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Misc: Cream Puffs

Source of Recipe

NY Times


List of Ingredients

pâte à choux (see recipe below)
egg wash (see recipe below)
2 cups heavy cream for whipping, chilled
Seeds from one vanilla bean or 2 drops vanilla extract
1/4 cup sugar
1 pint raspberries
powdered sugar for dusting
4 mint leaves


Recipe

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. With a pastry bag, pipe out four mounds, about 1 1/2 inch in diameter onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper; leave plenty of room for expansion. Gently brush on a little of the egg wash to add sheen.

3. Place the pan in the oven for 10 to 12 minutes. Let the pastries cool completely.

4. With a whisk, whip the cream in a chilled bowl until it begins to thicken; add the sugar through a sifter and vanilla and whip until there are soft peaks.

5. Cut each of the pastries in half horizontally and with a pastry bag swirl equal amounts of the whipped cream on the bottom halves. Place three raspberries on the cream (saving the rest for garnish) and cover with the top halves. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

6. Serve with some berries on each plate and a mint leaf.

Pâte à Choux

1 cup water
8 tablespoons butter, cut in small pieces
10 tablespoons sifted flour
pinch salt
pinch of sugar
4 to 5 large eggs

1. Place the water in a saucepan. Blend the salt and sugar and add them to the water. Add the butter and cook at low heat until completely melted.

2. Just as the mixture begins to simmer, remove the pan from the heat so that any bubbling completely stops. Add all of the flour at once and stir vigorously until it is fully incorporated.


COOKING WITH THE TIMES
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Pâte à Choux

1 cup water
8 tablespoons butter, cut in small pieces
10 tablespoons sifted flour
pinch salt
pinch of sugar
4 to 5 large eggs

1. Place the water in a saucepan. Blend the salt and sugar and add them to the water. Add the butter and cook at low heat until completely melted.

2. Just as the mixture begins to simmer, remove the pan from the heat so that any bubbling completely stops. Add all of the flour at once and stir vigorously until it is fully incorporated.

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3. Return to low heat, stirring the dough as it smoothes and dries. When it starts to coagulate, shake the pan back and forth. The dough is cooked when it tends to roll up into a ball or oval and no flour is sticking to the bottom and side of the pan. Remove it from the heat immediately and transfer the dough to a bowl.

4. Add one egg to the mixture, blending it in completely with a wooden spoon. Then add the next three eggs, one at a time, blending each egg before adding the next. This mixture should definitely take four eggs but may not need any or all of the fifth.

5. After adding the fourth egg, test if you have the proper consistency by seeing whether the dough forms a "hook." Take an ample spoonful of the dough onto a wooden spoon, dip the spoon away from you so the excess falls off of its own weight. That should leave a tongue-shaped bit of dough, about two inches long, dangling from the spoon. Tip the spoon back up toward you. If the tongue falls right off you have not got the right consistency. If it dangles there for another two seconds or so as you tip the spoon upward, then you've formed a hook and the dough is ready.

6. If you don’t see the hook, crack the last egg into a separate bowl and mix. Add a little more egg to the dough mixture, and test for the hook. Continue to add a small amount of egg until the right consistency is reached.

7. Place the pâte à choux in a bowl, covered with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator to chill for about two hours.

Egg Wash

Pâte à Choux is almost always brushed with egg wash to seal it and give it a bit of sheen. You'll need it ready ahead of time.

1 egg
1/2 tablespoon water
pinch of salt

Blend until smooth.