ponche de crème choux wreath

Okay, so slipping in one more holiday bake, because if I let myself wait another month it will be spring… Anyways, a choux wreath! I think the shape alone makes it feel festive, but to reinforce the theme I filled it with a pastry cream made with the flavours of ponche de crème, a Trinidadian and Tobagonian holiday drink similar to eggnog. Think nutmeg, cinnamon, and rum plus bright spots of lime and angostura bitters.

For more on the history of ponche de creme and other Christmas traditions, see this article from TasteTrinbago! And if you’re understandably not feeling a whole choux wreath, maybe just make ponche de crème instead… I referred to Trini Cooking with Natasha’s recipe for inspiration in making this dessert.

Perhaps wreath is a bit of generous term: all it is are cream puffs piped a bit too close together. It does makes it easy to break into smaller segments for serving!

• Servings: 8
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Inspired by the eggnog chouette wreath from Giselle Courteau’s Duchess at Home. The original recipe has a ganache filling, but I’ve gone for a stabilized lightened pastry cream instead. Ponche de crème flavours inspired by Trini Cooking with Natasha.

choux pastry

• 43g butter
• 90g milk
• pinch kosher salt
• sprinkle of granulated sugar
• 45g whole wheat flour
• 1 ½ eggs (likely will not use all)
• pearl sugar

For the choux pastry, preheat the oven to 400F. Line a baking pan with a sheet of parchment paper. On the backside, draw a 13cm diameter circle. Then draw eight slightly overlapping 5cm circles in a ring over the larger circle. This will be the template for your choux ring (you can also absolutely freehand it too!).

Place the butter, milk, sugar and salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the flour and quickly mix in with a wooden spoon. Lower the heat and continue to cook the mixture until it forms a ball. Remove the pastry from the heat and let cool a bit before adding the egg.

Beat the egg in a small bowl. Add a bit at a time to the pastry. Assess the consistency of the dough after each addition of egg and stop once you’ve achieved the right consistency. I find it easiest to begin beating in the eggs with a wire whisk and then transition back to stirring with a wooden spoon once the batter loosens. The dough should be shiny, but not fluid (if its something a bit new to you, look up a video or a more detailed tutorial for the right consistency – such as looking for the “triangle” of dough!). Importantly, you don’t need to use all the egg (I usually don’t need it all) – or you may even need a bit more.

Transfer the pastry to a piping bag fitted with a medium (~1cm) round tip (I use Wilton 2A). Pipe mounds of pastry onto the 5cm circles. To make the size consistent, I position the piping bag a little ways above the pan (1-2cm or so – it will be quite natural!) and pipe until the mound of dough nearly fills out the circular guide drawn on the parchment. I avoid lifting the piping bag further up as I pipe – if you do that, you end up with a larger and taller mound of pastry and the size will not be as consistent. If you have extra choux pastry, either add it evenly to the puffs you’ve piped or pipe some extra ones beside the ring.

Using a finger dipped in water, flatten the peaks on each puff. Then brush the ring all over with a bit of extra beaten egg and sprinkle with pearl sugar.

Bake for 10 minutes at 400F, then decrease temperature to 375F and bake about 20-25 minutes more or until well browned. You can rotate the pastry after it has been in the oven for a total of 20-25 minutes or so, once there is no worries of it deflating. As soon as you can handle the pastry, cut a slit into the side of each puff to let steam escape.

ponche de crème diplomat

You can easily make this an eggnog flavoured cream by omitting the lime and angostura bitters. You’ll likely have about 1/2 cup extra cream or so.

• 240g whole milk
• 1 cinnamon stick
• finely grated zest of 1 small lime
• 1/8 tsp grated nutmeg
• 3 egg yolks
• 2 1/2 tbsp granulated sugar (or closer to 1/4 cup if you prefer sweeter desserts)
• 15g cornstarch
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp powdered gelatin bloomed in 1 tbsp water
• 2 1/2 tbsp rum, or to taste
• 3/4 tsp angostura bitters
• 120g heavy cream, whipped

Place the milk, cinnamon stick, lime zest and nutmeg in a small saucepan. Heat until steaming, then cover and set aside to infuse for 20-30 minutes.

Whisk together the egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch in a bowl. Reheat the milk until it begins to simmer and then remove from the heat and slowly drizzle into the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly to temper the yolks.

Return the mixture to the saucepan and over medium-high to medium heat, continue to cook while whisking constantly. Look for the pastry cream to begin to thicken and bubbles to slowly rise to the surface (to see the bubbles, you’ll need to occasionally pause whisking briefly to check). Once the pastry cream has begun to bubble, continue to cook for 1 minute while whisking very vigorously to ensure that the starch is cooked through. Immediately transfer the pastry cream to a new bowl. Whisk in the butter and bloomed gelatin until both are melted into the hot pastry cream. Cover, let cool, then transfer to the fridge to chill and set completely, at least a couple hours or overnight. This is a good point to stop if you’re doing this step a day or two early, as you can finish up the cream the day you assemble.

Once set, use a loose whisk and a strong arm to beat the pastry cream until as smooth as you can get it (the cream gels so it will be quite lumpy at first). Whisk in the rum and angostura bitters. Whisk in a dollop of the whipped cream, then fold in the remainder. Transfer to a piping bag with a medium round opening.

assembly

Using a long and thin serrated knife, slice the choux ring in half about 1cm up. It’s okay if the top doesn’t stay together and separates into individual puffs. Pipe tall dollops of cream onto the bottom of the choux ring. Place the top back in place.

chili lime gougères

I always love a good gougère! They’re quick to make and puff up wonderfully golden in the oven. And I had a lot of fun with these ones… inspired by Tajín chili lime salt, these gougères are flavoured with chili and lime and spiced with a bit of cumin and smoked paprika.

