Homemade Christmas log with lemon meringue thanks to a chef at home in Reims

In Reims, on the Marne, pastry shops are a hit as Christmas Eve approaches, making 100% homemade gourmet desserts. Tips, advice and recipe for lemon meringue pie style fox with home chef Katia Gribet during this Thursday workshop.

“I warn you, there will be preparation!“, warns chef Katia Gribet immediately at home in front of six attentive students, in the kitchens of the Zodio store, in the suburbs of Reims. Three hours of preparation, concentration and arm cramps await them. A Yule log , deserves it. .At least it’s homemadeencouraging second grader Vanessa, it’s natural, we know what’s in it“.

Because supermarket magazines are too little for them. These six enthusiasts decided to get their hands dirty this year. “Granted, I usually tend to buy it, Audrey admits, but this time I want to put the log on the Christmas table and say, “I did it.” !”.

According to home cook Katia Gribet, this homemade trend is confirmed a little more every year. This year, the baking classes for Christmas were already full from the beginning of November.

A slight departure from tradition: instead of chocolate log this time, lemon meringue. The recipe starts with an airy sponge cake, the smell of which will make the whole small kitchen fragrant once it is in the oven.

Calculate for the ingredients six eggs, 200 grams of sugar, 120 grams of flour, a packet of yeast and a little lemon peel. “Beat eggs with sugarKatia explains Gribet to one of her students. Don’t hesitate to put the drummer in full, it should double the volume!“.

Nothing too complicated so far: an electric mixer does all the work. It is then up to the students to show all the subtleties of the world to include flour, yeast and flavoring. “looks very professionalsmiles Vanessa, spatula in hand, it’s pretty cool!“.

But eager smiles quickly give way to concentrated faces. After the sponge cake is baked and rolled, it’s time to make the lemon cream. And that’s no small feat. Katia Gribet provides her recipe 150 grams of lemon juice, 150 grams of eggs, 120 grams of sugar, 4 grams of gelatin sheet 120 Bloom (a unit of measurement of the gelatin strength of gelatin) and 75 grams of butter.

Heat the first three ingredients in a bain-marie. Whisk, whisk and whisk again before adding the soaked and strained gelatin as well as the butter. About ten minutes pass with the encouragement of Katia Gribet: “You need to whip harder!“, “I told you you’d lose calories!“.

Since starting these pastry workshops in 2018, Katia Gribet has always followed a simple rule: only take small groups of students. “Six is ​​too many“, he smiles, moving from one to the other to give advice, gesture, correct mistakes and applaud successes.

The goal for the students is to leave the workshop with a yule magazine, while also gaining a lot of valuable tips and new knowledge in pastry. “That’s good, we feel like we’re headed in the right direction“, Vanessa confirms.”I couldn’t do it all by myselfNathalie adds, I really needed a coach!“.

This is the last step with the Italian meringue, even though the wrists are already tight. 100 grams of sugar, 40 grams of water and 50 grams of egg white. Water and sugar are boiled in a pot before being poured over the beaten egg whites. So much for the meringue, delicately placed on top of the rolled log with a spatula. “After all, there are many similarities between the building and the kitchen, smiles Katia Gribet, we also shape, smooth, etc.“.

The Yule log is ready, rolled up and soon it will be eaten at everyone’s Christmas table.

In addition to the pride of making your own dessert, these workshops have an undeniable advantage for all participants: there is no need to wash dishes. And that’s quite a gift.