Strawberry Paris-Brest: Tangy sweet dessert

 I went to Chiang rai last week end and got these cute small strawberry ^^. well it's so cute and the moment that I saw it I really wanted to make something.

  A Paris-Brest is a traditional French pastry named after a bicycle race between Paris and the city of Brest in Brittany, now there are a lot of variations. The basic elements for this dessert are the choux pastry and the buttercream, so there are a load of ways to play with it ^^.
Because I want the buttercream to have a lot of strawberry taste, I use the strawberry puree instead of the water for making the syrup, and a lot of creme de fraise. But if you don't want to use alcohol in the buttercream just using the milk instead of the creme de fraise, and you may need more strawberry extract.
After soaking the strawberry in the sauce, the strawberry will soften, sweeter and they will stay in place better. You can assemble the dessert just before serving so the buttercream will  be soft and the texture of the dessert will be better than after refrigerating. It's easy because you just place the strawberry, pipe the buttercream and sprinkle with icing, all of them can be prepared ahead.
The richness of the buttercream and the sweet and tangy taste of the strawberry are going together very well, serving it with a cup of tea (mine is vanilla tea, ^^), is a good choice.

Strawberry Paris Brest

Makes 6 (10cm pastry)

Chox pastry
100g ............................... Water
1g .................................... Salt
45g .................................. Unsalted butter
60g .................................. Cake flour
100g ................................ Eggs
.......................................... Freeze dried strawberry, cut into small pieces

Egg wash

1 ....................................... Egg mix with 1tbsp of water 


Strawberry buttercream
130g ................................ Granulated sugar
50g .................................. Strawberry puree
50g .................................. Egg yolks
270g ................................ Unsalted butter
60g .................................. Creme de fraise
2tsp ................................. Strawberry extract
.......................................... Red food coloring (optional)
.......................................... Pinch of salt

Sauce a la fraise
150g ............................... Strawberry puree
20g ................................. Granulated sugar
1/4tsp ............................ Lemon juice

Filling and decoration
40-50 ............................. Small fresh strawberries
......................................... Icing sugar, for sprinkle on top

Preheat the oven to 200°C
Sift the flour and set aside.
Line the sheet pan with baking paper. Mark 6 (10cm) circles on a 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 pastry bag with the pastry and, using a star nozzle, squeeze the pastry to make 10cm circle on to the prepared baking sheets allowing space for them to rise separately.
Brush with egg wash, and sprinkle with freeze dried strawberry.

Bake for 35-40 minutes or light and holds its shape.

 Making strawberry sauce by putting the strawberry puree and sugar into the microwavable cup and heat in the microwave for 2 minutes or until the sugar melt, let it cool completely.
Cut the strawberry in half and place in the bowl, let it soak for 2 hours.

1. In a sauce pan, put the sugar and strawberry puree and bring to boil over medium low heat.
When the syrup reaches 100°C, start whisking the egg yolks.


 2. The syrup is ready when it reaches 117°C; pour it over the egg yolks  and continue whisking until cold.
Add salt and beat to combine, then add the butter 1 tablespoon at a time. Increase the mixer speed to high for 1 to 2 minutes, or until the butter is fully incorporated.
Add the Creme de fraise, strawberry extract, and red food coloring if using then beat until fully combine.

Cut the pastry in half, place the strawberry on the pastry, and pipe the cream over half of the pastry and cover with the top of the pastry.
Dust with icing sugar before serving.

Strawberry Paris-Brest: Tangy sweet cute dessert