And while optional, these gougères can be about what you put on them just as much as what you put in them – top them with extra lime juice, chili, cheese and cilantro.

• Servings: 12-15 gougeres
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Adapted from Alain Ducasse’s classic gougère recipe via Food and Wine.

• 56g butter
• 60g water
• 60g milk
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 62g all-purpose flour
• about 2 large eggs
• 1/2 tsp ground cayenne (or more or less, depending on spice preferences)
• 1/4 tsp ground cumin
• 1/8 tsp smoked paprika
• finely grated zest of 1 small lime
• 40g aged cheddar, coarsely grated
• 30g feta or young cotija, crumbled

Preheat the oven to 425F and line one or two baking trays with parchment paper.

In a saucepan, warm the water, milk, salt and butter until the butter is fully melted. Bring to a boil, add the flour and quickly mix in with a wooden spoon. Lower the heat and continue to cook the mixture until it forms a ball. Remove the pastry from the heat and let cool slightly before adding the eggs, a bit at a time, beating in each addition completely before the next. You may need a bit more or less egg – the dough should be shiny and form a “V” when a spoon is pulled from the dough, but not fluid. Mix in the spices and lime zest. Ensure the dough has cooled completely or until only just warm before mixing in the cheddar and feta or cotija.

Transfer the pastry to a piping bag fitted with a large round tip. Pipe mounds of pastry, around 1 1/2 tbsp in size spaced a couple of inches apart on the prepared pan(s). You should have enough for 12-15 puffs – depending on how you space them you might just be able to fit them all onto one pan or you might need two. Lightly wet a finger and smooth the top of the piped choux pastry.

Slide the pans into the oven and turn the temperature down to 375F after the first 10 or so minutes. Continue to bake for a total of about 25 minutes or until the gougères are puffed and well browned. Use a knife to poke a slit into the side of each gougère to allow steam to escape.

These gougères are best eaten day of while the outsides are crisp and the insides are custardy. If you like, serve the puffs with a bit more crumbled feta, cilantro leaves, freshly squeezed lime juice and chili flakes.

pineapple & salted egg yolk paris-brest

Happy upcoming Lunar New Year! As any new year traditions became very dilute by the time they trickled down to my generation, I never do too much aside from a dinner with the family bubble. So for me, the best part is the stories from family on their past new years, from massive family gatherings involving trays and trays of dumplings to dangling lettuces and money from the balcony as the lion dancers paraded through Montreal’s Chinatown.

Pineapple cakes (or their tart counterpart), which figure prominently in Taiwanese (or Malaysian, respectively) new year traditions, are also not something I grew up with but since I first tried one, I’ve loved the combination of crumbly rich pastry and pineapple filling. I love cheap pineapple cakes (which people tell me are not very good) and expensive Taiwanese ones (which I have since tried and agree are better) – overall, any pineapple cake will do for me. This bake was inspired by a very delicious pineapple cake with salted egg yolk I once tried. I borrowed the flavours for a Paris-Brest with a layer of pineapple jam along the bottom and a salted egg yolk cream piped over top.

While some fruits lose their flavour when cooked, pineapple jam stays sweet, tart and fruity despite a long cook and slight caramelization. And it plays as both compliment and contrast against the salted egg yolk brown sugar crème mousseline where the saltiness of the egg yolks and brown sugar come across as a salted caramel-ish flavour. I used a crème mousseline as filling which has a similar richness, structure and formula to the classic crème praliné, but can be made with a more muted sweetness. I tend to find Paris-Brest too sweet with the praline paste, but this take, even with the sweet pineapple jam, is balanced to my tastes.

Other Lunar New Year baking: six years ago my attempts to make steamed fatt gou.

• Servings: 4
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Pineapple jam based on guidance from Taste Asian Food, What to Cook Today and Kavey Eats. Crème mousseline adapted from Chef Iso.

choux

Makes 4-5 rings.

• 65g butter
• 145g water
• 2 tsp sugar
• good pinch salt
• 80g whole wheat flour
• about 2 eggs – may need more or less
• sesame seeds

Preheat the oven to 450F. Line a baking pan with a sheet of parchment paper – on the backside, trace five 8-cm diametre circles.

In a saucepan, place the butter, water, sugar and salt. Bring to a boil, add the flour and quickly mix in with a wooden spoon. Lower the heat and continue to cook the mixture until it forms a ball and a dry film on the bottom of the pot. Remove the pastry from the heat and let cool slightly before adding the egg, a bit at a time – use either the wooden spoon or switch to a wire whisk if preferred. You may need or more less of the eggs – the dough should be shiny, but not fluid. (If you’re new to choux pastry, check out a guide for what to look for – I really like this one from The Flavor Bender.)

Transfer the dough to a piping bag fitted with a large french star tip (I used Wilton 8B which has a 3/4″ diameter opening). Pipe 4 or 5 rounds following the 8cm diametre circle guides traced on the parchment. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Place in the oven and turn the temperature down to 400F. Bake for around 35 minutes or until deeply browned. Once out of the oven, cut slits into the sides of the rings to allow steam to escape.

pineapple jam

• 1 large pineapple, peeled and chopped for about 700g pineapple flesh
• 140g sugar (or 1/5th the weight of pineapple)
• 25g butter

For preparing the pineapple, begin by cutting off the skin. Cut the flesh from the core and chop. I also included the less woody parts of the stem as well. Put the pineapple in the bowl of a stand mixer and blend for a more finely chopped puree. I ended up with 700g of pineapple. Place in a sieve and let the excess juice drain for about five minutes.

