Choux a la creme

Description

Recipe: This recipe is based on Helen Rennie’s. She is absolutely brilliant. Making profiteroles au chocolat is a bit hard, but in order to succeed (from the first attempt, yes!), you need to do the following: 1- Have a kitchen scale – I have provided cup conversions but I cannot stress how important it is that you weigh everything. The end result will be amazing. 2- Read the entire recipe before starting, make sure you understand the process and have all ingredients and tools handy 3- Do not substitute ingredients – basically make it as it is! use bread flour, light corn syrup, etc. So let’s get started shall we? First we will make a pastry cream and chill it. Next we will prepare the choux dough and bake them. Then we will take the pastry cream out (once chilled completely) and turn it into a crème diplomat (it’s so much better in this case than regular crème patissiere) and chill it. Finally we will make the chocolate sauce and fill the choux and cover with the sauce.

Choux a la creme

Servings 30 Medium sized choux

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Ingredients

  

Part 1: Crème Patissiere turned into crème Diplomat

Crème Patissiere ingredients:

• 242 g (1 cup) full fat milk 
• 242 g (1 cup) whipping cream 35% 
• 100 g (0.5 cup) white sugar
• Half a vanilla bean, split lengthwise (or 1 tsp vanilla extract or paste)
• 2 large eggs (100 g without the shell)
• 32 g (4 tbsp) cornstarch
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp Amaretto (or liquor of your choice, optional)
• 42 g (3 tbsp) unsalted butter, chilled and cubed

To turn it into a creme Diplomat:

• 230 g (1 cup minus 1 tbsp) whipping cream 35%, cold
• 60 g (4 tbsp) sour cream or Greek yoghurt

Part 2: The choux pastry shells

• 120 g (0.5 cup) whole milk
• 120 g (0.5 cup) water
• 0.5 tbsp table salt
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 113 g (0.5 cup) unsalted butter
• 142 g (1 cup and 2 tbsp) bread flour, sifted 
• 230 g eggs (weighed without shell, about 4 extra large), beaten

 Part 3: The chocolate sauce

• 113 g (0.5 cup minus 2 tsp) heavy cream
• 113 g chopped 60% chocolate (I used 2/3 dark and 1/3 milk)
• 25 g (2 scant tbsp) light corn syrup

Instructions

 

Part 1: Crème Patissiere turned into crème Diplomat

• If using a vanilla bean, scrape the seeds and use both the seeds and the pod.
• Heat the milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla bean seeds (and bean too) or vanilla paste in a saucepan until steamy. Remove the vanilla bean before proceeding.
• Then in a bowl on the side, whisk eggs and cornstarch together until there are no lumps.
• Then gradually add about a third of the milk mix into the eggs while whisking. Then run the egg cornstarch mix through a sieve to catch any egg lumps, and then into the milk mix. Continue whisking quickly until it comes to a boil and cook for 1 minute. You need to make sure you cooked it well at this stage or else your cream will flip. Set your timer and make sure you cook it for a whole minute after it begins to bubble, the cooking of the cornstarch will give it structure. Take it off the heat once you’re done. Then add the pinch of salt, Amaretto, and cold butter. Stir until all the butter melts. Taste your cream, it’s a work of art! Then place in a heatproof dish and cover with plastic wrap with the plastic touching the surface of the cream so that it doesn’t form a skin. Cool on the counter and then chill in the fridge until it’s completely cold. The bigger your dish the less time it takes to cool. In the meantime, while you wait for the cream to chill, we will make the choux.
• Once it is completely cold, take it out of the fridge and whisk it into shape. Whip the cold whipping cream using a mixer (stand or handheld), once it holds some shape add the sour cream and continue whipping until stiff. Then slowly fold the whipped cream mix into the pastry cream. Do this by hand and try your best not to deflate the whipped cream. Once all is incorporated store in the fridge until you fill the choux.

Part 2: The choux pastry shells

• Preheat your oven to 180 C with fan if possible. In a saucepan (preferably stainless steel), add the milk, water, salt, sugar, and butter. Bring them to a boil while mixing and then remove off heat. Then add the sieved flour all at once and mix until it all comes together. Break apart all the lumps with a spoon or a spatula and keep on mixing it. Once it is homogeneous, cook the mix for 5 minutes on medium heat. We want to dry it out as much as possible at this stage. If you see a thin film appear on the bottom of the pan, this means you’re doing great. Take the dough off the fire (leaving the sticky parts behind) and cool it for about 10 minutes. I like to place mine in the bowl of my stand mixer because that is where I will add my eggs.
• Add the eggs slowly while using the paddle attachment on slow. Add a bit each time and don’t add more until the eggs disappear completely into the mix. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed. Then continue adding most of the eggs, reserve a bit that you might not use. I don’t always add at the entire 230 g. A good indication of when to stop adding eggs is lifting the paddle attachment (or beaters) and seeing the dough hanging and forming a v-shape. The dough shouldn’t drop or fall from the paddle.
• Pour it into a piping bag fitted with a round tip (about 1 cm in diameter). Turn your tray upside down so there are no edges coming up, this will help cook them evenly. Put a drop of the dough in each corner and add baking paper, the paper will stick because of the dough drops. Then start piping, leaving about 2 cm between each one. The whole amount makes about 30 choux, so you will need 2 trays that you can bake together at the same time. Using wet fingers, tap the choux to flatten the top part. Then wet your hands and spray them with some water drops. This will help generate steam that will harden them
• On the most bottom rack add a pan with hot water. The hot water will also help create steam so that the choux don’t come out soggy. Then place both pans and bake at 180 C for 25-30 minutes. Do not open the oven midway (or at all) because that will cause your choux to deflate. Once they are done, take them out and turn off the oven. Take a piping tip (about 0.5 cm) and make a hole in the bottom of each choux. This hole will be where we fill the cream in later, it is also a hole that will help us dry out the insides of the shells. Place them back in the oven (turned off) for 10 minutes. We are drying them out even more so that they don’t become soggy when we fill them with cream.

 Part 3: The chocolate sauce

• Heat the cream in a double boiler or a microwave until hot but not boiling. Add the chopped chocolate and immerse them in the liquid. Then mix until it comes together. Add the corn syrup, give it a good mix and get ready to fill.

Part 4: Assembly

• Make a hole in the bottom part of the choux using a piping tip. The hole should be about half a cm in diameter.
• Then fill the cream into a piping bag fitted with a piping tip that matches the sizes of the holes you created.
• Fill them generously until you can tell that each puff is full. Usually you can see a drop of cream oozing out and this is indication to stop filling. With practice you will know when to stop. After you fill them, clean the bottom with a spoon or a tissue. You can also slice them in half and fill them, I just think it’s prettier to fill it from the bottom.
• Then dunk them in the chocolate sauce and set down so that the chocolate dries to the touch.
• They are best eaten on the same day, but can last for 1-2 days in the fridge.