Apples and celery sticks

With a background in pastry-making, chef Virginie Thenot offers a simple, tasty dessert combining fruit, vegetables and Breton shortbread.

This recipe by Virginie Thenot, former chef at Les Jardiniers restaurant in Ligré, is taken from the 2024 edition ofBook 109: The new blood of French gastronomy. Discover the ingredients and preparation steps to make it a breeze.

Serves 6
Preparation time: 30 min
Cooking time: 35 min
Resting time: 2 h

Ingredients for Virginie Thenot 'sapple and celery sticks

For the Breton shortbread

2 egg yolks
80 g semi-salted butter
6 g baking powder
80 g sugar
140 g flour
1 vanilla pod

For the baked apples

6 apples (elstar or braeburn)
100 g butter
Celeriac mousse
600 g celery stalks
300 g mascarpone
80 g sugar
150 g liquid cream

Virginie Thenot 'sapple and celerysteps

Prepare the Breton shortbread: whiten the yolks with the sugar, add the softened butter, then the flour, baking powder and vanilla. Roll out the dough between two sheets of parchment paper, about 1 cm thick, and leave to rest in a cool place for 2 hours. Cut into disks with a cookie cutter and bake for 15 min at 170°C (th. 5/6). Cool on a wire rack.
Prepare the baked apples: peel and core the apples, place in an ovenproof dish with a knob of butter. Bake for approximately 20 min at 180°C (gas mark 6), depending on size.
Prepare the celery-branch mousse: centrifuge the celery-branch and whisk in the mascarpone, cream and sugar. Then gently fold in the celery juice (approx. 100 g). Set aside in a piping bag.
Assembly: arrange your Breton shortbread on the plate, place the slightly warm apple on top and, finally, the mousse in the piping bag. Decorate with edible flower petals.

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