Transfer the drained pineapple pulp and sugar to a non-stick skillet. Over medium heat, cook the pineapple mixture, stirring constantly until it thickens, dries and takes on a deeper golden colour, about 30-40 minutes. Add the butter and cook a few minutes more, then transfer to a jar and set aside to cool. Store in the fridge until ready to use.

salted egg yolk brown sugar crème mousseline

This makes enough for a very thick layer of cream and extra. Lots of cream looks more aesthetic, but this can be easily reduced to a 2/3 recipe for a bit of a thinner layer of cream and not extra.

• 5 cooked salted duck egg yolks
• 300g whole milk
• 3 egg yolks
• 30g cornstarch
• 40g brown sugar
• 30g granulated sugar
• 1 1/4 tsp powdered gelatin bloomed in 1 tbsp water
• 130g butter, softened

To cook the salted duck egg yolks, simmer them for about 6 minutes until cooked through. Roughly chop the cooked egg yolks. Use an immersion blender to blend the egg yolks into the milk until as smooth as you can get it. Transfer to a saucepan.

In a bowl, whisk together the (unsalted) egg yolks, cornstarch and sugars.

Heat the milk until steaming, then slowly drizzle into the cornstarch mixture, whisking constantly to temper the yolks. Return the mixture to the saucepan and continue to cook, whisking constantly, until you notice the mixture thickening and beginning to slowly bubble (you’ll have to pause your whisk to see the bubbling). Continue to cook for at least 1 minute more, all whisk whisking vigorously, to completely cook the starch. Then remove from the heat and immediately scrape the cream into a bowl (you can pass through a sieve first if you are concerned about lumps). Right away, whisk in the bloomed gelatin until melted, as well a tbsp or so of the butter. Cover and set aside to let cool to room temperature.

Place the remaining butter in the bowl a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whisk the butter until smooth and light. Add the pastry cream, a few spoonfuls at a time, to the butter, whisking in each addition until smooth before adding the next. Scrape down the sides of the bowl every so often. At the end, whip for a few minutes until the mousseline cream is quite light and fluffy.

Use soon!

assembly

• coconut flakes
• powdered sugar

Slice each choux ring in half. Spread some pineapple jam on the bottom halves. Transfer the mousseline cream to a piping bag fitted with a large star tip and pipe swirls of cream over the jam. Sprinkle some coconut flakes overtop. Put the top of each choux ring back on top. Dust with a bit of powdered sugar if desired.

caramelized banana houjicha cream puff

There was a textural divide in my home when I was growing up. To put it succinctly, I loved the mush. My sister, not so much. Sweet potato, squash, taro, steamed egg, thick rice pudding, cold tapioca, red bean soup, Bird’s custard: if you could glop it around with a spoon, I probably adored it while my sister wished it to burn – in order to get some crispy edges. Bananas, however, which can be incredibly mushy, were a point of agreement, something we both regarded with (varying) degrees of disdain.

Okay, but common ground aside, to me bananas still have their place. I do love a good banana flavour combination (except peanut butter) where the banana cheerfully coexists along other non-banana flavours and the end result is definitely banana, but not overly so. Banana-moderation, we can call it. And particularly in the context of caramel, even an overripe banana is delicious.

These cream puffs fit the bill. Houjicha, the toasted companion to green tea, has a taste that lingers between tea and dark roast coffee. It’s the star of these tea puffs, making up a pastry cream filling and whipped ganache against a caramelized banana compote (and bruleed banana half-moon).

It’s a great combination of toasty warm flavours, and yes, a really good hit of banana too.

• Servings: 10 small puffs
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Craquelin adapted from the cream puff cookie topping from Bouchon Bakery by Thomas Keller and Sebastien Rouxel. Choux pastry adapted from Alain Ducasse via Food and Wine. Ganache a random average of a few recipes, pastry cream based on standard ratios, and compote freehanded.

craquelin

Makes plenty – you might have leftovers, but you can cut them it into circles and freeze it for further baking. I happened to have 6 leftover craquelin rounds in the freezer which I used – hence why only half the puffs have craquelin in the photos. 

• 28g brown sugar
• 25g whole wheat flour
• 18g butter

Mix all ingredients together until it forms a cohesive dough. Place the dough between two sheets of parchment and roll out to a thickness of 1-2mm. Slide onto a pan and freeze until firm.

whole wheat choux

Makes  10-12 small-medium puffs.

• 29g or 1/4 stick of butter or about 2 tbsp
• 60g/1/4 cup milk
• good pinch kosher salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 30g or 1/4 c whole wheat flour
• approximately 1 large egg

Preheat the oven to 400F. Line a baking pan with a sheet of parchment paper – on the backside, trace 12 3.5cm circles.

Place the butter, milk, sugar and salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the flour and quickly mix in with a wooden spoon. Lower the heat and continue to cook the mixture until it forms a ball. Remove the pastry from the heat and let cool slightly before adding the egg, a bit at a time, beaten into the pastry most easily with the aid of a wire whisk. The dough should now be shiny, but not fluid (if its something a bit new to you, look up a video or a more detailed tutorial for the right consistency!). Importantly, you don’t need to use all the egg – or you may need a bit more than one egg! Assess the consistency of the dough after each addition of egg – sometimes I stop with still a bit of egg left.

Transfer the pastry to a piping bag fitted with a large round tip. Pipe mounds of pastry onto the 3.5cm circles, each approximately a tablespoon-ish in size. Take the craquelin out of the freezer and cut 3.5cm circles from the dough. Top each puff with a round of the craquelin.

