How to Bake Strawberry Cream Puffs

Serves: 10-12

Preparation time: 30 mins + 2 hours (inactive)

Cooking time: 1 ½ hours

Ingredients needed to make Strawberry Cream Puffs:

For the choux paste:

• 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
• ¾ cup butter
• 6 eggs
• 3/8 tsp salt
• 1 ½ cups water

For the pastry cream:

• 1 pint strawberries
• 1 tsp Whip Cream Aid
• 1 ½ cups milk
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• ¼ cup all purpose flour
• 6 egg yolks
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp almond extract
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• ¼ tsp salt

Cooking instructions for Strawberry Cream Puffs:

• Warm up your oven to 400 degrees F.
• Melt butter in a 10’’ Dutch oven over moderate heat and pour water into it.
• Stir in a dash of salt and bring it to a boil.
• Turn off the heat and stir in flour until they blend together and the uniform mixture leaves the sides of the pan and gather into a ball.
• Crack the eggs, one at a time, and beat it into the mixture after each addition, until they are incorporated into the mixture.
• Set aside to allow the mixture to cool to some extent.
• Stuff this choux paste into a pastry bag, fitted with a large nozzle and pipe out 3’’ rounds of the mixture onto another pan, lined with a sheet of parchment paper.
• Bake them in the oven in an hour or until they turn firm and golden.
• Switch off the oven and keep warm for about 15 minutes.
• Remove from oven and set aside to cool.
• Meanwhile, to make the pastry cream, place the flour in a pan and stir in milk, sugar and a dash of salt to mix well.
• Cook the mixture over moderate heat, stirring constantly, until it starts boiling and continue to do so for a minute.
• Place the egg yolks in a bowl and beat them lightly.
• Spoon in some of the boiling mixture into the whisked egg yolks and beat further to temper.
• Drizzle it into the hot mixture while beating them together and cook over slightly reduced heat until it turns thick; avoid over-boiling.
• Turn off the heat and whisk in the extracts until well combined; set aside to col.
• Place the heavy cream in a clean bowl and whip thoroughly until it forms firm peaks.
• Stir in the whipped cream aid and add it into the cooled pastry cream.
• Fold them together to mix well and stuff them into a clean pastry bag, fitted with a big nozzle.
• Slice the puff rings horizontally into halves and scrap out the interior of each bottom half, using a sharp knife.
• Pipe the pastry cream into the hollowed cavity and top it up with a sliced strawberry.
• Place the top half over the strawberry and arrange them on a baking sheet.
• Leave in the fridge until they set.
• Serve chilled.

 Image credit: Wikimedia Commons