Whitney Miller won the first season of MasterChef and is sharing her insider knowledge with us!
This week, the chefs go Hollywood, plus Whitney shares her Vanilla Profiterole recipe.
It was worth it because they came out perfectly the second time around."
After tasting this uniquely delicious version of bananas foster, the judges declared it the hands-down winner.
In a small bowl, sift the flour, 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar, and salt.
In a medium pot, combine 1/4 cup of the butter and 1/2 cup of water.
Bring to a boil over high heat.
Pipe about 20 golf ball-size mounds onto the prepared baking pans.
Dip your finger in water and lightly smooth out the peaks of all the puffs.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown.
Remove the profiteroles from the pan and set aside to cool.
Wipe off the Silpat or replace the parchment–you’ll need this for the caramel.
Beat the cream with a handheld electric mixer until it forms soft peaks.
Add the vanilla seeds and sift in the confectioners' sugar, folding it into the cream.
Scoop the whipped cream into a pastry bag fitted with a plain round tip.
Refrigerate until ready to use.
In a small pot over medium heat, combine the 2 cups granulated sugar with 3/4 cup of water.
It should look like wet sand.
Swirl the pot over the burner to dissolve the sugar completely.
Cook for 5 minutes, or until the sugar melts and begins to turn golden.
Continue to cook 3 minutes longer, or until the color deepens to medium amber.
Be careful, the sugar is really hot at this point.
Remove from the heat.
Pour the hot caramel onto the prepared baking pan.
Let it cool and harden for 15 minutes and then break up into long shards.
Melt the remaining 1/4 cup butter in a skillet over medium heat.
When the butter gets foamy, add the bananas and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons granulated sugar.
Flip the bananas and remove the pan from the heat.
Pour in the brandy and ignite with a gas burner flame or long kitchen lighter.
Toss the bananas and cook 2 minutes longer.
Make a hole in the bottom of each profiterole and pipe the vanilla cream inside.
To assemble, put 5 banana slices on a plate in a circle.
Top each banana slice with a profiterole, letting the outer end of the banana show.
Place 3 pieces of your caramel design in the center of each profiterole ring.
Dust with confectioners' sugar.
Reprinted from “MasterChef Cookbook” by The Contestants and Judges of MasterChef and JoAnn Cianciulli.
Copyright (c) 2010 by Reveille Independent LLC.
By permission of Rodale, Inc. As team captains, Ben and Christian chose team members as well as planned their team’s menu.
Bonus: Healthy Appetizers For Any Party
Hmm…both teams are preparing profiteroles and a gazpacho?
The rivalry heats up when Chef Ramsay questions the team captains about the menus.
The votes came down to cooked vs. raw beef and the beef wellington won 100% of the votes.
It didn’t take Giuseppie long to decide to change his dessert to a mini pastry filled with berries.
Batch after batch of profiterole batter was trashed by Esther.
Finally, the third time was the charm.
Are you kidding me?
After all Esther’s work, then the chocolate mousse filling separated.
Defeat showed on the red team members' faces.
Why not whip up a simple Chantilly cream to fill the profiteroles?
Instead, Esther’s team desperately recreate a quick new dessert of kumquats and strawberries.
The girls' and Ben’s baking skills are put to the test in a six-layer cake pressure challenge.
Pumpkin, cream cheese, and candied hazelnuts were composed into a beautiful six layer cake.
Warm chocolate poured over layers of cake was Suzy’s icing of choice.
Joe appreciated the simplicity of Tracy’s delicious strawberry cream cheese cake, shocking Tracy.
Banana split was the inspiration for Jennifer’s cake.
Gordon was won over by the combination of delicious chocolate and banana flavors.
Esther’s cake wasn’t enough to butter up the judges, so she was sent home.
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