Choux au Craquelin with Pistachio Crème Mousseline and Raspberry Jam

 

Towards the end of last year I decided to make homemade pistachio paste using this recipe from Stella Parks.  Being ambitious I thought it was a good idea to double the recipe so that I would have plenty of paste to last me for a while.  Little did I know that doing this would test the limits of my poor food processor.  It definitely wasn't a good sign when the motor started smoking...ha!  Fortunately, after a long rest the food processor recovered and I didn't have to replace it. Phew!  Perhaps it was that trauma that made me procrastinate in using the pistachio paste.  Several months passed and I finally found a use for it.

Pistachio is one of my favorite nut flavors and I thought it would be delicious in a pastry cream.  I found a recipe for Choux au Craquelin with Pistachio Crème Mousseline and Raspberry Jam from the blog Ana's Baking Chronicles.  Her pictures of the pastries were so stunning that I was immediately enticed to make them myself.  

You'll notice the crackly crust on top of the cream puffs.  This is called craquelin which is a dough made of butter, sugar, flour and salt (and a little food coloring, if you want).  It's rolled out thin, then frozen and cut into discs using a small round cutter.  The craquelin is placed on top of the pâte à choux just before baking.  When baked it turns into a crackly shell on top of the baked puff.

 

One of the issues I've found with cream puffs is the pastry cream filling tends to run and not hold it's shape, especially when you try to cut into it.  What I especially liked about Ana's recipe is that she fills her choux with pastry cream whipped with butter, also known as crème mousseline or German buttercream.  The result was a filling bursting with pistachio flavor that also held up to piping and cutting.  A layer of homemade raspberry jam at the bottom of the choux serves as a nice contrast to the nutty filling.  One bite of this decadent pastry and you'll be transported back to France!

Churros

I'm a big fan of Churros but never really thought to make them at home.  Why?  Because it requires deep frying and I prefer not to do that in my kitchen.  Plus, anytime you go to Costco you can easily buy one for $1 each.  But let's be honest, the Costco variety don't hold a candle to the best ones I've ever tasted which are the ones in Spain.    

When I found myself with some leftover frying oil I decided to bite the bullet and make some of these delicious pastries.  The dough is basically pâte à choux, very similar to what you'd use for cream puffs.  The only difference being you pipe the dough in to long strips and then deep fry.  Once they are nice and golden brown they are then rolled in a cinnamon sugar mixture.   My favorite way to eat them is dipped in a chocolate sauce like they do for breakfast in Spain, churros con chocolate.

For the recipe I turned to one I found from Cook's Country.  Once you pipe the logs of dough you let them sit in the fridge for a while to firm up.   I had no trouble with piping, except towards the end when the dough was so stiff the bag burst!   As the churros were frying all seemed fine until they all developed this strange little hump on one end, as if air was trying to escape.  I'm not sure why the humps formed but at least it was consistent across all my churros.  Once cooled and rolled in cinnamon sugar all they needed was a dip in the chocolate sauce.  I'm telling you nothing compares to homemade churros - crispy and delicious!

Paris-Brest

I'm lucky enough to be a recipe tester for Cook's Illustrated, the ne plus ultra cooking authorities, so when a Paris-Brest recipe landed in my Inbox many, many, many months ago I was super excited.  I had every intention of making it straight away until procrastination and summer vacation distracted me.  When I saw that the recipe was published in the current issue of the magazine (November/December 2011) I figured it was about time to make it.

If you're not familiar with this classic French dessert it's a large ring of pâte à choux filled with a praline-infused pastry cream.  They say the Paris-Brest was the brainchild of a very ingenious baker to commemorate the famous bicycle race between the two cities.  Leave it to a Frenchie to think of something like that...love it!

I'm sending this cake across cyberspace to my dear friend Mimi who is celebrating her birthday today.  Joyeux anniversaire mon amie!  

Cream Puffs and a Giveaway

Earlier this year Martha Stewart launched a great new show all about baking called "Martha Bakes".  If you haven't seen it already check it out on the Hallmark Channel.  Every week she presents different recipes and techniques around a common theme.   A recent episode was all about pâte à choux. 

Pâte à choux is one of my favorite doughs because of its versatility.  You start with a basic recipe which can be made into so many things: eclairs, profiteroles, gougeres and croquembouche to name a few. 

After watching Martha's show I was inspired to make the most traditional version of pâte à choux, cream puffs.   The golden brown puffs were filled with vanilla bean diplomat cream (pastry cream mixed with whipped heavy cream) and then dusted with powdered sugar.  Perfection! 

Now to the giveaway....

Once again the nice people at CSN have provided a $35 gift code for use at their online stores.   They literally sell anything you can imagine at great prices - from Le Creuset cookware that I love so much to a beautiful tufted velvet headboard my friend Christine recently purchased.

To enter just leave a comment to this blog post by Friday April 8.

RULES: Only one entry per person allowed and you MUST include your email address  in the comment to be eligible.  Sorry, but that's the only way the winner can be notified to claim the gift code.  CSN only ships to addresses in the US and Canada.   There may be international shipping charges for Canadian addresses.

The winner of the gift card is comment #34.  I'll be contacting you directly with your prize!

Gougères

Gougères, or  French cheese puffs, are a perfect accompaniment  to a glass of sparkling wine or other aperitif.  Had my first taste when I was at school in Dijon, which is only fitting as gougères are a specialty of the Burgundy region.   I still remember how delicious the savory puffs were with a glass of Kir.

Tartine Bakery here in San Francisco makes the most amazing gougères that are as big as softballs.  What sets theirs apart from the rest is the fresh thyme that's added along with Gruyère cheese to the pâte à choux dough.   This is my homage to their version.  Give them a try!

Croquembouche

I was really excited when I read that this month's Daring Bakers challenge was the French masterpiece croquembouche.  I've never made  it before but have always admired its regal stature in the pastry world.  This would be a real test of my baking skills.

It seems only fitting that croquembouche is normally found at French weddings.  I see it as the perfect marriage of pastry and architecture.   Cream filled pâte à choux arranged in a tall tower with the aid of amber caramel....amazing!

I'm no stranger to pâte à choux  and have made it many times in sweet (cream puffs, eclairs) and savory (gougères) forms.  The challenge for me this time was working with caramel.  I tend to shy away from any desserts that require handling molten sugar.  Mainly because I don't want to burn myself.  On top of that clean up is a pain.  And those who know me know I hate cleaning up.  

My hesitation with the caramel wasn't unfounded.  The first batch I made ended up as a burnt mess whose fate was at the bottom of the compost bin.  The second and third batches turned out much better, but I still used plastic gloves when I was assembling the croquembouche.  Better to be safe than sorry.

The tops of each choux were dipped in caramel and some were then rolled in Swedish pearl sugar I found at IKEA.   Once I assembled the tower I added some jordan almonds to give it that festive touch.  I'm quite happy with the final product and am looking forward to making it again.

The May 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Cat of Little Miss Cupcake. Cat challenged everyone to make a piece montée, or croquembouche, based on recipes from Peter Kump’s Baking School in Manhattan and Nick Malgieri.