Cream Puffs inspired by Pierre Hermé
Rose sugarbombs: A religious experience
A gift of rose petals necessitates a gesture. Not just anything will do. I've made mere rose jelly ~ (crystalline blushing winesap pink), rose cupcakes ~ (vegan, pistachi-O'd and almondy), rose vodka ~ (hello!)...... but I needed to speak in a full sentence this time, and the 14th of February loomed pain-free and celebratory on the horizon. I'd always wanted to try it, and I guess it was time, to wizard up some sugarbombs in a flavour combo courtesy of the french wizard Pierre Hermé himself, a trifecta of rose, raspberry and lychee - an Ispahan* dessert.
St Valentine's must have met nuns, and if he did, they would probably be made of cream puffs and be called religieuses. A religieuse, besides being terrifically delicious and kind of freaky looking, is a snowman creation of a fat cream puff (pâte à choux) filled with pastry cream, a smaller filled cream puff on top, iced in crisp fondant and streaked with streaks of buttercream.
Pierre Hermé’s Cream Puff Dough
Pâte à Choux
makes 20-24 Puffs
1/2 cup (125g) whole milk
1/2 cup (125g) water
1 stick (4 ounces; 115g) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (140g) all-purpose flour
5 large eggs, at room temperature
In a heavy bottomed medium saucepan, bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to the boil. Once the mixture is at a rolling boil, add all of the flour at once, reduce the heat to medium and start to stir the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon. The dough comes together very quickly. Do not worry if a slight crust forms at the bottom of the pan, it’s supposed to. You need to carry on stirring for a further 2-3 minutes to dry the dough. After this time the dough will be very soft and smooth.
Transfer the dough into a bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using your handmixer or if you still have the energy, continue by hand. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each egg has been added to incorporate it into the dough.
You will notice that after you have added the first egg, the dough will separate, once again do not worry. As you keep working the dough, it will come back all together again by the time you have added the third egg. In the end the dough should be thick and shiny and when lifted it should fall back into the bowl in a ribbon.
The dough should be still warm. On a greased tray, pipe out or scoop out 12-14 puffs about the size of a mandarin orange, and 12-14 puffs the size of walnuts, and bake in a 350 oven for 15-20 minutes, or until risen and golden brown all over. Try not to open the oven door while they’re still rising, or they may lose steam and flatten. After taking them out of the oven, pierce them with a knife to allow steam to escape.
Notes:
Once the dough is made you need to shape it immediately.
You can pipe the dough and the freeze it. Simply pipe the dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets and slide the sheets into the freezer. Once the dough is completely frozen, transfer the piped shapes into freezer bags. They can be kept in the freezer for up to a month.
Continue reading this blog post and recipe
* A clear pink, half-open kind of Damask rose
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