It is my birthday and I decided to make myself something fun to celebrate. Now that I am squarely in my 40s I find it especially important to make this occasion a special one. I was in the mood to play with sugar. It has been years, many years, since I have worked in the restaurant world and had the opportunity and excuse to do over-the-top fanciful things with sugar. It is more the act of creating these wisps of golden caramel that thrills me, even more than eating them. To sit on top this ethereal nest I decided I needed something creamy and decadent; cream puffs filled with pastry cream in three flavors. I set these cream puffs on a sugar nest.
The tale of two puffs:
Last week I received the long awaited sequel to Shirley O. Corriher’s wonderful book Cookwise. I’d met her at least a decade ago and she mentioned her manuscript for BakeWise, a book dedicated to the science of baking. I’ve been chomping at the bit for it ever since. Shirley writes about this sometimes weighty subject with such a fun and lighthearted way that even those who are not geeks about their food chemistry will enjoy it.
I decided to give her pâte à choux (Cream Puff) recipe a go. It is radically different than the one I have used for years so I thought it would be interesting to see how the final puffs would compare. Her recipe calls for the use of a Baking Stone
On the left is my recipe baked as I show below. On the right are puffs baked on a pizza stone and with steam. Maybe it is just my oven?
After a couple of failed attempts I skipped the steam and the baking stone because the puffs made with them ended up expanding so much they lost their shape and then collapsed. In defense of Shirley’s recipe I think this failed experiment has more to do with my oven trapping too much of the steam and causing the puffs to get soggy and collapse. The other issue was that the stone seemed to retain so much heat that even when I dropped the temperature, as you are supposed to do, the oven stayed too hot and the pâte à choux got too dark. Have you baked your puffs with steam and on a baking stone? How did it go in your oven?
Pâte à Choux Recipe
Find the recipe below and read on to follow along step-by-step instructions and get cream filling ideas.
Preheat oven to 425°
In a heavy saucepan bring the milk, salt, sugar and butter to a boil.
Remove from heat and add the flour all at once to the pan and
stir it until it becomes a
smooth ball. Turn the stove back on low and continue to stir for about 3-5 minutes. Do not allow the dough to color. You are trying to dry the dough out as much as possible. The dryer it is the more eggs your can add to it and the better your pâte à choux will puff.
Remove from stove and place the hot dough in your stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Mix for a few seconds.
Add the eggs one at a time to the hot dough. Mix on medium speed until the egg is completely blended in to the dough. Repeat with the other 4 eggs, scraping down the bowl after each addition.
Your dough should be very soft, but still hold its shape when piped out. If the dough still feels stiff at all you can mix up the 6th egg in a small bowl and add half of it to the dough. You want to avoid having your dough too runny or it is hard to pipe.
With a Pastry Bag fitted with a large round Pastry Tip you want to pipe out mounds that are about the size of a quarter and 1 1/2 inches apart.
Place the sheet in the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Turn the heat down to 350 degrees and continue to bake for another 20-30 minutes or until golden brown and firm.
I filled the puffs with 3 different flavored pastry creams. Vanilla, ground pralines and Nutella were my choices. You will need:
1 recipe vanilla bean pastry cream, divide the recipe into 3 bowls. Leave one as vanilla and then add ground praline to one and nutella to the other. Just add until they suite your taste.
Other flavors to try: fruit preserves, rum, chocolate, peanut butter, banana puree, passion fruit, lemon zest, and anything else your imagination can think of. If you come up with fabulous ideas let me know!
To fill the puffs, just fill the Pastry Bag with your flavored pastry cream. Cut a small hole in the bottom of the puff with a knife and then fill through the bottom.
Dust with powdered sugar and flick with cocoa powder to create the look of little eggs.
A cup of coffee or a glass of port and you are set!
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Ingredients
Pâte à Choux
- 1 cup milk
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 3 oz unsalted butter
- 1 cup eggs about 5 or 6 large eggs
- 1 cup bread flour or all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°
- In a heavy saucepan bring the milk, salt, sugar and butter to a boil.
