Japanese Cream Puffs Recipe

For the craquelin:

• Soften the butter kept at room temperature, add and mix the sugar and flour.
• Form the dough into a ball, put in a freezer bag or between two parchment paper and roll it to 3mm thickness and freeze.
• Keep in freezer until the choux is ready for the oven.

For the choux pastry:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly butter or spray the pan with a non stick vegetable spray.
• In a bowl sift or whisk together the flour, sugar and salt.
• Place the butter and water in a heavy saucepan over medium high heat and bring to a boil. (Make sure that the butter melts before the water boils to reduce the amount of evaporation.)
• Remove from heat and, with a wooden spoon, add the flour mixture, all at once, and stir until combined.
• Return saucepan to the heat and stir constantly until the dough comes away from the sides of the pan and forms a thick smooth ball (about 1-2 minutes).
• Transfer the dough to your electric mixer, or use a hand mixer, and beat on low speed to release the steam from the dough (about a minute).
• Once the dough is lukewarm start adding the lightly beaten eggs (dough will separate and then come together) and continue to mix until you have a smooth thick paste (dough will fall from a spoon in a thick ribbon).
• Transfer the pastry into a piping bag and pipe into 3 - 3.5cm sized balls.
• Take out the craquelin from the freeyzer and cut into circles and place on the pastry. (I used cookie cutter at 3cm diameter)
• Bake for 15 minutes and then reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
• Continue to bake for a further 30 to 35 minutes or until the shells are a nice amber color.

Whipped Cream:

• In a large mixing bowl place the whipping cream, vanilla extract and sugar and stir to combine.
• Cover and chill the bowl and whisk in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes.
• When chilled, whip the cream just until stiff peaks form.

To Assemble:

• Split the pastry shells in half and fill (or pipe) with whipped cream.
• Place the top half of the pastry shell on the whipped cream.
• Leftover Cream Puffs can be stored in the refrigerator.