Bake for 5 minutes at 400F, then decrease temperature to 375F and bake 20-25 minutes more or until well browned. You can rotate the puffs after they’ve been in the oven for 20-25 minutes or so, once there are no worries of them deflating. Cut a small slit on the bottom of each puff to let the steam release and let cool on on a wire rack.

caramelized banana compote

You’ll likely have a bit leftover.

• 1 ripe banana, cut into quarters lengthwise and cut then cut crosswise into small chunks
• 15g butter
• 13g brown sugar

Heat butter and brown sugar together in a pan until the brown sugar melts. Add the banana and cook for a couple minutes or until the banana is soft. It will become quite saucy, but it will firm up as it cools.

houjicha pastry cream

Depending on how much banana compote you fill the puffs with, you’ll likely have a bit left over.

• 250g whole milk
• 4g houjicha, looseleaf or coarsely ground leaves
• 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 12g cornstarch
• 2 egg yolks

For the pastry cream, warm the milk until scalded. Stir in the houjicha. Cover and let steep overnight (or at least a few hours), transferring to the fridge once cool.

The next day, press the milk through a strainer and weigh – top up with a little more to bring it back to 250g if needed.

In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch. Place the milk in a saucepan and heat until steaming. Slowly pour into the egg yolks, whisking constantly to temper. Return to the saucepan and continue to cook over medium to medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture just starts to bubble (you will have to pause your whisking to see it bubble). Let it cook, now whisking very vigorously, for a minute at a bubble, the immediately remove from the heat and pass through a fine sieve into a bowl. Cover, let cool, and chill.

whipped houjicha white chocolate ganache

Delicious, but as with anything using white chocolate, also so very sweet! If you are more averse to sweetness you can always use plain whipped cream. There will likely be a little bit extra left over. 

• 60g chopped white chocolate
• 100g heavy cream
• 1 tsp houjicha powder

Place the white chocolate in a heatproof glass bowl.

Heat the cream until it bubbles. Whisk a spoonful or two of the cream into the houjicha powder until smooth, then combine with the remainder of the hot cream.

Pour the hot cream over the white chocolate. Allow to sit for a few minutes, then whisk until smooth. The white chocolate should completely melt, but if not you can always heat it a bit in the microwave, being careful not to overheat.

Chill completely. Just before you’re ready to use it, whip the ganache with a wire whisk until fluffy and stiff, like whipped cream. It’s best to do this right before so the ganache will be smoother when you pipe it.

assembly

• banana slices, optionally bruleed by sprinkling with sugar and using either a torch or broiler

Trim the top off of each cream puff. Spoon a bit of banana compote into the bottom.

Transfer the pastry cream to a piping bag and fill the remainder of each puff with the pastry cream (I like using a long filling tip ie a bismark tip mostly just so I can get into all the corners of the cream puff and ensure it is filled).

Transfer the whipped white chocolate ganache to a piping bag, fitted with a large petal tip (if you have a St. Honore tip, I think that would work even better!). Pipe the ganache on top of each puff in a squiggly pattern.

Top each puff with a halved slice of banana, optionally bruleed. Best eaten soon.

ispahan cream puff

I’ve always loved election nights as a kid. My family and I would watch the whole thing, starting from the first counts as polls closed on the East coast to a final declaration late in the evening. I would cheer on the underdog Green Party because, as a seven-year old, their platform was by far the easiest to grasp. It wasn’t so much the election itself, which at the time was blissfully meaningless to me, but that I loved any chance for an occasion.

These days my election-mania is tempered by plenty of stress. Alongside a climate crisis and a long-overdue commitment to reconciliation, if anything, the pandemic has solidified the immediacy and impact of government in our lives (though it’s mostly the provincial government in terms of public health). But yes, I am still excited at the prospect of watching the numbers slowly climb and listening to endless commentary on the leaders, campaigns and battleground ridings. Any chance for an occasion, I guess.

These cream puffs are based on Pierre Herme’s formidable flavour combination, ispahan – raspberry, rose and lychee. I filled choux au craquelin with lychee mousse, topped them with raspberry rosewater ganache and a ring of fresh raspberries. It really is a remarkably good combination – the floral aspects of lychee play off the rosewater, and all the sweetness balanced by the tartness of raspberry. (There is an ispahan roll cake on the blog too, by the way!)

I will warn you though: these cream puffs are definitely a bit more on the sweet side given that I used syrupy canned lychees in the mousse and a white chocolate whipped ganache!

• Servings: about 10-12 puffs
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choux pastry

craquelin

• 56g brown sugar
• 50g whole wheat flour
• 36g soft butter

choux pastry

• 56g butter
• 120g milk
• pinch kosher salt
• sprinkle of granulated sugar
• 60g whole wheat flour
• 2 eggs (may not use all)

For the craquelin, mix all ingredients together until it forms a cohesive dough. Place the dough between two sheets of parchment and roll out to a thickness of 1-2mm. Slide onto a pan and freeze until firm.

For the choux pastry, preheat the oven to 400F. Line a baking pan with a sheet of parchment paper – on the backside, trace twelve well-spaced 4.5cm circles (a couple extra too if you can fit them).

Place the butter, milk, sugar and salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the flour and quickly mix in with a wooden spoon. Lower the heat and continue to cook the mixture until it forms a ball. Remove the pastry from the heat and let cool a bit before adding the egg.

Beat the eggs in a small bowl. Add a bit at a time to the pastry. Assess the consistency of the dough after each addition of egg and stop once you’ve achieved the right consistency. I find it easiest to begin beating in the eggs with a wire whisk and then transition back to stirring with a wooden spoon once the batter loosens. The dough should be shiny, but not fluid (if its something a bit new to you, look up a video or a more detailed tutorial for the right consistency – such as looking for the “triangle” of dough!). Importantly, you don’t need to use all the egg – or you may need a bit more or less! 

