Kat of The Bobwhites was our August 2012 Daring Baker hostess who inspired us to have fun in creating pate a choux shapes, filled with crème patisserie or Chantilly cream. We were encouraged to create swans or any shape we wanted and to go crazy with filling flavors allowing our creativity to go wild!
When I saw this month's challenge, I was filled with dread! Choux Pastry in this horrid humidity?? I m doomed!!
You see the past few weeks, the weather here is not exactly on "friendly terms" with baking. We are having hot horrible humid weather conditions with an occasional sprinkle of rains. Not exactly "pastry-making" weather conditions (I haven't even tried thinking about macarons and meringues). But a girl gotta do what a girl oughtta do!
So I made the choux pastry, not exactly expecting any outstanding results. But surprise surprise. The puffs turned out perfect...at least they were perfect for half an hour or so, but after that, owing to the weather conditions, they became soft. But nevertheless, we enjoyed gobbling up swan after swan, trying to figure out if the head goes in first or the body :D.
I chose to fill it with Chantilly Cream (i.e., our good old whipped cream) as I wanted a lighter and airy filling for my delicate swans. But pastry cream and caramel will also go spectacularly with these swans.
Pate a Choux:
Ingredients:
½ cup (120 ml) (115 gm) (4 oz) butter
1 cup (240 ml) water
¼ teaspoon (1½ gm) salt
1 cup (240 ml) (140 gm) (5 oz) all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
Chantilly Cream
1 cup (225 ml.) cold heavy cream
2 tablespoons confectioners' (powdered) sugar
Method:
Line at least two baking sheets with silicone mats or parchment paper, or grease pans well. Preheat oven to moderately hot 375°F/190°C/gas mark 5 . In a small saucepot, combine butter, water, and salt. Heat over until butter melts, then remove from stove.
Add flour all at once and beat, beat, beat the mixture until the dough pulls away from the sides of the pot.
Add one egg, and beat until well combined. Add remaining eggs individually, beating vigorously after each addition. Resulting mixture should be somewhat glossy, very smooth, and somewhat thick.
Using a ¼” (6 mm) tip on a pastry bag, pipe out about 36 swan heads. You’re aiming for something between a numeral 2 and a question mark, with a little beak if you’re skilled and/or lucky (I used a toothpick for the beak).
Remove the tip from the bag and pipe out 36 swan bodies. These will be about 1.5” (40 mm) long, and about 1” (25 mm) wide. One end should be a bit narrower than the other.
This picture is from Kat's notes
Bake the heads and bodies until golden and puffy. The heads will be done a few minutes before the bodies, so keep a close eye on the baking process.
This is how mine looked in the oven
Remove the pastries to a cooling rack, and let cool completely before filling.
For the filling, chill medium mixing bowl and whisk in freezer for 10 minutes before beginning. In chilled bowl, whisk cream until it begins to foam and thicken. Add sugar and continue to whisk just until soft peaks form. Do not over-whip.
How to Assemble:
Take a swan body and use a very sharp knife to cut off the top 1/3rd to ½. Cut the removed top down the center to make two wings.
Dollop a bit of filling into the body, insert head, and then add wings. Your first attempt will probably not look like much, but the more you make, the more your bevy of swans will become a beautiful work of swan art.
Here's my love stuck pair
and here's the bevy of swans
Thank you so much Kat for such a spectacular challenge! It really was a real daring challenge and a wonderful learning process. Do stop by here to see what the other daring bakers came up with.
When I saw this month's challenge, I was filled with dread! Choux Pastry in this horrid humidity?? I m doomed!!
You see the past few weeks, the weather here is not exactly on "friendly terms" with baking. We are having hot horrible humid weather conditions with an occasional sprinkle of rains. Not exactly "pastry-making" weather conditions (I haven't even tried thinking about macarons and meringues). But a girl gotta do what a girl oughtta do!
So I made the choux pastry, not exactly expecting any outstanding results. But surprise surprise. The puffs turned out perfect...at least they were perfect for half an hour or so, but after that, owing to the weather conditions, they became soft. But nevertheless, we enjoyed gobbling up swan after swan, trying to figure out if the head goes in first or the body :D.
I chose to fill it with Chantilly Cream (i.e., our good old whipped cream) as I wanted a lighter and airy filling for my delicate swans. But pastry cream and caramel will also go spectacularly with these swans.
Pate a Choux:
Ingredients:
½ cup (120 ml) (115 gm) (4 oz) butter
1 cup (240 ml) water
¼ teaspoon (1½ gm) salt
1 cup (240 ml) (140 gm) (5 oz) all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
Chantilly Cream
1 cup (225 ml.) cold heavy cream
2 tablespoons confectioners' (powdered) sugar
Method:
Line at least two baking sheets with silicone mats or parchment paper, or grease pans well. Preheat oven to moderately hot 375°F/190°C/gas mark 5 . In a small saucepot, combine butter, water, and salt. Heat over until butter melts, then remove from stove.
Add flour all at once and beat, beat, beat the mixture until the dough pulls away from the sides of the pot.
Add one egg, and beat until well combined. Add remaining eggs individually, beating vigorously after each addition. Resulting mixture should be somewhat glossy, very smooth, and somewhat thick.
Using a ¼” (6 mm) tip on a pastry bag, pipe out about 36 swan heads. You’re aiming for something between a numeral 2 and a question mark, with a little beak if you’re skilled and/or lucky (I used a toothpick for the beak).
Remove the tip from the bag and pipe out 36 swan bodies. These will be about 1.5” (40 mm) long, and about 1” (25 mm) wide. One end should be a bit narrower than the other.
This picture is from Kat's notes
Bake the heads and bodies until golden and puffy. The heads will be done a few minutes before the bodies, so keep a close eye on the baking process.
This is how mine looked in the oven
Remove the pastries to a cooling rack, and let cool completely before filling.
For the filling, chill medium mixing bowl and whisk in freezer for 10 minutes before beginning. In chilled bowl, whisk cream until it begins to foam and thicken. Add sugar and continue to whisk just until soft peaks form. Do not over-whip.
How to Assemble:
Take a swan body and use a very sharp knife to cut off the top 1/3rd to ½. Cut the removed top down the center to make two wings.
Here's my love stuck pair
and here's the bevy of swans
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