Category: Dessert, Valentine's Day
Yields:
8 Servings
Difficulty: Medium
Hello everyone. Welcome back to another interesting lactose free recipe. This week’s recipe is based off a brilliant video I found on YouTube by ‘Cooking tree 쿠킹트리’ . I am such a huge fan of their recipes. They always look so beautiful, but this recipe in particular caught my eye.
When I saw their concept of a Choux au Craquelin Muffins I instantly knew I had to try it. I had never heard or seen anything similar to what they created.
I used my own recipes that I have tested many times previously however I followed their techniques and instructions. I did run into a little bit of trouble when using margarine instead of butter however I found an easy solution.
As always, this recipe is lactose free providing you use the right ingredients. Always double check to make sure a product is safe from allergens. Also make sure you check out ‘Cooking tree 쿠킹트리’ on YouTube.
There is nothing better than biting into the crunchy pastry shell filled with fresh berries and sweet creme. Give it a go and tell me what you think!
Ingredients
Adjust Servings
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Crème Patisserie
- Pastry
- Craquelin
- Extra
Instructions
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Crème Patisserie
- The first thing we need to do is make the crème patisserie, so it had enough time to cool down and set in the fridge. It needs at least 2/3 hours, but it is fine to leave in the fridge overnight. The most important part of this recipe is to temper the eggs. Adding the eggs straight into the hot milk will result in scrambled eggs and sadness. Try using a measuring cup or small pouring jug instead of trying to lift the saucepan with one hand and whisk with the other.
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Place the sugar, yolks, egg, salt, vanilla and cornstarch in a bowl. Whisk until smooth.
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Place the milk in a medium saucepan and heat. Bring the milk to a simmer (almost a boil). When the milk starts to bubble remove the saucepan from the heat. Slowly pour some of the milk (around half) into the egg mixture while continuously whisking. I found it was easier to put the milk into a small pouring jug and add it that way. Slowly increasing the temperature of the eggs is the most important step. If you were to add the eggs in cold you would end up with scrambled eggs and milk.
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When the eggs have been tempered you can add the egg mixture back into the rest of the hot milk. Heat the mixture (medium heat) until it starts to thicken. Whisk continuously, it should only take a few minutes.
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Remove the mix from the heat and add the margarine. Whisk thoroughly until it has been mixed in. This is the time to add in any food coloring. I close to make mine a pink color to match the berries I was going to decorate with.
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Pour the custard into a large bowl. Immediately place cling wrap onto the surface of the custard. This prevents a skin from forming. Let the custard cool down and then place in the fridge for at least two hours.
Craquelin
- Craquelin is a French technique that gives the pastry a beautiful crunchy texture. When used it helps to create a beautiful cookie dome.
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Place the margarine and sugar in a bowl.
- Whisk until well combined.
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Sift the flour into the margarine mixture. Stir until combined.
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It will be very crumbly at first.
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Shape into a ball and place in a large Ziploc bag or between two pieces of baking paper.
- Roll until about half a cm. Place the cookie dough into the freezer. I have made this recipe quite a few times and I found that freezer dough is much easier to work with.
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When the dough is frozen take it out. Grab a circle cookie cutter that is the same size as your muffin tin. Cut out as many circles as you can. Quickly move the circles to a baking tray covered with baking paper. Place the circles back into the freezer. You can roll up any remaining bits of dough, roll flat and cut out more circles if you wish. I find that the choux will fill up eight standard muffin tin spaces.
Choux Pastry
- This recipe comes from the one and only Gordon Ramsay who let’s face it, is a cooking god.
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Sift the flour into a bowl and set aside. This is very important. If there are any large lumps of flour they will be very tricky to get out. Trust me I have tried and spent a good 15 minutes picking through the pastry.
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In a medium saucepan place the milk, water, sugar and salt. Place on a low heat Stir until dissolved.
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Once the salt and sugar has dissolved add the margarine and stir.
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Increase the heat and bring the mixture to a rolling boil.
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Once the mixture has come to a rolling boil remove from the heat. Pour all the flour in the milk and quickly beat with a wooden spoon. Keep mixing until the mixture comes away from the side of the saucepan. It will look slightly like mashed potato.
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Tip the mixture onto a large plate or tin and flatten. Leave to cool completely.
- Preheat your oven to 170 degrees.
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Crack the eggs and place in a bowl. Lightly beat.
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When the mixture is completely cool (not warm) place into a bowl. Add the eggs in a little at a time. This is very important. Mix well each time.
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Continue until it becomes a lovely smooth paste.
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Spoon the pastry into a piping bag fitted with large circle piping tip. Line a muffin tin with cases. The mixture should make approximately 8.
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Pipe the pastry into the cases making sure to fill it about a third of the way up.
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Go grab the cookie circles from the freezer. Gently place a circle onto each of the pastries. Press down.
- Place into the oven. Cook for 25 minutes until the top is golden brown and it has risen into the shape of a muffin. Leave aside to cool completely. Assembly
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After the pastries have cooled down cut into the top of the pastry. Cut a medium sized circle out of the top.
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You will notice some uncooked pastry. Spoon it out but be careful not to puncture the sides. Repeat this process for all the pastries.
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Place your fruit of choice into the bottom of each pastries. Try to fill it up at least halfway. There is a lot of space in the pastries. If you don’t fill it up with enough berries you will run out of crème.
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Grab a piping bag and fit it with a large open star piping tip (I used 8B Wilton). Place the bag into a glass and fill it up with the chilled crème.
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Place the pastries onto a tray. Place some icing sugar in a sieve and gently sprinkle the pastries with the icing sugar.
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Pipe the crème into the pastries. Top with a strawberry cut in half.
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Serve, devour and enjoy.