Transfer the pastry to a piping bag fitted with a large round tip. Pipe mounds of pastry onto the 4.5cm circles. To make the size consistent, I position the piping bag a little ways above the pan (1.5-2cm or so – it will be quite natural!) and pipe until the mound of dough nearly fills out the circular guide drawn on the parchment. I avoid lifting the piping bag too much further up as I pipe – if you do that, you end up with a larger and taller mound of pastry and the size will not be as consistent. Depending on how tall you pipe the puffs (I usually pipe them 1.5-2cm tall), you’ll end up with about 10-12.

Take the craquelin out of the freezer and cut 5cm circles from the dough. Top each puff with a round of the craquelin.

Bake for 10 minutes at 400F, then decrease temperature to 375F and bake about 30 minutes more or until well browned. You can rotate the puffs after they’ve been in the oven for 20-25 minutes or so, once there are no worries of them deflating. Use a small knife to cut a small slit on the top or side of each puff to let the steam release and let cool on on a wire rack.

rose raspberry whipped ganache

• 50g white chocolate, chopped
• small pinch kosher salt
• 85g heavy cream
• 15g strained raspberry puree (from about 40g raspberries)
• 1/4 tsp rosewater, or to taste (may vary depending on the strength of your rosewater)

Place the chopped chocolate and salt in a heatproof bowl. Place the cream in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Pour over the white chocolate. Allow to sit for a couple minutes for the chocolate to begin melting, then whisk until smooth. Whisk in the raspberry puree and rosewater.

Cover and chill completely. Whip up the ganache when you’re ready to assemble the cream puffs (see assembly section below). 

lychee rose mousse

• 3/4 tsp powdered gelatin bloomed in 1 1/2 tbsp water
• 90g strained lychee puree, at room temperature
• 3/4 tsp rosewater, or to taste (may vary depending on the strength of your rosewater)
• 90g heavy cream

Microwave the bloomed gelatin until melted (about 10 seconds should suffice) and whisk into the lychee puree along with the rosewater.

In a separate bowl, whip the cream. Add the lychee puree and use a whisk to fold gently fold together (reference this souffle cheesecake video – watch from 4:54-6:05 for a demonstration). At the end you can switch to a rubber spatula for the last few folds.

Use the mousse right away, before it sets!  

assembly

• 10-12 raspberries for the centre of each cream puff (optional)
• about 25-30 raspberries (2-2.5 per puff), cut in half, for topping each puff – the number needed may vary depending on the size of your raspberries and circumference of cream puffs

Slice the top off of each cream puff.

Fill the puffs with the freshly made lychee mousse by spooning it into each puff. If you like, you can push in a raspberry into the mousse now so there is one in the centre of each cream puff. To make sure the entire puff is filled, tap the puffs on the work surface to settle the mousse. If the level drops, spoon more mousse into the puff and repeat the tapping and filling as needed until each puff is filled.

Place the puffs in the fridge for 1 hour to allow the mousse to set.

Once set, whip the rose raspberry ganache until thick and stiff. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a large round tip (I used one about 1.7cm in diametre). Pipe a dollop of the whipped ganache on top of each puff. Arrange raspberry halves around the ganache. Finally, replace the top of each cream puff. If the edges of the cream puff lids are a bit rough, you can trim them to even out the edges and make the lids more circular. Serve right away!

giant aged cheddar gougères with jam & butter

My love for these gougères makes me wonder at the power of form, shape and dimension in influencing our experience of eating… or to put my revelation in other words: bigger is better.

In the end they are what they are – gougères, choux pastry flecked with grated cheese – and the exact same recipe I’ve made multiple times before. But the larger size gives these puffs a generously rustic, scone-like presence. You can hold it in two hands and take what you think is a substantive bite only for it to collapse in a puff of air and bronzed batter and butter and toasted cheese. They are what I imagine scones would be if you rubbed in air in the place of cold butter.

I was inspired by the gougères at Pigeonhole where they’re served massive plus butter and jam. I haven’t had the chance to try theirs, but I was immediately fascinated when I mistook them for scones at first glance.

These gougères are delicious on their own (and that is generally how I end up eating them), but after trying them with some strawberry rhubarb jam I made last summer, I quite enjoyed that too! Another idea: apple butter?

The gougères are best the day of while they’ve retained a contrast between the crisp exterior and a custardy honeycombed interior. It’s not too hard to finish them on the first day though; after all, they are literally half, if not more, air and hence easily inhaled. (Or so I excuse myself after eating half the batch.)

tips to keep your giant gougères giant

I’ve made several batches of these, and while I still occasionally have a sinker or two, there are a couple of things I’ve picked up on to ensure maximal puff:

1. Allow the batter to cool before mixing in the grated cheese to prevent it from melting before hitting the oven
2. Resist the temptation to sprinkle additional shredded cheese on top – small gougères can handle it, but these ones tend to sink under even a little bit
3. Proper batter consistency – sometimes if I’m making choux pastry where I want it to hold it’s shape, I’ll err on slightly stiffer batter. But I’ve found that if it’s too stiff, the pastry won’t puff as much, so in this case be sure to add the entire 2 large eggs as specified in the recipe.

• Servings: 6 gougères
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Adapted from Alain Ducasse with whole wheat flour, cheddar, herbs and now gigantic. They are big, but they go so fast that a double recipe could be warranted…

gougères

• 60g water (1/4 cup)
• 60g milk (1/4 cup)
• 57g butter (1/2 a stick)
• good pinch salt
• ground black pepper
• 1-2 tsp picked thyme leaves (fresh) or other herbs if desired (optional)
• 65g whole wheat flour (1/2 cup)
• 2 eggs
• 50g aged white cheddar, coarsely grated

to serve (optional!)

