Forget the Great British Bake Off version, TRISH DESEINE has her own MAXIMUM TASTE, no fuss recipe for cream choux with caramel for you to try IN YOUR OWN KITCHEN …
If you’re looking for stressy, cheffy, Bake-Off perfectionism please move right along. I am not interested. My goal here (as in most things in life) is maximum taste and pleasure for minimal fuss. Time doesn’t really enter into it when I’m baking, although there’s often much impatience on Sunday afternoons as the cake cools.
Making very tiny, one-bite caramel choux served with fluffy mascarpone cream to dip into at will removes the necessity of filling, and therefore piping and therefore piping kit. (That said, this late adopter is fascinated by the mythical Wilton 2D icing nozzle because it does THIS saving you from certain insanity by trying to do THIS. Buy it in 1 click thrills are imminent, I fear.)
Choux Pastry
25 minutes preparation, 20 minutes in the oven. Makes about 30 little choux.
100ml milk,
100ml water
90g butter
pinch of salt and sugar
110g plain flour, sieved.
4 medium eggs, beaten.
Pre-heat the oven to 210C. Bring the milk, water, salt and sugar to the boil and bubble for 20 seconds or so. Add the flour in one go and stir vigourously with a wooden spoon or spatula, making a thick, and initially lumpy , batter. Keeping the heat below the pan, work the batter until it dries and no longer sticks to the pan or the spoon. Let it cool a few minutes before adding the beaten eggs, beating well as you go. Good news! You can do this part in a mixer.
Egg sizes vary, in France especially, so when the batter becomes supple and glossy, test its texture by running a finger (beaters OFF please) through it to make a furrow. It the furrow closes in upon itself immediately, the batter is at the correct texture and you can stop adding eggs.
Using a teaspoon, place very small heaps of batter about 3cm or so from each other on a silicone baking sheet. (If you like, at this stage pat the tops of the choux with your finger dipped in water to make the tops smooth and glossy.)
Bake the choux for about 25 minutes, until they are puffed up and toasted. Remove from the oven and cool. Wash and dry the silicone baking sheet – unless you have two, you lucky person.
Make a caramel by heating 200g or so of sugar in a heavy bottomed pan or frying pan until it melts and turns a dark golden brown. (You may need to do this twice for the 30 or so choux this recipe makes.)
Take the pan off the heat, dip the choux bottoms quickly into the molten caramel (careful!) and set them on a silicone baking sheet to harden and cool.
Serve the choux with 250ml or so of whipping cream beaten with 3 tablespoons of mascarpone and a little icing sugar.
Image/styling by Trish Deseine
Love THEGLOSS.ie? Sign up to our MAILING LIST now for a roundup of the latest fashion, beauty, interiors and entertaining news from THE GLOSS MAGAZINE’s daily dispatches.