Cream Puffs

Back in January I declared that this year I'd master religieuses, the adorable and delectable French pastries. Religieuses are cream puffs made of choux pastry, filled with chiboust or diplomat cream in various flavors, and iced with poured fondant. I first tasted one about seven years ago when Jack took me to Paris for a long weekend (yes, he is just that wonderful!) and I've been a bit obsessed with them ever since.

I've broken the process into baby steps, starting with gougeres (the choux pastry) and now working on the filling. It seemed logical to make some cream puffs, as an intermediate step in the process.

For the choux I used the same gougeres recipe, minus the gruyere and with a reduced amount of salt. For the topping I dipped the filled puffs into warm ganache (8 ounces chopped bittersweet chocolate and 3/4 cups of heavy cream), as I have not yet tackled making fondant.

The filling was my main goal for this exercise, and I used a chiboust recipe from Aran, of the beautiful Cannelle et Vanille (if you haven't checked out Aran's blog yet, you're missing some real eye candy. Only three months old, it's absolutely full of mouthwatering photos and recipes). I was interested in Aran's chiboust recipe because it doesn't call for gelatin, like so many others do.

The cream puffs were a hit and I sent half a dozen with my daughter to school on Monday and quite enjoyed imagining the reaction when she shared them around her lunch table. I still need to work on the filling, though. The chiboust was lovely, but perhaps too light for what I want to do, running out of the cream puffs in delicious rivlets when we tried to eat them. I have a feeling I'm going to have to use gelatin, but I'll definitely be keeping Aran's recipe for other uses. I also need to stop being lazy and smooth out the choux before baking it, so that I get nice round puffs instead of bumpy puffs!

Comments

[Adele]

No, don't smooth them out! The bumps give them character. They say "Eat me" rather than "Display me." :)

[Aran]

I'm so glad you made them!!! They look gorgeous, really!!! The chiboust without gelatin is definitely "soft" and must be eaten right away. When I made my beignets, they had to be eaten a la minute otherwise they kind of fall apart but that's the beauty of it! Maybe you can use gelatin but not as much as other recipes. let me know when you try again.
And thank you for the nice comments you made about my blog!

[Manggy]

Bump Schmump! Those are just so gorgeous! You may want to consider using diplomat cream instead of creme chiboust-- just an equal stiffly whipped volume of heavy cream to the original italian meringue.
I hope you do try the fondant in the near future-- I promise you will be very surprised on how well it worked :)

[Charcuterista]

I wish I was there to eat one (or maybe three...or four...) I think you may have inspired me to tackle choux paste and fillings. The ganache looks beautiful and in my (admittedly limited) experience fondant doesn't taste like much. Is pourable fondant different?

[mimi]

oh. my. gosh. i'm coming over! these look delish and absolutely mouth watering! choux and all those amazing delicacies are currently filed under my "when i get better" at baking, but these are an encouragement!

[Psychgrad]

They look dangerous. The type of treat that you could pop one in your mouth every couple of minutes without realizing, after an hour, that you've had 20.

[Medena]

Perrrrfect! I love, love cream puffs! Doesn't everyone?! :)
Great job!

[Sophie]

I'm the lucky one who got to take them to school! They were awesome and my friends loved them too.

[Johanna]

Those look adorable and so delicious - I really wish I was there to taste just one as I am not sure I could trust myself to make a batch and have many left by the end of the day!

[Hillary]

Those are some tasty looking and adorable cream puffs! Mmmm...

[giz]

Oh my gawd!!! What more can I say

[Gretchen Noelle]

These look delicious! I have never done anything like this!

[brilynn]

Those look perfect!
I'm sure everyone was thrilled when your daughter brought them out at school!

[Jessica]

those look awesome! Especially with the chocolate glaze on top!

[Julie]

Is there a more enticing sight than a tray of cream puffs? If I saw them in person I think I'd be unable to resist the urge to pop one in my mouth (followed by another ten or so, I'm sure).

[Bellini Valli]

Kudos to you for taking this recipe to the limits. Can't wait to see the finished product once they are like the ones you had in Paris:D

[gattina]

me too, kudos to you! Your cream puffs look flawless!

[Karyn]

Maybe you could try agar instead of gelatin (so your daughter can eat them)?

They look divine.

[Zenchef]

How come you didn't send some with my lunchbox?
I think you should make me a batch so I can give you some constructive criticism in exchange. :-)
What about agar-agar in place of gelatin? And using a fork dipped in egg-wash to round the choux paste before baking.

[Joanna in the kitchen]

Cute. Very cute.

[yulinka]

Ah, cream puffs. My mom would make them occasionally when I was growing up and I always loved watching them, er, puff up in the over. It looked magical! Never made them myself, though.

[Pixie]

I absolutely love creme puffs, have never made them myself so I could only just imagine how each bite filled you with utter happiness! mmmmm

[Cakespy]

Ah-choux! I am in absolute heaven. Is there anything more magical than a *fresh* cream puff? Maybe unicorns, but it's still a tough call. As for sending them to school with your daughter--if that wouldn't incite dancing in the cafeteria I don't know what would. ;-)

[Cakelaw]

I adore cream puffs - and these look particularly delicious!

[Ann]

Adele, I agree that the bumps are rather appealing, but they will NEVER do for the religieuses!

Aran, Your chiboust was delicious. I may try making it with the just the pastry creme base... no meringue at all.

Manggy, yes, I'll be trying your diplomate creme recipe next-- flavored with coffee. And fondant is next on the list!

Charcuterista, you'll be amazed by how easy choux pastry is! Well, pourable fondant has a much nicer texture, in my opinion, and of course it also gets flavored appropriately. The fondant on religieuses in France is fabulous.

mimi, choux is actually really easy! Try it!

Psychgrad, they are dangerous. That's why so many of them went to school with the kid. :-)

Medena, thanks!

Sophie, I'm glad.

Johanna, they were pretty nice. We've learned not to give in to temptation, though... :-)

Hillary, Thank you!

giz, ha! Apparently nothing! :-)

Gretchen Noelle, start with gougeres and work your way up. It isn't as scary that way. ;-)

brilynn, Thanks!

Jessica, ganache is such a workhorse... so easy to do and it tastes great and always makes the most fabulous-looking glaze...

Julie, they're quite hard to resist!

Bellini Valli, breaking it down into steps has made it all so much less intimidating... :-)

gattina, thank you!

Karyn, thank you. I'll keep on working on it...

Zenchef, Once again I will offer you a trade. My cream puffs for your bottarga. :-)

Joanna, thanks!

yulinka, it's really very easy!

Pixie, there is something supremely satisfying about producing a pastry you really think of as "special" in your own kitchen. :-)

Jessie, I was hoping they'd all spill out on to the street and dance on top of cars, too. ;-)

Cakelaw, it's the shiny chocolate. What doesn't look good in a layer of ganache? :-)