• salted butter
• jam of choice

Preheat the oven to 400F.

In a saucepan, warm the water, milk, salt and butter until the butter is fully melted. Bring to a boil, add the flour and quickly mix in with a wooden spoon. Lower the heat and continue to cook the mixture until it forms a ball. Remove the pastry from the heat and let cool a bit before adding the eggs one at a time, beaten into the pastry most easily with the aid of a wire whisk. The dough should now be shiny, but not fluid. If still quite hot, let cool until room temperature, and mix in the herbs, some ground black pepper, followed by the grated cheese. I’ve found that the gougères don’t puff as well if the cheese melts when mixed into the hot dough, so let it cool!

Transfer the pastry to a piping bag fitted with a large round tip (or no tip is fine too!). Pipe six mounds of pastry, around 3-4 tbsp in size (or about 6cm in diameter by 2-3cm in height) evenly spaced on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle with a generous pinch of coarse salt. While it’s tempting to sprinkle these with grated cheese, I’ve found it impedes their rise and causes a bit of collapse. Great for small gougères, not so great for giant gougères.

Bake for around 30-35 minutes or until deeply golden brown. If they’re browning relatively evenly, I would not bother rotating the tray. If they’re browning very unevenly, wait until a a brown crust is formed (at least around 25 minutes) before rotating them near the end to minimize risk of collapse.

As soon as you can handle them, cut a slit in the bottom of each puff to let the steam release and let cool on a wire rack.

Best still slightly warm on their own, or with salted butter and jam.

black forest cream puffs

While one crisis makes it into the news every day, a second crisis makes for more sporadic headlines despite its own deadly impact. In my home province of Alberta (aka third wave overachiever for COVID cases per capita), the opioid crisis has also been raging. 2020 has been the worst year for opioid-related deaths with 1144 deaths or 25.7 deaths per 100,000 person years. To put that in context, it nearly matches the tragic death rate from COVID at the time (1389 lives lost over a similar time frame from March 2020 to Jan 2021). Opioid-related deaths are preventable – no one should have to die of this, let alone that many individuals.

Reminiscent of how the Ontario Ford government decided to revoke the two hard-won mandated paid sick days in 2018 right on time for a pandemic, the Kenney government had put forth a similarly ineffective abstinence-only “Alberta Model” to address the opioid crisis predicated upon the false notion that harm reduction is counterproductive to recovery. Under this policy, they’ve attempted to defund life-saving harm reduction initiatives all while increasing funding for private abstinence-only recovery services (some reportedly run by business owners with ties to government officials). And just a couple of days ago, it was announced that they would shutter Calgary’s sole supervised consumption site.

This is not a policy informed by evidence, compassion or care for people’s lives or chance of recovery. The standard of care for opioid use disorder IS opioid agonist therapy. The most common option, buprenorphine, is a partial opioid receptor agonist (activator) which allows it to prevent cravings and withdrawal. As only a partial agonist, it is safe and doesn’t cause overdoses or highs. Canadian clinical practice guidelines firmly recommend avoiding abstinence-only treatment as it is both ineffective and dangerous, putting patients at higher risk of relapse, overdose and death. Harm reduction practices such as safe consumption sites and needle exchange programs help people stay alive – and staying alive gives people a chance to access treatment services and recover when they are ready to do so.

So rather than evidence, the “Alberta Model” is based on rhetoric, prejudice and partisanship. The government-issued report on supervised consumption sites (SCS), which laid the groundwork for recent events, is a stunning example of this: a one-sided narrative questionably linking SCS to crime (see also this journal article with more details on the many flaws) and a perfect tool for Kenney’s political agenda. Notably, the government report completely disregarded the remarkable health impacts of SCS on overdose prevention and saving lives in lieu of tales of “social disorder”; SCS in Alberta have had a 100% success rate in preventing overdose death.

That brings us to the announced closure of Calgary’s SCS, Safeworks. While it will be replaced with sites at other (still undisclosed) locations, the current site had been chosen after careful study for its central location, and concentration of overdose deaths, drug use equipment and emergency calls (prior to the SCS) in the area. After years in operation, Safeworks had built relationships and trust with users of the site. To lose this site based on a biased report and flawed assessment methods is another tragedy. Following the pattern in other cities across Alberta, it sounds like the UCP wants SCS out of sight and out of mind, without considering more nuanced solutions that incorporate the needs of all members of the community and most importantly, focus on saving lives.

To keep up to date on the story from advocates and community perspectives, I recommend following @street.cats.yyc and @thetable.yyc. Consider contributing to Street Cats YYC Mutual Aid Fund or donate to the organizations leading a legal challenge of the provincial government’s attempt to dismantle SCSs.

Here’s another black forest adaptation: cream puff edition. Choux with cocoa craquelin, cherry kirsch compote, chocolate pastry cream, a massive swirl of whipped cream and cherries. It’s simple, straightforwards, and hits on all the same flavours as black forest cake!

