Bake Day: Going for the Perfect Cream Puffs

It starts with a crunch, followed by an ooze of light, velvety cold cream… Finishing off with a sugar-sweet taste.  Do you know what I’m talking about?? Or curious maybe?

The description above is simply the taste and feel experience when eating THE PERFECT CREAM PUFF.

A cream puffs’ exterior is supposedly crisp, having hollowed baked shells of choux pastry. Then, loads of pastry cream is filled into it for an explosive taste of surprise. For physical appeal, the baked creations are topped with variants of glaze. The simplest option would be to dust it with powdered sugar :)

April 8th – Our theme: “Cream Puff Galore”
With one of Cagayan De Oro’s home bakers, Karisse Contreras, the entire baking experience was made more special. (Karisse actually makes delicious blueberry cheese cupcakes, see below for sample)

Looks yummy, right?...  

Sorry to get your hopes up, but our bake day was actually scheduled for “Cream Puffs”. 

As for her famous cupcakes – let’s see if we could sweet talk her into sharing with us the secret recipe :)

What we’ll be sharing here is the basics on how to make cream puffs… From the pate choux (cream puff shell)… pastry cream... to the glaze on top! 

Pate Choux

Ingredients:

• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 4 pcs eggs

Egg Wash

• 1 pc egg yolk
• 1 Tbsp water
• Pinch of salt

Procedure:

1. Mix first 3 ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to boil.
2. Remove from heat and stir in flour. 
3. Return to heat and mix until mixture forms into a ball.
4. Transfer to mixing bowl. Beat at low speed for a minute or until mixture is lukewarm.
5. Add the eggs. (Do not add the eggs all at once. You can add 2 at a time)
6. Check consistency, and texture. (Dough will resemble a smooth thick paste- it will fall from a spoon in slow motion, thick ribbon like. Add eggs if necessary to achieve desired texture )   
7. Pipe as desired. Brush with egg wash.
8. Bake in preheated 425 ̊F for 10 minutes.
9. Lower the oven to 400 ̊F and bake 15 – 20 minutes until dry. Cool completely

Foodnotes:
>For step 1, it is important that the butter melts before the water boils. Too much evaporation will affect the consistency of the dough.
> For step 6, if it is necessary to add more eggs, you could try adding only the egg whites (for crispier shells).
>Initial baking at high temperature (for 10 mins) is a must!- so the dough will rise quickly (leaving a hollow center) and to set the structure of the shells. The temperature is eventually reduced to allow the outsides of the shells to become firm and crisp, while allowing the insides of the shells to dry out.

>To keep the shells crisp, fill shells with cream shortly before serving.

Pastry Cream

Ingredients:

• 2 cups fresh milk
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup eggs
• 2 pcs egg yolks

• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 Tbsp butter

Procedure:

1. Mix together 1 ½ cups of the milk and sugar. Scald.
2. Mix together eggs, egg yolks, cornstarch and the rest of the milk.
3. Temper the egg mixture.
4. Bring the whole mixture back to the fire. Stir until a little bit thick. (Do not overcook, whisk constantly to prevent curdling) Flash bottom of pan in ice water.
5. Transfer to bowl. Mix in vanilla and butter
6. Cover with plastic wrap. Cool.

Chocolate Glaze

Ingredients:

• 3 Tbsp water
• 2 Tbsp heavy cream
• 3 Tbsp light corn syrup
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 110 grams bittersweet chocolate

Procedure:

1. In a saucepan, combine water, heavy cream, corn syrup, and sugar. Cook until sugar is dissolved.
2. Pour over chocolate. Whisk until smooth.

Hard Caramel Glaze

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp calamansi

Procedure:

1. Combine sugar and lemon in a saucepan. Mix until sugar resembles wet sand.
2. Heat over medium fire without stirring.
3. Heat just until sugar starts to melt around the sides of the pan or mixture begins to develop smoke. Stir sugar until it becomes liquid amber in color.  Turn off heat immediately.

written by: Shobe