Choux

Dainty choux waiting to be piped

Anything goes when it comes to choux

This choux is many months overdue as the puff craze is long over. But for some compelling reasons, I pulled myself from choux ennui to make this and ascertain my choux mojo is still alive and kicking.

However, the same cannot be said for the filling. My usual wishy washy nature has overtaken me and since I could not decide what flavor the choux should take to, I mixed a dash of this and that and it turned out to be a glorified peanut butter cream. Ho ho! Hubby revised the cream to version 2.0 by window dressing it up with more whipped cream than the choux / mouth could handle.

Makes about 30 medium sized choux

Ingredients :

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup water

120g  unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted

1 cup / 5  eggs, at room temperature

Method :

You may need another pair of hands to do the stirring while steadying the pot for the following procedures.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper .

Bring the milk, water, butter, and salt to a rapid boil over high heat in a saucepan.  Add the flour all at once, lower the heat to medium-low and   continue to stir vigorously with a sturdy spoon.  The dough will come together and a light crust will form on the bottom of the pan. 

Stir for about 5  minutes, from the moment the flour is added.  The dough should now be very smooth.

Turn off heat now. Cool 5 minutes.

Add the eggs one at a time and whisk until the dough is thick and shiny.  The dough may break up at first but  will eventually come together again.   

The dough should be used immediately or shaped to little choux mounds and frozen immediately for later use. Simply bake from its frozen state, without thawing for 35 - 40 minutes.

Drop 1 tablespoon of  the dough  onto the lined baking sheets, leaving about 1 - 2 inch of  space between each mound of dough. 

Choux hot from the oven

Bake for 28-30 minutes until the puffs are golden and firm.  Cool completely before filling.

Cream Puffs  Filling:

Dulce le leche / peanut butter / nutella

Butter, room temperature

Icing sugar

Matcha powder / cocoa powder / milo or ovaltine powder ( yum ! )

OR

Flesh of fresh durian

It is either a DIY cream filling or a 100% pure durian flesh instead. Since I don't have the latter, DIY it was for me.

I am afraid I did not have specific proportions because I was in an experimental state.  Mix the different components of  cream at room temperature to achieve a consistency that is like thick butter cream.

 

Lope off the tip of the choux completely with a sharp knife. Spoon / pipe in your cream filling and  cover it with the cut off tip. Serve immediately.

Instead of the quintessential custard cream commonly used here, I whisked  dulce le leche, butter, icing sugar, cocoa powder to form a thick creamy sauce and spoon into the choux. Substitute matcha powder for cocoa and peanut butter for dulce le leche and you can have a platter of choux with various flavors for your guests.

To transform this to a hors d'oeuvre ,  mix mashed avocado and scant amount of cream cheese or tuna flakes with mayonaise for a pre-party finger food.

Adapted from doriegreenspan.com