, bring milk, 25g sugar, and vanilla to a boil.
5. In a medium bowl, whisk together egg yolks and 25g sugar until the mixture is pale and shiny. Add the flour and cornstarch and whisk to a smooth mixture.
6. Pour a little of the hot milk into the egg yolk bowl and whisk vigorously so the yolks don’t curdle.
7. Transfer the entire mixture back to the saucepan with the milk and whisk continuously. Bring back to a boil and whisk until thickened (about a minute).
8. Pour the crème pâtissière onto a small heat-resistant tray (like Pyrex) and immediately cover with plastic wrap, making sure the plastic touches the crème pâtissière and adheres to it, preventing a crust from forming. Place directly in the refrigerator.
9. Cocoa Crumble: Preheat the oven to 160°C (320°F) and line a large baking tray with parchment paper.
10. In a mixer bowl, mix together flour, ground almonds, cocoa, salt, and sugar. Add the butter and continue mixing until a relatively crumbly texture with chunks of crumble is achieved.
11. Transfer the crumble to the parchment-lined tray and spread it so that small chunks of crumble form. Bake for about 10-12 minutes until the crumble is baked through. Cool to room temperature.

Assembly
12. Remove the brioche dough from the refrigerator and transfer to a lightly floured work surface. Knead the dough to remove the air and divide it into 12 equal pieces (about 60g each). Roll into balls and place on a parchment-lined surface, cover, and return to the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
13. On a lightly floured surface, roll each ball of dough into a disc the size of the pan and place in the pan. Cover with a kitchen towel and place in a warm spot to rise until the dough doubles in volume. You can also place it in an oven preheated to 30°C (86°F) for 30 minutes.
14. Preheat the oven to 180°C (356°F) (preferably with fan).
15. Gently brush each brioche with the egg yolk and milk mixture.
16. Transfer the crème pâtissière to a medium bowl and whisk it until it becomes softer and more airy. Transfer to a piping bag with a 10mm round tip. Pipe 5-6 generous dollops of crème pâtissière into each brioche. It’s normal for the cream to remain inside the dough and also protrude above the brioche.
17. Sprinkle each brioche with a little muscovado sugar and then generously distribute pieces of cocoa crumble on top. Between the crumble pieces, scatter about 5 tiny butter cubes on each brioche and sprinkle with a little fleur de sel.
18. Bake for about 14-16 minutes until the brioche is puffed and golden brown. Remove from the oven, cool slightly, remove from the pans and transfer to a cooling rack. *Best eaten very fresh.

Bon-Appétit
Sharon