Week 13: Baba au Rhum

This week I was looking for something new. The section on babas caught my eye. I have never heard of babas, so was quite intrigued. Note - these are not to be confused with the French children's cartoon "Barbapapa". Actually I am quite fond of the Barbapapa characters and the way the papa is pink. However these little numbers were not child's play and were certainly for the adult palate.

According to Julia, babas always seem  to delight guests and they are not difficult to make! Sold!
As the "Mastering French Cooking" recipe book is pretty light on illustrations, I googled babas  to find out what the finished product should look like. Luckily the dough raising required a few hours as our internet connection was so slow. This is almost as frustrating as this laptop that I type this blog on... there are three keys that don't work properly - 2 w and s. In seems like every second letter is a s or a w! Although for some reason the keys warm up and start working (go figure!)

When I finally got connection, I watched a lovely romantic music video dedicated to 'Mum's Babas' in which the mother was lovingly preparing the babas whilst the family selected the finest Christmas tree in a Winter wonderland scene. However the picture was rather different here. I was stinky from a recent run which slightly over-powered the Pandora pond smell on me from my morning swim. Rather than the Christmas decorations I had piles of washing on the table (we were going to be eating dinner outside!), coupled with a potted primrose which had long ago did its dash of splendour and was way overdue for replanting outside.

Despite lacking the ability to conjure up a French winter scene my appetite for a baba was growing. In fact when the family reconvened for dinner everyone was ravenous from a full day of outside activities. Oldest daughter and father had a day rafting, and youngest daughter had a morning at rowing.
I had decided to make the Babas au Rhum - where firstly you make the babas which basically are  dough balls. Then the babas imbibe (another new word for me) the rum. I served these with whipped cream and accompanying extra rum syrup. For the "classique" babas au rhum you paint the babas with apricot glaze and place a cheery on top.
As a considerate mother I had already removed two babas from the rum baptism for eldest daughter. I needn't have bothered as according to Caroline they were "yuck" but I could redeem myself if I consented to allowing an ice-block instead! Luckily 3 of us enjoyed them (Mum and Dad there are a few left over coming your way). And somehow the rum went down quite nicely in the kiwi summer outdoor scene.

Look out for the barbapapa in the babas!