19.5.08

HHDD#20 - Choux!

Passionfruit Cream Profiteroles

Who hasn't dreamed of profiteroles and melted hot chocolate running through fluffy little balls filled with soft cream? Mmmm, you haven't... How comes?? Oh wait, you're an eclair girl/boy! Or perhaps, beignets are your thing... Not really? Gougères then. (Un)fortunately for me, I love all those, sweet or savoury, versions made from choux pastry.

Choux pastry is a double-cooked dough made of butter, eggs, flour and water (or milk), and used to make profiteroles, croquembouches, eclairs, French crullers, beignets, and gougères.

Choux has always been on my " to do" list. It didn't happen until now when choosing HHDD#20 theme. It's not like I've been intimidated, and neither should you. Choux pastry is the easiest of the French patisserie line up, and the most versatile! Those are the reasons why I chose this theme, both challenging and doable, providing enough field for interpretations and personal takes. I hope that's good enough to convince you joining me! :)

Passionfruit Cream Profiteroles
Adapted from Donna Hay's magazine, Issue 35

1 cup (8 fl oz) water (240 ml)
100 grs (3 ½ oz) unsalted butter
¾ cup (112 ½ grs / 4 oz) plain all-purpose flour
5 eggs

1/3 cup (2 2/3 fl oz) lemon juice (80 ml)
2 cups (450 grs / 15 ¾ oz) icing (confectioner's) sugar

passionfruit cream
2 cups (16 fl oz) (single or pouring) cream, whipped (480 ml)
2/3 cup (5 fl oz) fresh passion fruit pulp (150 ml)
1/3 cup (50 grs / 1 ¾ oz) icing (confectioner's) sugar

Preheat the oven to 180ºC (360ºF). Place the water and butter in a saucepan over high heat and bring to the boil. Add the flour and beat with a wooden spoon until smooth. Cook, stirring over low heat until the mixture leaves the side of the pan. Remove from the heat. Place in an electric mixer and beat on high, gradually adding the eggs until well combined. Spoon the mixture into a piping bag with 12mm (½ in) plain nozzle and pipe 2 cm (¾ in) rounds onto baking trays lined with non-stick baking paper. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until puffed and golden. Cool on wired racks.

To make the passionfruit cream, place the cream, passionfruit and sugar in a bowl and stir to combine. Set aside. Combine the lemon juice and extra sugar until smooth. Fill the profiteroles with passionfruit cream and spoon over the lemon icing. Makes 45.

****

The mixture was a breeze to work with but I would like to add a few thoughts:
- Sift the flour. It will be easier to be absorbed when adding it to the water. Avoid adding it all at once or it will form clumps. If some clumps remain, press them against the sides of the pan whilst cooking.
- At this stage, the dough should form a ball, looking heavy and compact. Mine was runny... I figured out that adding the eggs to such a soft dough would not do - I added a couple of tablespoons of flour to the mixture.
- Do not add all the eggs at once. Each egg should be completely combined before adding the next one. My eggs measured about 240 ml (8 fl oz).
- I strongly advise you to use an electric mixer, as the mixture asks for serious arm work. Using the paddle attachment on medium speed worked just fine.
- When ready, the pastry should look like a very thick mayonnaise.
- Do not under bake the choux or they'll deflate after being removed from the oven. Mine took a little longer than 20 minutes.
- My choux are a little bigger than Donna's. I made about 30. Baked choux can be freezed, and finished when needed.
- For the passionfruit cream just combine the whipped cream with both sugar and passionfruit pulp.

Other Donna Day's recipes:
Choux pastry (From Modern Classics 2), Profiteroles, p.46.
Fillings: crème pâtissière, p.174, chocolate mousse, p.106. (From Modern Classics 2)
Double Chocolate Eclairs (From Simple Essentials Chocolate)

Passionfruit Cream Profiteroles

All I ask is for you to use choux pastry any way you like. You can make profiteroles (aka cream puffs) or eclairs with a creamy filling of your choice, such as lemon curd, whipped cream, ice cream, custard, creme patissière, or mousse, add fruit, dip in melted chocolate, toffee, top with lemon icing or meringue and sprinkle with shredded coconut or any kind of nuts. You can also turn them into savoury bites by filling them with cheese, salmon, tuna, mayonnaise, or anything at all. But you can have a different take at it and try the beignets - deep-fried choux pastry - with fruit or vegetable filling or with savoury fillings such as crawfish or shrimp. Or simply bake gougères (aka cheese puffs). Endless possibilities, really.

