Last week I came back home to find a beautiful gift from POLYGEL HOME BAKER waiting for me on my desk office.
A jam-packed goody bag has always an enjoyable impact on me, especially when it’s from a brand that I love. I rummaged through the bags to find many baking accessories, party items, 65% dark INAYA chocolate from Cocoa Barry ideal for my ganache, Spanish almond flakes and a lovely cake mould that I will try soon. But the one item I was thrilled about the most was the star cream, which is a ready mix to make crème pâtissière. I’ve been craving for a choux a la crème for a while and this came handy at the right time.
I love choux because the dough on its own is not too sweet so it really goes with any flavor you fill in. It can be catered to your liking. The most popular is to have a custard cream inside, but some recipes include caramel, coffee, strawberries, banana,… so the options are really unlimited.
The choux a la crème and éclair dough are the same, they are just piped in a different way. I prefer the choux pastries because it’s a bite size treat picked up and devoured in a single mouthful. These little sweets dole out an irresistible dose of rich flavor and will soon become your next favorite treat.
As per the rest of the items found in my goody bag, I know now I have few weeks worth of testing and evaluation. Checkout Polygel Home Baker website, many of their fabulous products can be ordered online.
The recipe for: Choux a la creme
Makes around 50
Ingredients:
- 100g / 1 cup butter, diced
- 300ml water
- 1 cup flour
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 3-4 eggs, lightly beaten
For the filling:
- 1 pack/400g Laped Vanilla Star Cream (crème pâtissière)
- 1lt cold milk
- ¼ cup Laped Italia Powdered Sugar, to dust
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 200C/400F. In a medium size pan, melt the butter with water and bring to simmer.
- Add the flour and the sugar, whisking constantly and remove from the heat and continue beating until the mixture forms a paste that doesn’t stick to the pan. Let the paste cool for 5 minutes.
- Add the eggs a little at a time and beat until you have a glossy smooth dough.
- Using two teaspoons (I prefer piping), place blobs of the dough onto the lined baking sheet, leaving space between them as they will puff up. If you use a piping bag, dip your finger in water and flatten down the little tips on the top.
- Bake the buns in the middle rack of your oven for 20-25 minutes, or until golden. Leave to completely cool on a rack.
- To make the filling, mix 350g of Laped Starcream Vanilla (crème pâtissière) with 1 liter of cold milk and whip for 3 minutes until glossy and fluffy or use the whole pack (400g) with 1 liter of water and whip vigorously.
- Fill the choux pastries with the chilled mixture of crème pâtissière and dust with Laped Powdered Sugar, ideal for usage in pastries and decorations.
Note: Alternatively, you can fill these choux with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream or any other filling of your choice.
