Choux Сraquelin à la Vanille (Cream Puffs)

Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Baking time: 30 minutes 
Freeze time: 20 minutes
Total time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Yield: 13 choux

Ingredients:

Choux Pastry:

• 60 g water
• 60 g milk
• 55 g unsalted butter
• 2 g salt
• 60 g all-purpose flour (strong flour is preferred)
• 110 g room temperature eggs

Diplomat Cream:

• 470 g milk
• 120 g egg yolks (room temperature)
• 140 g white granulated sugar
• 40 g all-purpose flour
• 45 g unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla sugar (or 1 vanilla pod)
• 200 g heavy cream (33% fat)

Craquelin:

• 45 g all-purpose flour
• 45 g white granulated sugar
• 38 g cold unsalted butter

Directions:

Diplomat Cream:

1. Combine egg yolks and sugar in a bowl until white. Sift flour and stir well.
2. In a saucepan, add milk, 25 g butter and vanilla beans (with pod) or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla sugar, and heat until the edges boil. Add the hot milk to the whipped yolks with sugar in several approaches and mix well with a whisk. Transfer all back to the pan and stir well over high heat. Pour the custard cream back into the saucepan, and place over high heat, mix all time with whisk until the cream becomes gelatinised, shiny and thin.
3. Get off the fire, add 20 g butter and mix. Filter the finished custard cream through a sieve. Place ice water underneath and stir with a spatula to drop the temperature below 20 – 22°С (68 – 72°F). Cover with cling film to prevent weathering and condensation.
4. Once the custard has cooled, whip the cold whipping cream firmly with a hand mixer in a cold water bath and then add the whipped heavy cream to the custard. This is Diplomat Cream.

Craquelin:

1. In a small blender, blend sugar, flour and cold unsalted butter until incorporated.
2. Roll out the dough to 2 mm thick and place it in the freezer for 15-20 minutes.
3. Cut out the dough using a cookie cutter with a diameter of 5 cm and keep it cold in the freezer until use.

Choux Pastry:

1. In a medium saucepan, add water, milk, butter, salt and heat until the liquid boils up to the central part (boil about 15 seconds). Turn off the fire and add the sieved flour, quickly mix to make a mass.
2. Turn on the heat again, stir well over high heat to make the dough completely gelatinized. In takes about 7 minutes.
3. Add warm temperature eggs to the cooled dough one by one, and mix it to make a proper consistency of dough. (See video).
4. Put the dough in the piping bag and piping it about 5cm in diameter.
5. Put the frozen Craquelin on the choux.
6. Preheat the oven to 190°С. Bake the Choux at 190°С for 15 minutes, then you need to low the temperature and bake at 170°C for next 15 minutes (convection oven mode). Never open the door while baking.
7. Cool the baked choux until it cools completely, and make a small hole in the bottom to fill the cream.

Notes:

• The choux should be eaten as soon as possible after filling the cream so that the shell is served with a crispy texture. The cream-fillied choux can be stored in the fridge for 1 day.
• Unbaked dough can be stored refrigerated (1~2 days). After piping the dough, it is also possible to keep it frozen with biscuits raised (for 2 weeks).