Cream Puffs

Its been a while since my last post due to other projects I’ve been working on.  I’m hoping that will die down soon so I can concentrate on this blog again.  Anyway, I wanted to share a story about my childhood.  Every Saturday, my family would drive to 20 minutes to Garden Grove to run errands – grocery shopping, get our hair cuts, eat dinner, etc.  I absolutely hated every minute of it.  I hated perusing around the Korean grocery store aisles that were always cold, I hated waiting for hours for my mom’s hair appointment, and I hated wasting my entire Saturday on errands I had no reason to participate in.  Sound bitter?  I AM!  However, I did look forward to one thing – going to the Korean bakery to get cream puffs.  Fast forward several years and I thought it was time to figure out how to make those clouds of heaven

Pate a choux
Recipe from Dorie Greenspan

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 5 large eggs, at room temperature

pate a choux

Directions:

Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.

Bring the milk, water, butter and salt to the boil in a heavy-bottomed 2-quart saucepan.  When the mixture is boiling rapidly, add the flour all at once, reduce the heat to medium and, without a second’s hesitation, start stirring the mixture like mad with a wooden spoon.  The dough will come together very quickly and a slight crust will form on the bottom of the pan, but you have to keep stirring – vigorously – another 2 to 3 minutes to dry the dough.  At the end of this time, the dough will be very smooth.

Turn the dough into the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or, if you’ve still got some elbow grease left, you can continue by hand.  One by one, add the eggs to the dough, beating until each egg is thoroughly incorporated.  Don’t be discouraged – as soon as you add the first egg, your lovely dough will separate.  Keep working and by the time you add the third egg it will start coming together again.  When all the eggs are incorporated, the dough will be thick and shiny and, when you lift some of it up it will fall back into the bowl in a ribbon.  The dough will still be warm – it’s supposed to be – and now is the time to use it.

Using about 1 tablespoon of dough for each puff, drop the dough from the spoon onto the lined baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches of space between each mound of dough.

Slide the baking sheets into the oven, bake for 15 minutes, then rotate the sheets from top to bottom and front to back.  Continue baking until the puffs are golden and firm, another 10 to 15 minutes.  Transfer the cream puffs to a cooling rack.

Keeping:  You can spoon out the dough and either bake it immediately or freeze it.  To freeze, spoon the dough in mounds onto parchment-lined baking sheets and slide the sheets into the freezer.  When the dough is completely frozen, remove the balls from the baking sheets and wrap them airtight.  They can be kept in the freezer for up to 2 months and don’t need to be defrosted before baking.

Pastry Cream
Recipe from Dorie Greenspan’s book “Baking: From My Home to Yours”

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole milk
• 6 large egg yolks
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup cornstarch, sifted
• 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 3 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into bits at room temperature

Directions:

1. Bring the milk to a boil in a small saucepan.
2. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, whisk the yolks together with the sugar and cornstarch until thick and well blended. Still whisking, drizzle in about 1/4 cup of the hot milk. Whisking all the while, slowly pour in the remainder of the milk.
3. Put the pan over medium heat and, whisking vigorously, contstantly and thoroughly bring the mixture to a boil. Keep at a boil, still whisking, for 1 to 2 minutes, then remove the pan from the heat.
4. Whisk in the vanilla extract. Let sit for 5 minutes, then whisk in the bits of butter, stirring until they are fully incorporated and the pastry cream is smooth and silky. Scrape the cream into a bowl. Press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the cream to create an airtight seal and refrigerate until cold or, if you want to cool it quickly put the bowl into a larger bowl filled with ice cubes and cold water and stir the pastry cream occasionally until it is thoroughly chilled, about 20 minutes.
5. The pastry cream can be kept, tightly covered, in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

cream puff

Using a pastry bag, I filled the pate a choux with the pastry cream.  It tasted heavenly…

Strawberry Tart

Strawberries are pretty cheap right now.  I heard that due to the weather, they’re sprouting like crazy.  Anyway, I got a ton from Costco this past weekend and I had the sudden urge to make tarts.

Strawberry Tart

I used Dorie Greenspan’s sweet tart dough recipe (same one from my pear tart post) and the pastry cream recipe below.  These were better after chilling them in the fridge overnight.  This recipe definitely doesn’t disappoint!

Pastry Cream

Recipe from Dorie Greenspan’s book “Baking: From My Home to Yours”

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole milk
• 6 large egg yolks
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup cornstarch, sifted
• 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 3 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into bits at room temperature

Method

1. Bring the milk to a boil in a small saucepan.
2. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, whisk the yolks together with the sugar and cornstarch until thick and well blended. Still whisking, drizzle in about 1/4 cup of the hot milk. Whisking all the while, slowly pour in the remainder of the milk.
3. Put the pan over medium heat and, whisking vigorously, contstantly and thoroughly bring the mixture to a boil. Keep at a boil, still whisking, for 1 to 2 minutes, then remove the pan from the heat.
4. Whisk in the vanilla extract. Let sit for 5 minutes, then whisk in the bits of butter, stirring until they are fully incorporated and the pastry cream is smooth and silky. Scrape the cream into a bowl. Press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the cream to create an airtight seal and refrigerate until cold or, if you want to cool it quickly put the bowl into a larger bowl filled with ice cubes and cold water and stir the pastry cream occasionally until it is thoroughly chilled, about 20 minutes.
5. The pastry cream can be kept, tightly covered, in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Assembly:

1. After crust has cooled, spread chilled pastry cream.
2. Slice up strawberries and place on top of pastry cream.
3. Brush some softened apricot jam on top of strawberries for a nice sheen (optional).