Cream Puffs (Pâte à Choux with Cream Patisserie) Recipe

Baking is an expensive hobby.  Even as my frugality stops me from buying my heart's desires at every turn (hello there Cuisinart ICE-100!), nevertheless, the costs add up. I curb my spending as much as I could.  A handheld $19 electric mixer does most of the grunt work for me. A collection of metal jars and stainless steel pots replaces the need for a proper mixing bowl. I made do with spoons and an old wooden spatula, until I inherited a silicone one from a friend when she graduated. 

Since ingredients like flour, butter and sugar are requisite for most recipes, I buy these in bulk to keep costs low. Maybe it's the baker in me, but I like to know that I have the basic ingredients on hand to start almost any recipe I come across.

Australia was where my baking really started to take off, as I started baking with people who has far more experience than I did. Of course, it definitely helped that due to the close proximity of farms from Melbourne, many ingredients are cheaper - and better in freshness and quality - than in Singapore. 

Because I'm the only person in my family that bakes with any regularity, the baking equipment generally gets pushed further and further back in the cupboards in my absence. The thought of having to locate and unpack all the baking equipment, along with Singapore's sweltering heat that makes every unnecessary activity bothersome, made me very reluctant to put on my baking hat in Singapore. Instead, I'm content to catch up with family and friends, or generally just bum around the house. 

Luckily, one of my friend was eyeing a recipe for durian cream puffs, and I shook off my lethargy to join her over at her place (with air-conditioning in the kitchen, yessss!). Her mom was there, which was especially delightful. Her mom is a seasoned baker herself and would occasionally pepper the conversation with helpful little tips on getting the dough just-right, or on the best way to fill a piping bag. 

Even her nails are perfectly manicured. What time is it? COOLEST MOM AWARD TIME 

I also got to try out their kitchen gadgets like the nifty silpat that I keep hearing about, but could never forked over the dough for one. (And yes, she has an ice cream machine to boot... though it's not a Cuisinart.) As we baked off the puffs before sitting down and enjoying the puffs, she brought out several different slices of cakes, baked beforehand for tea-time, along with tea and coffee. I could think of no better - or productive - way to spend an afternoon sitting around doing something we all love: eating baking. 

Pâte à Choux

Original Recipe from the YouTube channel cookingwithdog. For a visual demonstration, check out her video on YouTube, where you guessed it!, she cooks under the supervision of her mildly entertained dog. She makes a standard cream puff filled with pastry cream, though we deviated from her for durian purée. Credits to Nicole Y and her mom, who took the time to transcribe the recipe. 

Ingredients
Pâte à Choux
100ml Water 
60g Unsalted Butter
A pinch of Salt
60g Cake Flour
3 Eggs, Beaten

Cream Patisserie

400ml Milk (1.69 cups)

⅓ Vanilla Bean Pod

4 Egg Yolks

100g Sugar (3.5oz)

2 tbsp Cake Flour

2 tbsp Corn Starch

100ml Whipping Cream with 36% fat (3.4 fl oz)

½ tbsp Sugar

Powdered Sugar

Rum or Brandy (optional)

Steps
Choux pastry
1.Place water, butter and salt in a saucepan and bring to a rolling boil on medium heat.
2.Turn off heat, add sieved cake flour and stir quickly. When the flour has been absorbed completely and the mixture turns gooey, return heat to medium. Stir until a thin film forms at the bottom of the pot.
3.Transfer mixture into a bowl. Flatten with a spatula to cool slightly. 
4.Add beaten egg in 4-5 steps, making sure the egg is completely absorbed each time. At the last stage, add the egg a little at a time to ensure the batter does not get too thin. To check consistency, drop the batter. There should be a V-shape dangling from the spoon. Preheat oven to 200C.
5.Make circle templates of 5cm on baking paper. Place batter into a pastry bag and squeeze batter with the tip about 1cm away from the baking paper. (Tip! Don't be afraid to pile the batter on. You want majestic billow-y puffs, not flat little sad ones. The higher the batter is piped onto each circle, the more majestic-ly it will end up.  

Pro Tip 2! Open the filling bag from inside a tall container and over the wall of the container to fill the piping bag easier. Tip 3: Twisting the end with the nozzle before filling the piping bag  prevents leakage of the batter until you're ready to go. 

6.Dip finger into water and depress the peaks on each circle. Spray batter with mist thoroughly, or use a brush with water to prevent drying. 
7.Bake for about 25-30 minutes until golden brown.  Cool on wire rack completely.

Cream Patisserie
1.Scrape vanilla bean pod with the back of the knife. Add the pod and seeds to milk and heat over low heat until boiling point. Prepare an ice bath.
2.Mix egg yolks and sugar until thick and pale yellow. 
3.Sieve cake flour and corn starch and add to egg yolk mixture. 
4.Add 1/3 of milk mixture, including vanilla pod and seeds into egg yolk whilst stirring.
5.Strain mixture back into pot with milk. Over medium-low heat, whisk pastry cream until it thickens. When bubbles begin to form, remove from heat and place into a metal bowl over an ice bath. Cover with plastic wrap and cool completely. 
6.Whip cream completely until stiff peaks. Add about 2/3 of the whipped cream to the pastry cream and whisk to combine. Add rum or brandy as desired. 

Assembly
Make a diagonal cut in each puff. Place pastry cream into a bag and squeeze generously. 


Dust with confectioner’s sugar and serve!

Variation: 
Fill each puff with Durian Purée instead. There's never enough durian in my fridge to go creating desserts with it, but it's always interesting to give it a whirl. Most durian purée recipes involve beating whipping cream to stiff peaks, then adding durian flesh and beating at a lower speed until smooth. The durian(/g):cream(/ml) ratio is 3:1. For our double batch of Choux pastry, we had 1kg of durian flesh to work with, which I think is more than enough.