January 31, 2007
Choux Pastry Puffs - Sim Can Bake, You Can Too!
For a cook who hardly bakes, this is probably another idiot-proof recipe that cannot go wrong. Some other idiot-proof baking recipes include my friend, Angela’s crunchy raisin cookies, and Rasa Malaysia’s Portuguese Egg Tarts.
I decided to give this Choux (pronounced as “shoo”) Pastry Puffs a shot after reading about it in The Baker Who Cooks. The recipe looks so wonderfully simple and her Choux Pastry Puffs turned out so pretty.
However, my paste mixture of flour, milk, butter, eggs, a bit of salt and water did not turn out as shiny as hers. (That’s why she is the baker who cooks and I am the cook who hardly bakes.)
I also do not have the basic equipment like pastry tips and pastry bags to pipe the choux paste onto the baking tray, so I improvised by using a small ziploc bag as my pastry bag, and nipped off a corner for the choux paste to be squeezed out. (No pictures for that as it looked a bit messy :p)
After piping, smooth out the tips with a finger dipped in cold water, so that the tip will not burn in the oven. (Picture below was before the smoothing)
I was pretty satisfied with how my Choux Pastry Puffs turned out. I managed to make about 20 medium 1.5″ puffs from half the ingredient measurements from the original recipe.
After cooking, the choux pastry formed a crisp shell with a moist lining and hollow center making it ideal for filling with both sweet and savory delights. They make wonderful finger food.
Choux Pastry Puffs Recipe
from “Joy of Cooking - All About Party Foods & Drinks”
Ingredients (yields about 2.5 cups choux paste):
- 1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 8 tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 4 large eggs
Method:
1. Bring the water, milk, butter and salt to a boil over medium heat.
2. Add the flour all at once and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until the mixture pulls away from the sides of the pan. Continue to cook and stir the mixture for about 1 minute, to eliminate excess moisture. Allow to cool for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Beat in eggs one at a time, by hand, with a wooden spoon or on low speed with a mixer. Make sure paste is smooth before adding each egg. Beat the dough till smooth and shiny. Pipe paste onto pan according to desired size.
4. Preheat oven to 400degF. Bake for 15 mins then reduce the oven temperature to 350degF and continue to bake until golden brown and very firm to the touch, which will take about 10-15 mins more. Serve warm.
Note: Choux paste can be covered and refrigerated for up to 4 hours. When it is cold, you do not need to bring the paste to room temperature before baking.
I did not have a custard filling recipe, so I used a Vanilla Cream Filling Recipe. If you are making the Choux Pastry Puff according to the above recipe ingredient measurements, according to The Baker Who Cooks, she made 66 small (about 1.5″ in diameter) puffs from it, then the vanilla cream filling ingredient measurements below will be just enough.
Vanilla Cream Filling Recipe:
- 6 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 cup milk
- 2 beaten egg yolks
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1. In a pan, combine sugar, starch, and gradually add milk, stirring constantly.
2. Cook and stir over medium heat until the filling becomes very thick and begins to bubble.
3. Remove from heat and slowly pour egg yolks into pan and stirring constantly. Cook and stir mixture over low heat.
4. Add in butter and vanilla extract. Transfer filling to a bowl and set aside.
Lessons learnt:
1. I am supposed to hold the piping bag with the tip at a 90 degree angle to the baking sheet and just pipe the choux paste straight down instead of making twirls. This is because by making twirls, I got some holes at the base of the pastry puffs and fluid fillings will ‘leak’.
2. The pastry puffs will expand when baked, so remember to leave about 2 inches gap between the piped paste. I didn’t do that, but thankfully the baked puffs did not stick together.
3. Read the recipe book if you have it! I actually bought the book (Joy of Cooking - All About Party Foods) after the Choux Pastry Puffs post by The Baker Who Cooks, but I did not refer to it when I made this. Doh! There are more tips in the book.
4. The vanilla cream filling was too liquid (that’s why I drizzled some over the top of the Choux Pastry Puffs). Perhaps I could cook it a bit more or as Rasa Malaysia advised, to add more cornstarch.
On the whole, *pat on my back* my Choux Pastry Puffs with Vanilla Cream Filling tasted quite good. :) It wasn’t too sweet or buttery so it was very easy to eat one after another. Easily. :D
Bite This!
More recipes:
My Singapore Food Cravings (2): Sardine Curry Puff
I must! I MUST! I must increase my PUFF!
SHRIMP and MANGO, they rock and ROLL
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January 31st, 2007 at 7:38 pm
They do look yummy, but is the recipe daddy proof?
January 31st, 2007 at 8:57 pm
Wow, so adorable. I want to eat them. Send a dozen to me please?
January 31st, 2007 at 9:42 pm
Ooooooo…. so so tempting! Are these usually eaten cold or room temp?
The choc éclairs that I usually eat I like them cold, very cold :-)
Ey, when you come back to Spore, organise a party we all go over and eat.
January 31st, 2007 at 11:45 pm
DF - May need some supervision from Mommy Forever :)
RM - Use USPS Priority Mail, can?
KM - I ate them warm. Haven’t tried them cold yet. I think should be ok since the Choux Pastry Puffs did taste like the regular Custard Puff or Eclair Puff (without the chocolate). If I made Custard filling, I would have eaten them cold. LOL about the party, I miss my hawker food, you know!
February 1st, 2007 at 8:20 am
in vietnamese they are pronouced shoo too. :) oh i guess cause it’s french huh. :D my cousin use to make these for special occassions when i was growning up. since then i wanted to make it but haven’t yet. i’ll try this out.
February 1st, 2007 at 10:06 am
Can send to me as well ? I see you made quite a lot :D
Put in custard vanilla then you have mini Beard Papa…the colder the better! Beard Papa have to put dry ice with the box of custard/cream choux pastry to keep it cold from store to home!
February 1st, 2007 at 4:12 pm
hey yi :) that’s great u know. my mom used to stuff sardines with grilled onions or custard in them, really nice..wahh u making me drool for sweet stuffs now :(
February 1st, 2007 at 5:31 pm
I hope I don’t turn out to be an idiot. Because I am a cook who hardly bakes too. :)
Your shoos look mouthwatering delicious.
February 1st, 2007 at 5:34 pm
BC - Ya… I think it’s French.
Tiga! This batch finish liow! I haven’t eaten Beard Papa before. Buy from where?
MW - Sardines with grilled onions in puff pastry… umm… savory and sweet at the same time. Neat!
Sue - No no… you made those yummy sweet Korean pancakes, so this choux pastry puffs will be a breeze for you :)
February 2nd, 2007 at 10:36 pm
Takashimaya or Bugis Junction shd have. Put it in your to-eat list :D (though it’s not hawker food)
I just googled and found Beard Papa in SF too! Wonder if it taste the same as those in S’pore ?
February 3rd, 2007 at 12:21 am
Taka Food Hall and Pargo Bugis both have it. I was at Parco last week and saw it. No more queues like last time.
February 3rd, 2007 at 8:31 am
Great! Go to Taka eat at one of the Crystal Jade Restaurants then head on to Taka Food Hall to eat Beard Papa and da-pow home a few other things. Yay!