Seriously Simple Choux Pastry

This recipe is something we saw in the Guardian and thought it looked nice and simple... with just a few ingredients (always something we like!)  As coffee choux buns were a favourite of mine in my teens and the thought of making our own, with a recipe that looked do-able, was too much to resist.  Giving it a go on a hot weekend in June may not have been the best time of year but the results were judged 'worth it' which was a relief.

The ingredients required to make the dairy free choux pastry were -
50g cornflour
20g pure vegetable fat (such as Trex)
90ml water
1 egg, beaten

Taking the vegetable fat and water and putting it in a pan, it was heated to boiling point.  This mix was then added to the cornflour and whisked before being left to cool a little.

Whilst the mix was cooling, a baking tray was oiled, run under the cold tap and excess water poured off. 

The oven was heated to 180ºC.

We prepared our make-do piping bag - using a nozzle and a plastic freezer bag with the corner cut off.

Once the mix had cooled a little, the egg was added and the stick blender was used to whiz the pastry ingredients together.

Supporting the make-do piping bag in a jamjar, the pastry mix was scraped in and piping began...



... the recipe says to pipe "eight finger-thick sausages", which we did...

... however, the recipe writer clearly has much thicker/fatter fingers than us, so we also piped some swirls with the remaining pastry.



Placing the pastry creations in the pre-heated oven for 10 minutes, the temperature was then increased to 200ºC for a further 10 minutes.

Once the pastry was a light golden colour, the buns were put on a wire rack to cool.

Our eclairs were very small - if we'd piped them half the length, they'd have made fab one-bite-sized petit fours - they were full of air, crispy and light.

We whipped some cream to fill the pastry cases, having cut them in half, and the tops were coated in coffee icing (made using espresso and icing sugar).  The Guardian recipe uses a dairy free 'creme patisserie' filling which we will try another time... as it does sound tasty!

These will definitely be a recipe we make again - learning from this time, we'll make them bigger/fatter and will remember to smooth the peaks left from piping so the pastry top is sleek.

Mini Meringues

We found a pot of mini meringues in Aldi a while back and popped them in the cupboard 'for later'.  Later is now upon us (as were the meringues - they fell out the cupboard and prompted us to think of how to use them).  So, we had a few thoughts and decided on using chocolate as well.

Here's what we were going to use:- the mini meringues, some foil petit four cases and some dark chocolate chips.

The chocolate chips were melted.  We have 'perfected' our technique - Sous Chef J puts the choc chips in a small bowl and we then place the bowl in some hot water and it's left to melt. No need for huge amounts of heat for the small number of chips we melted for this recipe.

Once the chocolate was melted, it was removed from the hot water and Sous Chef J mixed it through with a small silicone spatula.

The bowl of chocolate was placed on a heat proof mat and then each mini meringue's flat bottom was dipped into the chocolate.  Meringues were sandwiched together in pairs and placed on a cooling rack to allow the chocolate to set.

Having paired all the meringues, we drizzled the remaining chocolate over.  Some colourful sugar crystals were sprinkled on by Sous Chef J.

It was then a simple job to wait for the chocolate to completely dry before placing each meringue pair in a festive foil petit four case. 

Finally, they were boxed up ready to store before we eat them over Christmas and the New Year.

Stuffed Dates

Dates are a favourite fruit of mine.  Sous Chef J isn't so keen but he will prepare some tasty treats from time to time.  These are a perfect home made gift that I am always happy to receive.

All that's needed are

10 Medjool Dates
20 Walnut halves
10 petit four cases

First of all, we remove stones from dates (if necessary) and open the date out a little.  It's best to make the cut lengthwise in the date.




Next, two walnut halves are placed into each date.

Finally, we serve each date in a petit four case.





Variations:  Dates can also be stuffed with whole, blanched almonds, pistachios or marzipan. Dipping them in melted dark chocolate also makes a delicious delicacy!