Updated on 27th March 2009:
Jiaying, here's the recipe in which I had used from Florence but I've made some slight changes to it:
Ingredients: Makes 8 puffs
Choux Pastry:
85ml water
50g butter
pinch of salt
1/4 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla essence
50g bread flour
20g cake flour
2 eggs (lightly beaten)
Creme Patisserie:
240ml skim milk (I used half skim milk and half UHT milk as I did not have enough skim milk.)
5 tbsp castor sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 egg + 2 yolks
2 tbsp cornstarch
Method:
Choux Pastry
1. Cook water, butter, sugar and salt in a saucepan till bubbling hot. Turn the heat to low.
2. Add in the flour mixture in one go and mix with a wooden spoon till a dough is formed.
3. Still on low heat, cook the dough for 1 - 2 minutes till a thin white film is formed at the bottom of the saucepan.
4. Transfer dough to a mixing bowl and beat till it is lukewarm.
5. Add in egg by thirds and mix till well blended and smooth.
6. Place batter into piping bag and pipe it onto a lined pan in rounds of about 5cm in diameter. Spray some water on it.
7. Bake at 200C for 25 minutes then 180C for 8 - 10 minutes or till dry and golden brown in color. Turn off the oven and let it cool in the oven for 30 minutes. (I baked at 200C for about 20 minutes after I saw the puffs turn golden brown and lowered the temperature to 180C to bake for 8 minutes before turning off the oven to let them cool in it for 30 minutes.)
Creme Patisserie
1. Mix 60ml of milk with the cornstarch till smooth.
2. Add the beaten egg and yolks into the cornstarch mixture.
3. Boil the remaining milk with sugar in a saucepan till bubbling hot. Pour 1/3 of this hot milk into the egg cornstarch mixture. Stirring all the time.
4. Now pour the egg cornstarch mixture through a strainer into the rest of the boiling milk. Stirring constantly till mixture thicken. Do not burn the custard.
5. Cling wrap custard with glad wrap with the wrap touching the surface of the custard (this is to prevent a hard film forming on surface of the custard) and chill till ready to use.
Notes: Do not open the oven door in the baking process. Open oven door to remove puffs only after the 30 minutes in-oven cooling process.
Updated on 24th March 2009:
I tried another puff just now and it was still as delicious. :) The pastry wasn't as firm to the touch as before, but rather, it was slightly soft. And it still has the same light and airy texture to it. Here's a photo I took:
* * *
I've been feeling so happy since yesterday. :)
And it is all because I've successfully made these beautiful choux pastries (cream puffs) at my virgin attempt:
 I've always wanted to try making these on my own as I've loved cream puffs (of all kinds) since I was a kid. But I never had enough courage to do so after reading all the scary stories about the puffs deflating after removing them from the oven, or the insides being uncooked still even after the specified baking time, etc.
But just last week, I was at my grandma's place and my aunt bought a few packets of some not-so-tasty cream puffs for her to eat. I tried one too and my first reaction was urgh. My grandma is really liking these puffs these days, therefore, I decided to make them for her yesterday. And I'm so glad I did.
They turned out really well (I think), though I wasn't sure if I had achieved the right texture. Maybe someone can advise me a little. My puffs are firm to the touch but once bitten into it, there is no feeling of firmness at all, and instead, it's light and airy. I left just one puff out at room temperature and it is really soft to the touch today. But I kept the rest in an airtight container in the fridge and the texture of those were just like the texture I had yesterday (firm to the touch but light, airy and soft when bitten). Is this correct? Hmm. Here's a photo of my puffs naked:
 Oh, and here's how the inside looks like (this was the best shot I could get):
 Dressing them up with creme patisserie that was real smooth and it was not too eggy or sweet:
 I just love how they looked:
My grandma really liked them and even had three in a row. I was feeling high because my grandma was actually feeling unwell these few months and she doesn't have the appetite for most foods, but I'm so glad she liked these. I'm so going to make them more often for her to eat. And my aunties gave very positive feedback too. :) I'm going to try my hands on making Durian Puffs next Saturday and I hope those will turn out fantastic as well. *Crosses fingers.* |
posted by An Economist Baker at 
really beautiful!!!!
mind sharing thr recipe? (: