Eggnog Cream Puffs

CHOUX PASTRY BALLS FILLED WITH MERINGUE AND NUTMEG PASTRY CREAM. TOPPED WITH CHOCOLATE AND CRUSHED HAZELNUTS.

With the first official day of winter less than 24 hours away, we wanted to share a cream puff recipe, but with an obligatory holiday twist or two. When served chilled, these little puffs are as addictive as they are dangerous when you lose track of how many you’ve already eaten – but that’s perfectly okay when you remember that holiday calories don’t count. In any case, all the holiday deliciousness will just motivate those health-conscious New Years’ resolutions even more.

If you haven’t worked with choux pastry before, it’s really quite a simple and mesmerizing dough that happens to be used for churros, éclairs, beignets, funnel cakes, and so much more. High in moisture compared with other pastry doughs, choux pastry puffs up as the moisture steams up during the cooking process, whether baked (like with éclairs and cream puffs) or deep-fried (like with churros, beignets, or funnel cakes). Baking also leaves a hollow interior for all sorts of tasty fillings! We used a nutmeg chiboust cream, or a nutmeg-infused pastry cream with some meringue folded in to lighten it and simulate the frothiness of a classic holiday eggnog. We wish everyone a happy and tasty holiday season! – Boo and Pea

Yield: 30-35 cream puffs
Difficulty: 

Oven: 400 F, 10 minutes; then 350 F, 20 minutes

Preparation:

• Line 1-2 baking trays with parchment paper or silicone mats.

Eggnog chiboust cream:

• 1.25 c milk
• Yolk mixture
  3 egg yolks
  0.25 c sugar
  2 tb flour
  2 tb corn starch
• 3 tb butter, chunked
• 0.75 ts nutmeg
• 0.5 tb vanilla extract
• Meringue
  3 egg whites
  0.33 c sugar

1. In a saucepan, heat milk to a bare simmer.
2. In a mixing bowl, whisk yolk mixture ingredients until combined. Whisk and slowly add hot milk into yolk mixture.
3. Return mixture to saucepan, and whisk quickly over medium heat until thickened and boiled for 2 minutes.
4. Sieve custard into a mixing bowl.
5. Whisk butter, nutmeg, and vanilla into custard until homogenized.
6. In a separate mixing bowl, beat egg whites to soft peaks. Gradually add sugar while beating to stiff peaks.
7. Fold meringue into custard.
8. Cover with plastic wrap pressed to custard surface, and refrigerate until set, ~2 hours. Meanwhile, prepare choux puffs.

Choux pastry balls:

• Wet ingredients
  0.5 stick butter
  0.25 c water
  0.25 c milk
  1 ts sugar
  0.25 ts salt
• 0.5 c flour
• 2 eggs
• Egg wash
  1 egg, beaten
  1 tb water

1. In a saucepan, bring wet ingredients to a bare simmer.
2. Stir flour into saucepan until dough forms. Stir and cook over medium heat, 2-3 minutes.
3. Remove dough to a mixing bowl, and cool to lukewarm.
4. Beat 2 eggs into dough until homogenized.
5. Using a large round tip, pipe buttons (diameter 2.5 cm, height 2 cm) onto the prepared baking trays spaced ~3 cm between the edges of adjacent buttons.
6. Brush and smooth buttons with egg wash.
7. Bake at 400 F on middle rack, 10 minutes. Reduce to 350 F, and bake until golden-brown, 20 minutes.
8. Turn off oven, and leave door ajar to cool puffs until safe to handle. Refrigerate until assembly.

Assembly:

• melted chocolate
• hazelnuts, crushed
• nutmeg

1. With a skewer or toothpick, make a small hole near the top of each puff.
2. Using a small round tip, fill puffs with eggnog pastry cream.
3. Refrigerate until chilled, 45-60 minutes.
4. Optionally, dip cream puffs into melted chocolate, and top with crushed hazelnuts and nutmeg.
5. Serve chilled.