YOU WILL NEED
Choux Pastry:
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup whole milk
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
5 large eggs
Vanilla Crème Pâtissière
1 1/4 cups whole milk
2 tbsp + 1 1/2 tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
4 egg yolks
3 tbsp cornstarch
pinch of salt
2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
Chocolate Glaze:
4 oz dark chocolate/ semi-sweet chocolate chips
4 tbsp unsalted butter
powdered sugar for dusting
LET’S DO THIS!
1 Preheat oven to 400°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silpats.
2 For the choux- In a medium pot, bring the water, milk, sugar, salt and butter to simmer over medium heat, about 3 mins. Add the flour all at once, and start vigorously stirring with a wooden spoon until dry flour is incorporated and a soft dough has formed. Keep stirring constantly.
3 Keep it on medium heat and keep mixing to dry out the dough for another 4 mins. The texture should resemble mashed potatoes.
4 Take pot off the heat and let cool for 5 mins. (This cooling is important because the eggs come next and we don’t want a scrambled mess.) Start adding the eggs in three additions, stirring quickly and thoroughly after each addition. The choux paste will become shiny and homogeneous after incorporating the eggs.
5 Fill a piping bag with a 1cm/1/2” round tip and pipe out small mounds of dough, about an inch in diameter, and about 1/2 inch tall. They will puff up considerably and you don’t want to make them too tall. (You can dip your fingertip in water and smooth the top if there’s a sharp tip.)
6 Bake for about 20 - 25 minutes until the puffs are golden brown, then remove them from the oven and use a toothpick or tip of paring knife to poke a small hole into the base of each of the puffs. This will let the steam escape and prevent the puffs from getting soggy. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.
7 For the crème pâtissière: In a small saucepan, heat the milk on medium heat with 2 tbsp of sugar and the vanilla bean and its seeds, until it starts to simmer, about 3 mins. Turn off the heat, cover the pot and let vanilla bean steep while you start the next step.
8 In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, the remaining sugar, cornstarch and salt. Slowly pour in the hot milk while whisking the egg mixture. Return the mixture to the pot, and turn back heat to medium-low. Keep whisking the mixture to keep it from burning on the bottom, about 3 - 4 mins. The mixture should now start to thicken and when it begins to boil, it is ready!
9 Take off heat and whisk in the butter. Strain the cream into a clean bowl. ( It will be thick, so use a spatula to push through the strainer.) Place plastic wrap directly on top of the surface of pastry cream (this will prevent a skin from forming.) Refrigerate until completely cool.
10 Fill piping bag with pastry cream and use a fine-tipped nozzle to fill each choux bun.
11 For the glaze- Melt chocolate chips and butter in microwave in 30 sec increments, stirring in between. Should take no more than 1 - 1 1/2 mins. Fill into small pastry bag with fine-tipped nozzle, or a ziploc bag with a small corner cut off. Line up the filled cream puffs on a wire rack with parchment paper underneath the wire rack. (This will make cleaning up easier).
12 Working quickly, glaze cream puffs with chocolate in thin zig-zags or straight lines. Finish by dusting with powdered sugar! Yum!