Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Almond crusted choux cream: Delicious and simple sweet!

I didn't bake choux pastry for a long time ^^, well there are many things that I want to do, so sometimes I really want one day to have more than 24 hours.

So while I browsed through the cookbook (before going to bed, haha), I thought about it. Baking choux cream is not hard but it really need attention, this time I made some mistake too ^^", the temperature of the oven was not as hot as I wanted. The hot oven is importance to make the pastry puff up, but after that the lower temperature is needed to keep the choux pastry to stay puff and firm before taking it out of the oven. The mistake that many people make is taking the choux pastry out of the oven before it become firm, so it will flat and you won't have the hole in the pastry anymore. Don't believe in the color of the choux ^^, the fully cooked choux pastry will be firm and light, you may have to touch it before taking it out of the oven.


Almond crusted choux cream
Makes 9 (7cm)


90g ........................... Water
40g ........................... Unsalted butter
................................... A pinch of salt
50g .......................... Cake flour
2 .............................. Eggs (You will use more or less)
30g .......................... Almond (diced)
.................................. Granulated sugar (for sprinkle on top of the choux)
Custard cream
300g ........................ Whole milk
5cm .......................... Vanilla bean (scrap the seeds from the bean)
3 ............................... Egg yolks
10g ........................... Corn starch
60g ........................... Granulated sugar
20g ........................... Cake flour
20g ........................... Unsalted butter
................................... A pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 250°C
Sift the flour and set aside.
Line the sheet pan with baking paper. 
   Bring water, butter and salt to a boil. Remove from heat, add flour all at once, blend well, stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until mixture no longer sticks to pan and forms into a ball. Reduce heat to low and return pan to stove, beating for 2-3 minute Remove from heat. 
Whisk in eggs one at a time (a little at a time, you might not need all of them).
 When the batter is smooth and glossy, test with your finger, you will be able to stretch it.
 Fill a large pastry bag fitted with a 1 cm plain tip nozzle with the dough.
Pipe the dough, into 4 cm rounds onto the baking sheets.
Leave about 2 inches (5 cm) space in between each dough strip to allow them room to puff.
Sprinkle the top of the choux dough with almond and sugar.
Lower the heat to  the oven to 200°C. Put the choux pastry  into the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until they start to brown.
Lower the heat to  the oven to 180°C. and bake for 10-15 minutes more or until they are puffed, golden and firm.
*I have my oven door maintained open with a wooden spoon for the last 5 minutes).

Make the custard cream:
Scrap the seeds from the Vanilla bean. In a small saucepan, bring the milk to a boil. In the meantime, combine the yolks, sugar, vanilla seeds, salt, cake flour and cornstarch together.

Once the milk has reached a boil, temper the yolks by whisking a couple spoonfuls of the hot milk into the yolk mixture. Continue whisking and slowly pour the rest of the milk into the tempered yolk mixture.

Strain the mixture back into the saucepan to remove any egg that may have scrambled. Place the pan over medium heat and whisk vigorously (without stop) until the mixture returns to a boil. Keep whisking vigorously for 1 to 2 more minutes (still over medium heat).


Scrape the pastry cream into a small bowl and set it in an ice water bath to stop the cooking process. Whisk the butter into the pastry cream, cover with plastic warp (place directly onto the top of the pastry cream). Let it cool completely.

Pipe the filling into the pastry.


Almond crusted choux cream: Delicious and simple sweet!

16 comments:

  1. Thank you very much for giving me inspiration, confidence in banking by showing step by step pics which help a lot for a beginner like. All the pictures are also awesome.

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  2. The almonds on the puff makes it look very delicious and crunchy!

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  3. I have tried puff pastry four times. But all of them werent perfect, tall, crispy and holey like yours. And the last attempt was a complete flop! Sigh i wish i have such techniques like you do!

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  4. this looks gorgeous and so yummy!^^

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  5. your step by step photo is very very helpful. especially the one on letting the batter drip from the spatula. i made choux the other day for recipe testing and the feedback was TOO LITTLE EGGS, but i had no idea how the batter should be before you pipe it. So thank you =)

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  6. Thanks for the recipe Pook. :) Your puffs look fab! Just wondering, is the consistency of the custard a little runny or is it more like a thick custard? Thanks! :)

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  7. I love how you give recipes up in small portions! it really works with me cause i have a small oven xD

    Just one thing to point out, i think u missed out amount of sugar for the cream? D: i just made these and i relised no sugar D:

    Thankyou ! :D

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  8. Hi I just wanted to ask how do u fill ur cream to the pastry? Did u fill it from the bottom or from the side of the pastry thx

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  9. Hi, Angel
    The amount of the egg will depend on your batter, more or less than mine, just remember to add it little by little. And check the batter, frequently.

    Hi, Anonymous
    This one is not very thick.

    Hi, Yummiki24
    I forgot to type it -*-, already add the amount of the sugar now.

    Hi, Anonymous
    I filled from the side of the choux.

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  10. Thank you so much for this recipe!
    I have a question though, how come the custard filling looks so liquidy/creamy and delicious inside the cream puffs, while cooling it looks more thick and solid?

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  11. Yes, it will be firmer after cooling.

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  12. Hi. I got a question about the choux batter part. I try the recipe sometime ago and accidentally used margarine instead and when i mix the flour into the pan then stir them i can get that none sticky and roll to a ball form. Recently i bought the unsalt butter and cook it, when i pour the flour in and stir it, somehow it always gooey look and never roll into the ball form and very sticky. I had try it 3 times now and the same result. Can you tell me if i miss something? Thank you

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  13. I never had that problem before, but I saw some problems like oily dough come from boiling the butter too long and the butter separate. The other thing that you can do is using low heat and beat the mixture until the flour become dry ^^.

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  14. Your choux puffs looked divine! Just a question tho, is the temp in fan-forced?

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  15. No, I use convention oven for this one ^^.

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