Canelés bordelais (dairy-free version)

My dad's family lives in Bordeaux, a city in the South-West of France, and, as a child, I used to spend some of my holidays there. I remember how I was always excited about going downtown, partly because of all the shops I didn't have in my little village, but most of all for the sweet treat I was hoping to get during those errands, the delicate canelé, typical of Bordeaux.

The canelés are traditionally baked in copper moulds, but nowadays you can easily find canelés silicone moulds. However it is important to get the right one since their special shape will make all the difference during the baking!

It was my first attempt at baking cannelés and although they are usually made with milk, being on a dairy-free diet I tried to replace milk by the Blue Diamond almond milk I usually drink. It turned out really well and I was really impressed by the result even if they could have done with 10 more minutes in the oven. I hadn't eaten canelés in ages so I might have forgotten their exact taste but from what I remember it is quite close, close enough to share the recipe with you today. Next time I will try a gluten-free version as well but I didn't want to be too ambitious on my first attempt ;)

Ingredients (for a tray of 8 cannelés)

- 250 ml of almond milk (or any other plant milk)
- 1 whole egg + 1 yolk
- 1/2 vanilla pod, split lengthwise and scraped
- 1  tbsp of rhum
- 50 g of plain flour
- 100 g of sugar
- 25 g of dairy-free margarine
(- a pinch of salt if the margarine in unsalted)

Directions

1/ In a saucepan combine the milk, vanilla pod and its scraping. Bring it to a boil.

2/ In the meantime, combine the flour, sugar and egg. Then whisk in the boiling milk (without the vanilla pod). Stir until the mixture is really smooth (like a crepe mixture). Leave it to cool down, then add the rhum.

3/ Refrigerate for a at least 2 hours (ideally overnight).

4/ Preheat the oven to 270°C. Butter the canelés mould if it is not a silicon one.

5/ Give a stir to the mixture and pour it equally into the 8 holes of the mould. Bake for 5 minutes at 270°C and then lower the oven temperature to 180° and bake for another 50 to 70 minutes, depending on how dark/cooked you want them.

All the secret is in the cooking time but it can vary a lot depending on the oven :S Anyway the canelés should be dark and crunchy outside but still very soft in their centre. I like mine a bit underdone so actually I got them almost right for my taste, but a bit longer in the oven would have been perfect!