• Servings: 10 larger puffs
• Print

Craquelin adapted from Bouchon Bakery by Thomas Keller and Sebastien Rouxel. Choux adapted from Alain Ducasse. Chocolate pastry cream adapted from The Flavour Bender. 

craquelin

• 33g brown sugar
• 9g cocoa powder
• 21g flour
• 22g soft butter

choux pastry

• 43g butter
• 90g milk
• pinch kosher salt
• sprinkle of granulated sugar
• 45g whole wheat flour
• 1 ½ eggs (may not use all – this time around I only needed 60g-ish, but it will always depend!)

chocolate pastry cream 

• 6g cornstarch
• 3g cocoa powder
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tbsp granulated sugar
• pinch salt
• 180g whole milk
• 30g chopped dark chocolate
• 1 generous tbsp of kirsch 

cherry kirsch compote

• 100g cherries, pitted and chopped
• 1 tbsp kirsch 

assembly

• 150g heavy cream whipped with 1 tsp sugar
• 10 cherries

craquelin

Mix all ingredients together until it forms a cohesive dough. Place the dough between two sheets of parchment and roll out to a thickness of 1-2mm. Slide onto a pan and freeze until firm.

choux pastry,

Preheat the oven to 400F. Line a baking pan with a sheet of parchment paper – on the backside, trace twelve 4.5cm circles.

Place the butter, milk, sugar and salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the flour and quickly mix in with a wooden spoon. Lower the heat and continue to cook the mixture until it forms a ball. Remove the pastry from the heat and let cool a bit before adding the egg.

Beat the eggs in a small bowl. Add a bit at a time to the pastry. Assess the consistency of the dough after each addition of egg and stop once you’ve achieved the right consistency. I find it easiest to begin beating in the eggs with a wire whisk and then transition back to stirring with a wooden spoon once the batter loosens. The dough should be shiny, but not fluid (if its something a bit new to you, look up a video or a more detailed tutorial for the right consistency – such as looking for the “triangle” of dough!). Importantly, you don’t need to use all the egg – or you may need a bit more or less! 

Transfer the pastry to a piping bag fitted with a large round tip. Pipe the pastry onto the 4.5cm circles. Take the craquelin out of the freezer and cut 5cm circles from the dough. Top each puff with a round of the craquelin.

Bake for 10 minutes at 400F, then decrease temperature to 375F and bake about 30 minutes more or until well browned. You can rotate the puffs after they’ve been in the oven for 20-25 minutes or so, once there are no worries of them deflating. As soon as you can handle the puffs, cut a small slit on the bottom of each puff to let the steam release and let cool on on a wire rack.

chocolate pastry cream

In a bowl whisk together the cornstarch, cocoa powder, egg yolk, sugar and salt. If it’s very thick add a spoonful of the milk as needed.

Place the chopped chocolate in a separate bowl and set aside. 

Place the milk in a saucepan and heat until it just comes to a simmer. Slowly pour into the egg yolk mixture while whisking constantly to temper the egg yolks. Transfer back to the saucepan and return to the heat being sure to whisk constantly. Cook the pastry cream until it begins to bubble and pop and continue to cook it at a bubble for 1 minute. 

Pour the pastry cream over the chopped chocolate and whisk until the chocolate melts in. Lastly, whisk in the kirsch. Cover and chill completely. 

cherry kirsch compote

Place the chopped cherries and kirsch together in a small saucepan. Cook together until the cherries are soft and the juices have thickened. You can add sugar as needed if the cherries are not very sweet. Chill completely.

assembly

Cut a lid from the top of each puff. Spoon a bit of cherry compote into each puff and press into the bottom.

Transfer the chocolate pastry cream to a piping bag – I like to use one of those long narrow filling tips to help get into all the corners – and fill up to the top with pastry cream. 

Whip the cream and transfer to a piping bag fitted with a large French tip. This is just enough cream to pipe a couple of swirls on top of each puff.  

Lastly, nestle a cherry ontop of each swirl of cream. Best eaten day of assembly.

black forest tarts

You can also use the components to fill tart shells as shown below!

black sesame & persimmon paris-brest

My posts have been fairly substance-less of late. I had meant to spend more time writing about things that matter far more than getting a proper puff on your choux or preventing soggy bottoms – pandemic fallout, policing and media to name a couple things. Yet, I’ve gradually returned to solid frivolities – a return signifying the privileges I have to be able to disengage from matters of life-and-death for others, at least on the blog front. Recently the pace of life has picked up again and I’ve landed myself with quite a few more responsibilities (which I was rather enjoying the lack of during the last few months). While I’ve been having more significant conversations with family and friends (US politics top of mind, of course), as far as the blog goes, I’ll need to find a new equilibrium.

Writing this blog is certainly extremely low impact, but I think it contributes to the general milieu where we hear these issues emphasized over and over from various channels. It helps keep me from lapsing into (more) complacency – and organizing my thoughts in writing first helps me talk about them in person.

strawberry rhubarb rose choux

Generally I am slow at posting what I make (average delay of a couple months to a year). This is no exception: rhubarb season has passed, but I’ll slip this in anyways… and there may be more rhubarb recipes coming even later!

pomelo, coconut & yuzu cream puffs

Growing up, I always ate pomelo with my grandpa because he was the only one willing to peel them. We’d score the top – always needing to cut deeper than expected to get through the pith – and then wrestle out the fruit from the centre (you can find some photos of the pomelo peeling process here) keeping the peel in one piece. My grandpa would then put a plate on top of the peel to help it dry flat into a flower, and thereafter it would spend a couple months dangling somewhere in the kitchen.

Nowadays I can peel my own pomelos (and I sometimes even cut my own pineapple! how I have grown), though I still look forwards the arrival of pomelos every winter.

Pomelos are also something I’ve found difficult to bake with due to their subtle flavour. I’ve been making some progress though – I’ve found that the peel tastes quite a distinct in these coconut & candied pomelo hot cross buns. The flesh on the other hand is best left uncooked. I find pomelos usually (though there is quite a bit of variation!) less acidic than other citrus such as oranges and grapefruit. It makes them quite amenable to being piled on top of desserts with minimal added sugar – for example, as in this pomelo, mint & rose tart from a few years ago.

