Cream Puff

Cream Puff is one of the first few pastry that I had learned to do when I had just started baking at about 15. I still remember how happy my mum was when she let her friends to get a taste of the puffs and they had nodded their heads with approval. That kinda boosted up my confidence and since then I had exposed myself with all kinda recipes from cut newspapers and mum's cookbooks. It had been about 10 years since I made my last batch of cream puffs but strangely it felt as though I had just caught a glimpse of my mum's smile yesterday...

Cream puff is basically choux (pronounced "shoe") pastry + pastry cream. A dollop of choux paste will puff up into a hollow ball when baked and then it's up to you what kinda filling you would like to serve it with. I had made a sweet filling of the renowned creme patisserie (chinese is known as 糕点师傅的奶油) with the leftover vanilla pod.

Cream Puff
adapted from The Cook's Book, recipe of Pierre Herme

CHOUX PASTRY

Ingredients:
125ml water
125ml full cream milk
1 tsp caster sugar
1 tsp salt
110g butter
140g plain white flour (sifted)
5 eggs


Methods:
1. Pour the water, milk, sugar, and salt into a pan. Add the butter. Bring to the boil. As soon as liquid boils, add the flour all at once. Stir vigorously until the dough is smooth.
2. Continue to stir the mixture over the heat for another 2-3 minutes until the dough dried out and comes away from the sides of the pan in a ball. Tip it into a large bowl.
3. Add the eggs one by one, beating well so that each egg is thoroughly incorporated before adding the next. (Use a mixer at low speed if you have one, I didn't bother with that and use a wooden spoon and stir like mad.)
4. When the dough falls as a ribbon, it is ready to be used. (You will know the dough is ready when you lift the wooden spoon, the spoon pulls up some of the dough that then detaches and forms a slowly bending peak.)
5. Preheat the oven to 180 ˚C. Put the choux pastry dough into a piping bag (I had used a disposable one). Pipe balls of the mixture about 5cm in diameter onto a baking tray lined with baking parchment, spacing them about 5cm apart.
6. Bake in oven for about 10 mins or until the pastries are puffed up. Lower the temperature to about 170 ˚C and continue to bake until the pastries are golden and feel hollow, about 10 minutes.
7. Transfer to wire rack and cool.

The choux paste cannot be kept so bake it as soon as you have made it. If you want to make it in advanced, bake the choux paste and keep the cooled choux pastries instead in airtight container.


Creme Patisserie

Ingredients:
250ml full cream milk
22.5g cornflour
62.5g castor sugar
1 vanilla pod
3 egg yolks
25g unsalted butter at room temperature


Method:
1. Whisk the milk and half of the sugar in a heavy-based pan. Split the vanilla pod in half lengthways and scrape out the seeds with the point of a sharp knife. Add the vanilla seeds and pod to the pan. Bring to the boil, whisking all the time.
2. In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks, corn flour and remaining sugar until well mixed. Pour the hot milk onto this mixture in a thin stream, whisking all the time. Transfer the mixture back to the pan and bring just to the boil, whisking constantly, then immediately remove the pan from the heat. (Be careful not the let the mixture cuddle if not you will get scrambled egg instead.)
3. Stand the pan in a shallow bowl filled with iced water. Remove the vanilla pod. (I simply rest the mixture on the counter, stir occasionally till no smoke can be seen.)
4. When the sauce has cooled a little (to 60 ˚C), add the pieces of butter, whisking briskly until they have melted and the sauce is smooth and shiny.

I had doubled the pastry cream recipe to fill in all the choux pastries. The cream is best made before it is being used but if you have to make it in advanced, store it in a container with cling wrap touching the surface to prevent the surface from drying. To assemble, insert the pastry cream into a piping bag and pipe the pastry cream into the choux pastry case with a tip. Or if you don't have any of those gadgets, simply cut the tops off the choux, about half the way up. Fill in the base with pastry cream and put the top back. Sprinkle with some cocoa powder or icing sugar. Serve it to your neighbours, your boyfriend/girlfriend, your colleagues, your family or your pet and receive compliments. :)

Now I have 6 egg whites sitting in the fridge. What am I going to do with them? Hmmm.. Chiffon cake anyone? :D