A
small bakery in France, on the Mediterranean Sea, sells
choux pastry filled with "crème pâtissière" or pastry
cream.
They sell them with either melted chocolate or caramel icing.
Pastry Cream
4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 cups whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Choux Pastry
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Pinch salt
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup butter
2 large eggs
Caramel
Icing
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup whipping cream
1 1/2 teaspoons butter
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon whole milk
1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
1. Pastry
cream: In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks and
sugar.
Whisk in the flour and cornstarch, then milk. Strain
into a
3-quart saucepan. Whisk constantly over medium heat.
The
mixture may bubble and it should become harder to pull
a whisk
through the custard. When thick, remove from heat
and stir
in vanilla. Pour into a small bowl, refrigerate 1 hour.
2. Choux
pastry: Preheat oven to 400 degrees
. Measure flour and salt
into a small bowl. Bring water and butter to a
boil in 2-quart
saucepan. Immediately stir in all the flour
with a wooden
spoon. Stir until dough forms a ball. Spread
out into the base of a
large bowl to cool quickly, let the dough cool
5 minutes.
3. The
easiest way to beat in one egg at a time is to use the edge
of the
wooden spoon to "cut" the eggs into the dough. The
mixture
will be slippery at first, keep stirring and cutting in
until it
becomes sticky. Stir vigorously at this point until well
blended,
repeat with second egg.
4. It
is easy to drop
tablespoonfuls onto a greased baking tray OR to make eclairs
you can fit a pastry bag with a 5/16-inch plain
tip and pipe out 3 or 5-inch
strips that are approximately 1/2-inch wide. Bake in the
preheated
oven for 10 minutes, reduce heat to 350 degrees
and bake
an
additional 25 minutes. They should be lightly browned.
5. Set
the pastries on a cooling rack, then use a scissors to cut a
small slit
in the side of each pastry to allow steam to escape.
Pastries
are best kept in a cool dry place at room temperature.
When ready to serve, use a clean piping bag
and fill with custard.
6. Caramel
icing: In a 1-quart saucepan, heat brown sugar,
cream and butter over medium heat until sugar
melts.
Remove from heat, stir in vanilla, milk and
confectioners'
sugar. Top filled pastries with warm icing.
Place in the
refrigerator
if you are not serving the pastries immediately.
Variation:
Serve shells filled with ice cream and top with
caramel or chocolate sauce. Shells may also be filled with
whipped cream and topped with melted
chocolate.
Makes 12 filled and iced pastries.
© Seasoned with Love - A copyright recipe
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