Here is another pomelo dessert which uses (smaller) piles of pomelo pulp. Whole wheat choux au craquelin, coconut pastry cream, yuzu posset cream on top & pomelo. I don’t usually use two citruses together, but I find it quite a nice combination – yuzu provides the tartness that pomelo lacks, and both provide different themes on citrus. These puffs are by far the most refreshing choux recipe on the blog!

I fully admit, cream puffs seem to be a strange thing to make in a pandemic. But thanks to incredible ovenspring, choux pastry stretches quite far! As in, you can make quite a bit with an egg or two and under half a cup of flour. And while I then made a filling, you could always make chouquettes or throw in grated cheese for gougeres.

• Servings: 8-10 medium puffs
• Print

An older version of this recipe made 10-12 smaller puffs – if you’d like to do that, make a 2/3 recipe of choux pastry and pipe each puff 3.5cm wide instead.

choux pastry

For about 8-10 puffs.

craquelin

• 56g brown sugar
• 50g whole wheat flour
• 36g soft butter

choux pastry

• 43g butter
• 90g milk
• pinch kosher salt
• sprinkle of granulated sugar
• 45g whole wheat flour
• 1 ½ eggs (may not use all)

For the craquelin, mix all ingredients together until it forms a cohesive dough. (If it is very dry and not holding together, work in a bit more butter.) Place the dough between two sheets of parchment and roll out to a thickness of about 1mm. Slide onto a pan and freeze until firm.

For the choux pastry, preheat the oven to 400F. Line a baking pan with a sheet of parchment paper – on the backside, trace twelve 4.5cm circles. (I usually only need to use at most 10 of them, but this way we have some extra just in case.)

Place the butter, milk, sugar and salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the flour and quickly mix in with a wooden spoon. Lower the heat and continue to cook the mixture until it forms a ball. Remove the pastry from the heat and let cool a bit before adding the egg.

Beat the eggs in a small bowl. Add a bit at a time to the pastry. Assess the consistency of the dough after each addition of egg and stop once you’ve achieved the right consistency. I find it easiest to begin beating in the eggs with a wire whisk and then transition back to stirring with a wooden spoon once the batter loosens. The dough should be shiny, but not fluid (if its something a bit new to you, look up a video or a more detailed tutorial for the right consistency – such as looking for the “triangle” of dough!). Importantly, you don’t need to use all the egg – or you may need a bit more or less! 

Transfer the pastry to a piping bag fitted with a large round tip. Pipe mounds of pastry onto the 4.5cm circles.

Take the craquelin out of the freezer and cut 5cm circles from the dough. Top each puff with a round of the craquelin.

Bake for 10 minutes at 400F, then decrease temperature to 375F and bake about 30 minutes more or until well browned. You can rotate the puffs after they’ve been in the oven for 20-25 minutes or so, once there are no worries of them deflating. As soon as you can handle the puffs, cut a small slit into each puff to let the steam release and let cool on on a wire rack.

coconut milk pastry cream

• 2 egg yolks
• 12g cornstarch
• 240g (1 cup) full fat coconut milk
• 35g condensed milk, or more to sweeten to taste
• 1 tbsp butter

In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch and a couple spoonfuls of the coconut milk. Stir together the remaining coconut milk and the condensed milk in a saucepan and then heat until it is steaming. Slowly pour it into the cornstarch/egg yolk mixture while whisking constantly to temper the eggs. Return to the saucepan and cook over medium while whisking constantly. Look for the pastry cream to begin to thicken and bubble. To ensure the starch is cooked, let the pastry cream cook at a bubble for at least 1 minute (all the while whisking very vigorously!).

Immediately remove from the heat. Pass through a sieve (especially if you spy any lumps) and into a bowl and whisk in the butter until melted. Cover and chill completely.

yuzu posset cream

I love posset. This time I folded the posset with some whipped cream to pipe on top of the cream puffs – you’ll probably have a bit extra. Mixing posset with whipped cream makes quite an interesting cream – it starts off quite soft, but then firms as it sits but still has a nice creamy texture. You can make the posset ahead of time, but the final cream starts to set after several minutes, so be sure to only mix in the whipped cream right before you pipe it on the puffs. To get nice dollops of cream, be sure to use a very large round piping tip, with an opening about 2cm across in diameter. Posset adapted from Food52 lime posset.

• 96g heavy cream
• 25g sugar
• 1 tbsp yuzu juice
• 75g heavy cream

Boil the 96g heavy cream and sugar for 5 minutes, then remove from the heat and add the yuzu juice, whisking until smooth. Transfer to a small bowl and chill completely. It will thicken and solidify once chilled.

Only mix in the whipped cream just before you pipe the cream on the puffs. Whip the 75g heavy cream until softly whipped: billowy and holds it shape, but not super stiff or grainy. Whisk a dollop of the cream into the posset to lighten it, then fold in the remaining cream. Transfer to a pastry big fitted with a big round tip (2cm diameter opening).

assembly

• pomelo

To prepare the pomelo (I used about 3 big wedges), peel the membrane from each wedge. Break up the pulp into smaller clumps for stuffing into the cream puffs. Reserve a few larger pieces for topping the puffs.

To assemble, slice the top off of the cream puffs. Transfer the coconut pastry cream into a pastry bag – I quite like the long filling tip as it makes it easy to get into all the corners to fill the puff. Pipe full of pastry cream, leaving some space. Push some pomelo into the cream puff to fill the remainder of the cavity.

Pipe a dollop of yuzu posset cream on top of each and top with a chunk of pomelo.

Updated Dec 2022.