• 2 cups of milk (whole milk recommended)
• 2 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 100g plain white flour
• 200g sugar
• 50g butter
• 1 table spoon of rum
• 1 vanilla pod
• a pinch of salt

• Copper canelé molds (or silicon molds)
• Mixing bowl
• Whisk
• Saucepan
• Cling wrap 

THE DAY BEFORE: prepare the canelés mix

1. Warm up the milk in a saucepan, cut the vanilla pod in half and scrape out the inside, add to the milk, add the butter

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar, eggs and egg yolks and gently incorporate the flour. Add a pinch of salt and a tablespoon of rum
3. Once the butter is completely melted, remove the saucepan from the heat, incorporate the preparation into the bowl. Whisk continuously until you get a smooth mix without any lumps, like a pancake batter
4. Cover with cling wrap and leave to rest overnight in the refrigerator.

THE DAY AFTER: bake the canelés

1. Preheat your oven to 430F / 220C

2. Remove the canelés mix from the refrigerator, gently stir it

3. Butter the inside of your copper molds (no buttering needed if using silicone molds)

4. Fill in the molds - make sure not not fill them to the brim since they tend to rise a little

5. Bake in the oven at 430F for 8 minutes, then 40 minutes at 350F

6. You know they are perfectly baked when the top is dark brown and a little crispy. Remove from the oven, let the canelés cool down for at least 10 minutes before trying to unmold them. 

Air is not your friend: too much air in the batter will cause them to puff up too much in the oven

Use the best quality molds: if you can't use copper - that is the best - use a thick silicon mold, as it will conduct and manage the heat distribution better than thinner ones. 

Don't fuss too much over the batter: make a paste from the eggs, egg yolks, sugar and flour and then gently whisk in the hot milk/ butter mix. It seems to help with a less airy batter.

Rest your batter: at least 12 hours, preferably 24 hours. Gently stir it (with the back of a knife – you don’t want to whisk too much now it’s all settled).

Feel free to use the batter straight from the refrigerator.

Lightly butter the molds, but not too much: as you are heating the oven, melt some butter and lightly brush the molds with the butter. Make sure it doesn’t pool in the bottom of the molds by turning the molds upside down on a cooling rack set over paper towel to drain excess butter out if necessary.