A World of Choux, Slackers and One Psycho!!!

I am a bad bloggie! I've been a slacker...Can't believe my last entry was almost one month ago! Well, I have a few good reasons!

1. We had a Mid Semester test...which I had the highest score! :)
2. One week of well-deserved break after the test.
3. Massive renovation right above our apartment (imagine 4 jackhammers going at the same time!!!)
4. The last two weeks' lessons were BORING!!!
5. Oh, I got a psycho b*tch who screamed at me again :( Yup, she's not only LAZY...she's PSYCHO too.

So you see, I got very good excuses...Now, lets get on with the last two weeks lessons. The first one was choux pastry (pronounce: SHUz) or more commonly known as Eclair Paste. Commonly used for Cream Puffs and Eclairs. It is French obviously and the recipe is simple. While making the batter is easy, piping it out to make a variety of puffs is not. Items such as cream puffs, eclairs, swans, mini crocombouche, paris brest, fritters and St. Honore were taught. Unfortunately, I find the week lesson was a bit bland.

Choux Pastry (set temp at 200 degree C)

Bread flour/cake flour.....................................95g (for a crispier end product, use bread flour)

Butter..........................................................50g

Water/Milk...................................................125g (milk contributes to golden end product) I prefer 1:1 of water and milk mixture.

Eggs...........................................................3 medium sized
Sugar & salt.................................................A pinch (sugar also contributes to golden end product)

1. Put the water & milk mixture in a sauce pan with salt, sugar and butter. Over low heat, stir with whisk until all butter melted (careful since boiled milk will overflow). 
2. Must sieve the flour to avoid any lump. Once the water milk mixture boiling, add all flour and stir with a wooden spoon.
3. Stir constantly until all flour blended in. This will create a smooth yellowish batter.
4. Transfer this to a mixing bowl and using a paddle attachment, stir until the batter cools.
5. Add egg one by one. Before the second egg is added in, make sure that the batter fully absorbs the first egg. Scraping down the bowl after each egg.
6. After the last egg is added in, the batter should turn smooth and glossy.
7. Fill the paste in a piping bag and pipe according to desired shapes (cream puff - round and eclair - long).
8. Bake at least 20 mins without opening the oven door (choux pastry rely 100% on air and heat as raising agents).

Pastry Cream
Pastry cream is a custardy filling used to fill up both cream puffs and eclairs.
Milk........................................500g

Vanilla essence.......................3 drops

Egg yolk.................................100g

Sugar.....................................100g

Corn flour................................50g

Butter.....................................70g

1. Whisk egg yolk and half of sugar. Add in corn flour and mix until smooth.
2. Bring milk and other hald of sugar and vanilla essence to the boil (careful, boiling milk will overflow).
3. Slowly beat in hot milk (half) into the egg yolk mixture. Stir.
4. Return the egg yolk + hot milk mixture to the remaining hot milk and continue to stir under low heat.
5. Mixture will start to thicken and turn into cream.
6. Add butter and continue to stir until all butter melted.
7. Cover and chill.
8. Using a piping bag, pipe pastry cream into cream puffs or eclairs.

Note: For decorations, you can always dip the cream puffs or eclairs in melted chocolate or simply dust with icing sugar ;)

Paris Brest

Paris Brest is a doughnut-shaped choux product which is a hit during the annual cycling championship in France whereby cyclists race from Paris to Brest, hence the name. And, the shape is obviously from the bicycle wheel. Initially, I thought it was supposed to spell Paris "Breasts" and that it always come in pair. Of course, this will take Paris Brest to a whole different level. 

1. Using the same batter, fill up a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe out desired size circle. Make sure it is about 1 inch thick.
2. Sprinkle some almond flakes on top. Bake at 200 degrees C.
3. Once golden, let it cools on a rack. Cut the middle horizontally.

Filling: Using pastry cream, add a big tablespoon of hazelnut paste. Stir well before fill up a piping bag and pipe the filling on the bottom part before sandwich it with the top part.

Mini Crocombouche  

Crocombouche is a cone-shaped towering structure assembled with many cream puffs hold together with caramel and decorated with spun sugar on the top. It is traditionally used as dessert for French wedding. Here, we made a mini version of it.

1. Pipe cherry-sized choux pastry onto a baking tray. Bake and fill each one up with pastry cream.
2. Prepare caramel and dip each puff into the caramel and start assemble the cone by creating a circle as the base.
3. Drizzle caramel over the puffs after every level.
4. Once completed, prepare spun sugar and make into a ball or ring to decorate the mini crocombouche top.

Note: Extreme care when handling caramel since it is extremely HOT and sticks to your skin!

Caramel (burnt sugar)

1. Put 100g caster sugar in a saucepan and heat it up.
2. Stir occasionally until all sugar dissolves and turn brown.
3. Once all sugar melted, it will turn into a golden brown syrup.
4. Prepare some water and add them into the caramel with extreme cautions!
5. Stir and the caramel is ready to use.
6. If the caramel turns too thick, reheat it over medium heat. 

Note: Extreme care when handling caramel since it is extremely HOT and sticks to your skin!

Spun Sugar

Sugar..............................300g

Water.............................150g

Glucose.........................60g

1. Make a syrup of sugar, water and glucose.
2. Boil until 160 degree C (130 degree C is when the boiling liquid stop producing steam).
3. Stop the heat immediately by dipping the whole pot into cold water.
4. Remove from water and allow to stand 3 mins before spinning them over a rod. A spun sugar apparatus is required but a fork will do the trick fine.