I suddenly had a craving for Cecil's Cream Puffs: pastries filled with cream custard and topped with coffee-sugar syrup. Cecil's is a local fast-food & bakery way before popular fast-food chains franchised in the Davao. Before Goldilocks and Red Ribbon came to the city, Cecil's was the best option for pastries and cakes. Unfortunately, I've come to notice overtime that the quality of their goods became too commercialized. I don't know, it's just not the same as the ones I remember from childhood.
So I got curious, how are cream puffs made?
Cream puffs or Profiteroles (as it's promptly called) are dessert dishes made out of Choux pastries filled with sweet fillings such as whipped/pastry cream, custards and even ice cream. The Choux dough upon baking relies on its high moisture content to produce steam and create air pockets inside the pastry, hence the puff. The pastry itself is a bit bland, having only hint flavors of egg and butter, originally used for savory dishes by the French and English during the 16th century. I guess someone thought it was a good idea to fill these pastry shells with something sweet around the 19th century and the name Profiteroles was then meant only for Choux pastries filled with sweet fillings, and they named the savory filled ones as Gougeres.
The shape of the Choux pastry also influences how it's called: Profiteroles are ball-like, Eclairs are long and thin; or how it's cooked: Crullers are twisted pastry shaped like a ring and deep fried, Beignet are filled with fruits preserves and fried (like filled-donuts). Apparently, you can pipe Choux dough straight into a fryer and you get Churros!
The bottom line: Choux pastry is a recipe that every aspiring home-baker should know.
Another recipe that I find necessary to know is a simple Ganache. It's a French term for the heavenly mixture of heavy-cream and chopped bitter/semi-sweet chocolate. Different ratio between the chocolate and cream determines the consistency of the Ganache to serve its purpose: filling, frosting, glaze or icing.
Since Ganache is also versatile and technically easy to do, I settled to make Profiteroles filled with simple Ganache.
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| My first profiteroles with ganache oozing out. So cute! |
PROFITEROLES - CHOUX PASTRY
INGREDIENTS
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp sugar
1 stick salted butter
1 cup milk
4 large eggs
PROCEDURE
1. Preheat oven to 400F; grease or line baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Sift flour and sugar in a bowl. Set aside.
3. In a saucepan, heat milk and butter until butter melts and slightly simmering. Set the heat on very low at this point.
4. Add all the sifted flour-sugar mixture into the saucepan and stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon or heat-resistant spatula until the mixture comes together in a dough-like consistency. Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes.
5. Slightly beat the eggs in a separate bowl. Then add in egg in 2 parts to the dough, mixing well after each addition. The dough should now be a shiny batter-like consistency.
6. Pipe with a pastry bag or dollop with a spoon onto the baking sheet. Each plot should be at least 1 inch apart to give each pastry a room to puff.
7. Bake for about 40 minutes in the preheated oven or until amber in color. Note: for gas ovens, place the sheet on the top slot so the bottom of the pastry will not get too dark or burn.
SIMPLE GANACHE
INGREDIENTS
10 ounces (283grams) semi-sweet chocolate
1 cup all-purpose cream
PROCEDURE
*You can make this ahead of time, chill preferably overnight so you would have a Ganache fit for whipping.
*This recipe is good for 1 1/2 recipes of average sized Profiteroles, but you can use the excess as a faux-fondue dip for mallows and fruits.
1. Chop chocolate into small pieces and place it in a heat-proof bowl. Set aside.
2. Heat cream in a saucepan until bubbling. Immediately remove from heat and pour into the chocolate. Leave for at least 5 minutes.
3. Whisk until mixture is well incorporated.
Putting it together:
1. Make sure that the profiterole pastries are cool enough to handle. Poke a hole on the side of the pastry, just enough for the tip of your pipping bag to fit.
2. Take out a well-chilled batch of Ganache and whip in a bowl until it becomes stiff. Place in a piping bag.
3. Pipe the Ganache into the pastry through the hole. Dust with powdered sugar.
While I was letting the pastries cool, my nephew kept of bothering me to let him taste one. It's not even filled yet, but he dips the pastry into the Ganache instead. That's another way to eat it, like a round baked Churro.
The ones I made were hardly 2 inches big, I wasn't sure how well it puffs so I started off with making them small. Practiced my piping skills too; used a open star tip Wilton #21 to create a rosette.
My mom seemed to like it, she only complained that they were too small, good for one bite. I guess besides making Profiteroles, I also made Petit Fours!
I'll be making another batch of Profiteroles tomorrow in sizes good for an appetite like my nephew. Maybe with a different filling and top it with the Ganache instead? Hmm...
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