But before I get to my next choux recipe (I'll be posting a savoury version soon, so stay tunned!!), here are the RULES FOR HAY HAY ITS DONNA DAY:

Hay Hay Its Donna Day is open to all food and wine bloggers.

Entries submitted for HHDD must be made specifically for this event, although photos may be submitted to Does My Blog Look Good In This.

The host will select, make and post the original Donna Hay recipe without any changes. Participants may make the same recipe as is, or put their own spin on the recipe by altering the ingredients whilst remaining with the theme or if they prefer to share a well loved recipe within the theme. Entrants must include a link to the host in their post.

Entries can be made at any time once the event has been announced but must be posted and emailed to the host by the closing date.

Deadline for all posts to be up and submitted is June 9, 2008. I will be posting the round up a week later (June 16) and voting will then begin!

Please email all your entries to gourmetsamadores[AT]gmail[DOT]com from now on till the June 9. In your email, please include the following information: your blog name, your name, your location, your recipe name, and the permalink to your entry.

Hay Hay Its Donna Day is a food event created by Barbara from WinosandFoodies and now taken care by Bron Marshall. It's brilliant, thank you, ladies!


And now, CHOUX me your entries!! ;)

21 comments:

Gretchen Noelle said...

Yum! I have never made a choux pastry. But I do have a new love for passionfruit! These sound delicious!

Thistlemoon said...

Wow Suzana, this really takes the cake, or maybe I should say the CHOUX!!! This really is so beautiful and perfect for summer!

Kajal@aapplemint said...

oh i surely have had dreams about these gorgeous babies.Only diff is that i'm bloody lazy to make them , and would rather have them off your blog :)
pls send some over...they look so yummy.

Clumbsy Cookie said...

Bem escolhido!

PheMom said...

So excited! Great pick! Thanks for choosing this.

Mandy said...

gorgeous profiteroles! I have recently overcome my fear of pate a choux. This seems like a perfect occasion to whip up another batch!

Unknown said...

I'll put this event to my calendar :)

Anonymous said...

What a sweet idea! I fancy making some eclairs.

ChichaJo said...

Brilliant choice for the theme! :) I was just looking at those chocolate eclairs from Simple Essentials...

Cannelle Et Vanille said...

I love making choux... and passion fruit sounds so refreshing right now! Beautiful.

Núria said...

Your pictures are amazing! What a hard job!!! I guess it was worth though :D

Barbara said...

I love the theme.Good luck with hosting

Chibog in Chief said...

oh suzana this is indeed a fantastic choice!! cant wait to do my Choux and Choux you my entry..

Anonymous said...

Hi!

Great choice, I am looking forward to making them.
One question though - does the passion fruit cream get whipped too? While reading through the instructions I did not find such a step.

Thanks for hosting,

Alexandra

Suzana Parreira said...

Thanks everyone! I hope you all join the choux bandwagon! ;)

Alexandra, those were Donna's orientations... no more details. My take was that the passionfruit pulp and the sugar would be combined to the whipped cream but not whipped again. That's how I've done it and it worked fine. :)

Anonymous said...

Great choice Suzana!

I was wondering where you found the "Earl grey creme patissière with toffee; Rasperry curd with white chocolate and nougat; Ginger and pumpkin puree with ginger icing", I was looking through my Modern Classic 2 and couldn't find them. They sound AMAZING though!

Anonymous said...

Ooops - of course! Your take and the description are correct, of course. I must have missed the "whipped" in the ingredient list.

Thanks for the clarification, now I owe you an entry ;-)

Alexandra

Helene said...

Perfect choice ...never can get tired of making choux!

talida said...

I'm excited to make these!

Suzana Parreira said...

Hi Anonymous, so true... I have them in my notes filled under Modern Classics 2 but unfortunately that's wrong. I can't see how I got mixed up, and worst I can't find those anywhere. :( I'm sorry about that. Hope it won't prevent you from sending your entries. ;)

Anonymous said...

Running to get into this round. Too much holidaying! But I'm baking the choux at the moment and your instructions were perfect. It's my first attempt and I think they look lovely. Thanks!