- Remove from heat and add the flour all at once to the pan and stir until it becomes smooth ball. Turn the stove back on low and continue to stir for about 3-5 minutes. Do not allow the dough to color. You are trying to dry the dough out as much as possible. The dryer it is the more eggs your can add to it and the better your pâte à choux will puff.
- Remove from stove and place the hot dough in your stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Mix for a few seconds.
- Add the eggs one at a time to the hot dough. Mix on medium speed until the egg is completely blended in to the dough. Repeat with the other 4 eggs, scraping down the bowl after each addition.
- Your dough should be very soft, but still hold its shape when piped out. If the dough still feels stiff at all you can mix up the 6th egg in a small bowl and add half of it to the dough. You want to avoid having your dough too runny or it is hard to pipe.
- With a Pastry Bag fitted with a large round Pastry Tip you want to pipe out mounds that are about the size of a quarter and 1 1/2 inches apart.
- Place the sheet in the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Turn the heat down to 350 degrees and continue to bake for another 20-30 minutes or until golden brown and firm.
Happy Birthday!
The apron came this week – there are pictures of me wearing it in my new kitchen, I’ll get them posted one of these days!
What yummy little morsels!
but where did you get the spun sugar? or how did you make it?
Happy Birthday Zoe! Your special birthday treat looks beautiful, playful, and elegant and makes me wonder why I don’t make cream puffs more often.
Wow! Those look so good! Happy birthday! I just love that you take step by step pictures so there is no doubt on any step…thank you for taking the time!
Happy Birthday! I love your puffs. That’s my idea of a birthday “cake”! Your trio of flavors are making me drool. I’ll take one of each, please:)
Happy birthday!!! The puffs are lovely – I’ve tried a few different recipes, and for me, usually the simpler ones are better. I love your trio of pastry creams too — sounds really delicious!
Happy birthday, Zoe! Your puffs are goregous and your fillings divine. 🙂
I just bought Artisan Breads and have already made the Vermont Cheese bread (YUM!) and the Boule bread. Over the weekend I purchased a stone and several other items from KAF. Can’t wait to receive them. I’ve always loved home baked bread but rarely took the time. Now there is no excuse! Maybe I’ll try the puff pastries as well. They’re beautiful.
Zoe
Happy Birthday Zoe!
I have been thinking about making some cream puffs-now I guess I have another reason. To try your recipe.
Thank you all for the birthday wishes! It has been a great day.
Mercina, I adore fudge and will do a post on it soon. Thanks for the great idea!
Thanks, Zoë
HB! I just bought Artisan Breads and am reading thru it. I’m so excited to get going on breadmaking this week!
happy birthday zoe! these look wonderful!
Happy birthday, Zoe! Those puffs and the cute nest are a wonderful way to celebrate a birthday!
Happy Birthday Zoe! This looks fantastic, you are so talented! Do you have any brown sugar fudge recipes? I’ve been trying to make it, but I have not been very successful. It has been coming out very watery. It would be great if you could do a photo tutorial on making fudge!
Happy birthday! The beautiful nest is way beyond my skill but I might be able to manage the puffs. Thanks for the photo tutorial!
That’s gorgeous Zoe! I love the nest! I’ll take one of each, ok?
Oh, Happy, Birthday Zoe!!! You’re such an amazing talent and brilliant to be able to celebrate your 39th for a 3rd round! 😀
That next and puffs are simply fabulous!
Happy Birthday, Zoe! I hope this one is your best one yet. The nest of cream puffs is just inspired. How lovely!
Happy Birthday. I’ve bookmarked this recipe for when I bake profiteroles this week. Thanks!
Happy Birthday, Zoe:) And I would much rather start off my day with those kind of puffs instead of Cocoa Puffs!
absolutely heavenly! happy birthday and thanks for sharing the goodies!
Happy Birthday Zoe and thanks for an another wonderful recipe:)
Happy Birthday. The nest is truly beautiful.
Happy birthday, Zoe! I hope you have a wonderful day! Your little nest of “eggs” is adorable. Creampuffs are one of my absolute favorite treats and yours look scrumptious!