So I watched this documentary called
Kings of Pastry. I will never underestimate the seriousness of pastry making again. Seriously, It's intense. And so it began again; my obsession with the delights inside French pâtisserie's.
I think it's kind of unfair that for every Starbucks America has, France gets a pastry shop. Because of this, I had to depend on sugar instead of caffeine to get over my jet lag when I was in France. Not that I'm one to complain about the intake of sugar, but when I came home the withdrawals where so debilitating that not even Nutella could cure them.
I guess this documentary gave me a bad case of déjà vu that could only be cured by making something. Making something French that is. So I tried some macaroons in honor of the famous Ladurée
...That didn't go so well. Being coated in sticky sugary eggs is not fun.
I can't talk about it. I'm still a little bitter over it...
On to the next one - cream puffs. Needless to say, I am not bitter about this recipe.
Don't have caster sugar? Well, I never do. So here's
how to make it.
The dough should be stiff enough to hold together but soft enough to squeeze out of a pastry bag.
I had to add water to mine because it was definitely not going to squeeze out of that bag.
..Would pastry chefs condemn me for that?
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| about 1-inch in diameter |
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| about 1-inch from bottom to tip |
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I used Wilton tip #12 to pipe both the cream puff dough and crème anglaise but you can always just cut off the tip of the piping bag.
You can wet your finger and press down the top of the dough that sticks up. I thought those tips were just too cuteee so I didn't touch them - - - make me feel normal and agree with me.
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For the filling, cut a hole in the bottom of the cream puff with a paring knife. They are not very fragile, however, I somehow managed to crush a few.
Why aren't the French as fat as they should be?
Here's the recipe:
Choux Pastry
makes 12 puffs
- 1 cup water
- 50g butter
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 50g bread flour
- 20g cake flour
- 2 eggs (lightly beaten)
- preheat over to 350 degrees F
Cook water, butter, sugar, & salt in a saucepan until bubbling hot. Turn heat to low. Add the bread and cake flour into bubbling mixture. Still on low heat, cook the dough for 1-2 minutes until a thin white film is formed at the bottom of the saucepan.
Transfer mixture into a food processor and turn on until the mixture turns luke warm.
Add in eggs 1 at a time and mix until well blended and smooth.
Place batter in piping bag and pipe it onto a parchment lined cookie sheet in rounds about 1-2 inches in diameter. Spray dough balls with water.
Bake at 395 degrees F. for 25 minutes. Turn oven off and let them cool in the oven for 30 minutes.
This is a great video on how to
pipe the profiteroles.
Crème Anglaise
- 1 cup milk
- 5 tbsp caster sugar
how to make caster sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 egg yolks (beaten)
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 2 tbsp confectioners sugar
Mix 1/4 cup of milk with the cornstarch until smooth.
Add the beaten egg yolks into the cornstarch mixture.
Boil remaining milk with the caster sugar in a saucepan until bubbling hot. Pour 1/3 of this hot milk into the egg cornstarch mixture. Stirring the whole time.
Now pour the egg cornstarch mixture through a strainer into the rest boiling milk. Stir until mixture thickens and a film forms at the bottom of the pan. Be careful not to burn the mixture.
Cling wrap the custard with cling wrap with the cling wrap touching the surface of the custard (this is to prevent a hard film from forming on the surface). Chill for at leas minutes.
While the custard is chilling whip heavy cream in a mixer and slowly add confectioners sugar. Whip until stiff peaks form.
Fold whipped cream into custard and put in a piping bag.
With a paring knife, cut a hole in the bottom of cooled cream puffs and pipe crème anglaise inside.
