CREAM PUFFS - ISA 2

The light, airy pâte à choux, which is produced with eggs, flour, and butter—there is no leavening other than eggs in this traditional French dough—is the basis of the ideal cream puff. To make cream puffs, circles are piped out of the mixture. Each baked puff is cooled after baking, and a "x"-shaped slit is made in the bottom. The pastry cream filling is then piped within.

Choux Pastry (also known as Pâte à Choux) is a French pastry dough. It is pronounced “shoo pastry.” It sounds fancy but it is surprisingly easy to make and requires simple ingredients. Choux pastry is also used to make:

• Eclairs filled with custard and dipped in chocolate
• Profiteroles (like cream puffs but filled with ice cream, drizzled with chocolate ganache and frozen)
• Churros which are deep fried and rolled in cinnamon sugar

Making the shells ahead of time is possible. Allow them to cool to room temperature before covering them lightly and storing them there. If made ahead, they often become softer.

Bake the shell uncovered at 150°C for about 5 minutes to restore its crispness. Once filled, cream puffs are best eaten the same day or frozen.

Make sure to fill the cream into the center of the filled cream puffs before freezing them, or remove the tops and add just enough cream to cover the filling entirely and keep it hidden by the lid. The cream needs to be contained.

Leave frozen cream puffs out to thaw for.

Pate a Choux :

• 6 tbsp (84g) unsalted butter
• 1 cup (235g) water
• 1.5 Tbsp (20g) granulated sugar
• 2 tsp (9g) vanilla extract
• 1 tsp (6g) fine sea salt
• 1 cup (140g) all purpose flour
• 3 eggs plus on egg yolk

Cream Puff Custard Filling :

• 1 packet instant vanilla custard powder
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 cap of vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup of milk

1. Melt your unsalted butter gently over medium heat in a pot. Once melted, add 1 cup of water, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 ½ tablespoons of granulated sugar and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract. Bring to a boil.
2. Once it reaches a boil, bring to medium-low heat add in 1 cup of all-purpose flour. Mix together until it forms a cohesive dough. The dough should form the thin gel-like film at the bottom of the utensil.
3. Remove from heat and add 3 eggs and one egg yolk. Wait for the choux pastry to cool down once you take it off the heat. Otherwise the heat will cook the eggs you add.
4. Add the eggs one by one. Thoroughly incorporate each egg before adding the next. 
5. You can stop adding the eggs when you lift the spatula and the batter drops in a V-shape.
6. You can cool the choux pastry overnight or if you are in a hurry, refrigerate it for one hour.

1. Take the custard powder and milk and mix it so it looks like badam milk.
2. Add the vanilla extract and whipping cream and beat it with a beater until a very thick consistency is shown and there are stiff peaks whenever the beater is removed.

1. Preheat the oven at 190 degree celsius for 5 minutes.
2. Move the pate a choux into a piping bag without a tip. Cut the tip 0.5 centimeters in.
3. Pipe the batter into a pile about the diameter of your fist.
4. You can bake it for 10 minutes at 190 degree celsius, until golden brown. Centers should be dry.
5. Do not open the oven until all 30 mins of baking  is completed. This is to ensure that the humidity stays inside the oven and the pastry shells dont collapse inwards.
6. When the shells are cool, either split and fill them with the pudding mixture, or use a pastry bag to pipe the pudding into the shells.