Choux à la Crème

Growing up, my mom always made us Choux à la Crème – the fancy french version of cream puffs. In fact, I’m pretty sure my mom was eating them throughout her pregnancy. One day she thought she was having cramps from eating these delectable mini puffs, but turns out, they were contractions. No wonder I adore them, I was eating them in my mother’s tummy!

My first attempt at the chou pastry was a huge fail. They turned out dense, didn’t puff up, and just entertainment for me and my girlfriends. Turns out, I was doing it all wrong until I found the recipe from Joy of Baking and hooray! They turned out beautifully and just as delicious as they look. I can’t wait to pass down the tradition of Choux à la Crème to my kids one day 🙂

Choux à la Crème

Choux Pastry

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/4 cup (4TBS) unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1/4 TSP granulated sugar
  • 1/8 TSP salt
  • 2~3 eggs, lightly beaten

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 400F
  2. On heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine water and butter over medium heat. When the mixture starts bubbling, remove from heat and add all the sifted flour, sugar, and salt.
  3. Stir with wooden spoon – the mixture should come together pretty easily into a dough.
  4. Over medium heat, stir the mixture until the dough forms into a ball. Transfer dough to a bowl and use the wooden spoon or hand mixer to release the steam and cool the dough.
  5. When the dough is lukewarm, start adding the eggs little by little. At first, the mixture might seem to separate, but keep stirring and the it’ll turn into a batter. The mixture should be a thick, smooth paste with slight elasticity. When you scoop up the batter, it should slowly ooze and drop back into the bowl in a “tear shape.” Use two eggs at first, if the batter seems to dry, whisk up a third egg and slowly add to the batter until you get the right consistency.
  6. Pour the batter in a piping bag (or a heavy duty ziplock bag and cut off the corner) and pipe on the pans.
  7. Brush on some leftover egg on the surface.
  8. Put in the oven. Bake at 400F for 15 minutes. The will end up puffing up!
  9. Lower the temperature to 350F and bake for an extra 30~40 minutes, until the outside becomes a nice amber color.
  10. Leave the oven door slightly open and let the choux dry out for 10~15 minutes. Then put the choux on cooling racks to completely cool.

Crème Filling

You can fill your cream puffs with whip cream, but I grew up eating them with a custard filling.

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups (750 ml) milk
  • 3 eggs
  • 3/4 cup (175 ml) granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup (50 ml) all-purpose flour
  • 1 tbsp. (15 ml) cornstarch
  • 2 tbsp. butter (25 ml)
  • 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla (7 ml)
  • 2 cups (500 ml) whipping cream

Directions

  1. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat milk until it starts steaming. Meanwhile, in a bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, flour and cornstarch; gradually pour in milk in a thin stream, whisking constantly. Return mixture to a clean pan. Cook over medium heat, whisking until the mixture thickens into a custard cream. Remove from heat; stir in butter and vanilla.
  2. Pour into bowl; place waxed paper (I just used saran wrap) directly on surface to prevent skin from forming. Refrigerate until cool (at least 4 hours). Whip cream, gently fold into pastry cream with spatula just until combined.

Assembly:

Cut the choux pastry in half and fill with the Crème filling. Sounds like a lot of work, but truly, it’s not and they are oh so delicious.

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

In honor of our 6 month anniversary…

So if you know me, you know that I heart cupcakes – so much that I started a side business Cupcake Delight. My most popular flavor has always been the Pumpkin Spice Cupcake: a pumpkin infused cupcake topped with cream cheese frosting and then the my own special twist, pumpkin pie filling; all made with love of course. How can anyone resist?! In fact, I’d say the Pumpkin Spice cupcake is credited as one of the ingredients that started my relationship with my now hubbs. See, two years ago, he asked me to make cupcakes for his mom’s “Celebrate Strength” party. I couldn’t turn down the offer, people loved the cupcakes, and then suddenly, he’d randomly start asking me about my cupcakes, dropping by for dinner, and fast forward to today, we are celebrating 6 months of beautiful marriage. One way into a man’s heart really is through his stomach.

I’ve had numerous people ask me about the recipe, so here it is! Nom nom nom…

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

Pumpkin Pie Filling

Ingredients

  • 1 pkg Dream Whip
  • ½ cup milk
  • ½ tsp vanilla
  • 2/3 cup milk
  • 1 pkg Jello instant vanilla pudding
  • 1 cup canned pumpkin (Libby’s Pure Pumpkin or Pie Mix both work)
  • ¾ tsp pumpkin pie spice

Directions

  1. Prepare Dream Whipe with ½ up milk and vanilla as directed on package
  2. Combine 1 cup Dream Whip with Jello Pudding, 2/3 cup milk, canned pumpkin, and pumpkin pie spice
  3. Beat slowly just until well mixed (about 1 minute)
  4. Chill in refrigerator for about an hour

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

Yields 32 cupcakes

Ingredients:

  • 4 cups cake flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tbs plus 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tbs ground ginger
  • 1 tsp nutmeg
  • ¼ tsp ground cloves
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
  • 2 ½ cups packed light brown sugar
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 ½ cups canned pumpkin puree (not pie filling)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350°
  2. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices
  3. With electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and brown sugar until pale and fluffly. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
  4. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk, and beating until just combined.
  5. Add pumpkin puree; beat until just combined.
  6. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until golden brown.
  7. Let cool on wire racks for 10 minutes.

{source: Martha Stewart}

Assembly: After the cupcakes are cooled, fill the cupcakes with the pumpkin pie filling, top with a frosting of your choice, and be ready for a cupcake explosion – YUMMM!