Choux Pastry Delia Smith Food

SWEET CHOUX PASTRY

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F/190 degrees C.
• Put 1 1/2 cups/375 ml water, the butter, sugar and salt in a roomy saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and add the flour all at once, beating until it forms a ball and pulls away from the sides of the pan. Return the pan to the heat for a minute or two and beat to dry it out a little. (Removing moisture will allow the paste to absorb more egg, which will ultimately make the puffs lighter.)
• Remove the pan from the heat. Beat in the eggs, the equivalent of one at a time, until fully incorporated. (Do not try to add them at once because they can't be incorporated quickly enough, it makes a total mess, and furthermore you may not need all of them.) After the third addition of egg, add only enough to make dough that will fall, glossy and heavy, from the spoon. Beat in the vanilla. Spoon the dough into a piping bag.
• Mix a bit of milk into any remaining egg (if no egg left, use only milk). Have at the ready with a pastry brush for glazing. Pipe the dough into evenly-sized (about 1 inch/2.5 cm) balls on a nonstick baking sheet, leaving a good 2 inches/5 cm between them so they have room to expand. Brush the tops with the glaze and press the snouts down with a fingertip. Bake until puffed up, light, dry and golden, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool on a wire rack, so they can breathe all around and will keep their shape and not go soggy.

CHOCOLATE CHOUX BUNS

Steps:

• The mousse filling should be made several hours in advance. First, melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water (make sure the base of the bowl doesn't touch the water). Then beat the egg yolks into the chocolate and allow the mixture to cool. Now, using an electric hand whisk, whisk the egg whites to the soft peak stage. Stir 1 tablespoon of the egg white into the chocolate mixture to loosen it, then carefully fold in the remainder. Cover the bowl and chill the mousse in the fridge for about 3 hours. You can watch how to whisk eggs in our Cookery School Video on this page. To make the choux pastry, you are going to need to 'shoot' the flour quickly into the water and melted butter, so begin by cutting out a square of baking parchment, fold to make a crease, then open it out again. Sift the flour straight on to the square of parchment and add the sugar. Next, put 5 fl oz (150 ml) of cold water in a medium saucepan, together with the pieces of butter, then place the saucepan over a moderate heat and stir with a wooden spoon. As soon as the butter has melted and the mixture comes up to the boil, turn off the heat immediately, as too much boiling will evaporate some of the water. Then tip in the flour - all in one go - with one hand, while you beat the mixture vigorously with the other. You can do this with a wooden spoon, although an electric hand whisk will save you lots of energy. Beat until you have a smooth ball of paste that has left the sides of the saucepan clean - this will probably take less than a minute. Then beat in the beaten eggs - a little at a time, mixing in each addition thoroughly before adding the next - until you have a smooth, glossy paste. At this stage, hold the greased baking sheet under cold running water for a few seconds, and tap it sharply to get rid of excess moisture. This will help create a steamier atmosphere, which in turn helps the pastry to rise. Place rough dessertspoons of the choux pastry on the greased and dampened baking sheet and bake on a high shelf in the pre-heated oven (200C) for 10 minutes. After that, increase the heat to gas mark 7, 425ºF (220ºC) and bake for a further 20-25 minutes until the buns are nicely brown and puffy. Pierce the side of each one and put them back in the oven for a further 2-3 minutes to crisp up, then cool on a wire cooling tray. It's best not to put the filling in until about an hour before serving. They are best made and eaten on the day but if you want to get ahead you and make, cool and freeze but they will go soft but they can be crisped up in the oven (from frozen) before you fill them. Then keeping the heat at its lowest, allow the chocolate to melt slowly - it should take about 5 minutes to become smooth and glossy. Then remove it from the heat, give it a good stir and leave to cool for 2-3 minutes. Next, stir the crème fraîche into the chocolate and spread some of the topping over each bun and finally, sprinkle with chopped hazelnuts. Note: this recipe contains raw eggs.

CONFECTIONER'S CUSTARD

Steps:

• Cream the egg yolks and the sugar together until thick and pale in colour.
• Beat in the flour, cornflour, and a very small amount of the milk taken from the 300 ml total, just enough to make a smooth paste.
• Heat the remaining milk until almost boiling (I use the mirowave) and pour it into the egg mixture, sirring constantly.
• Stir mixture over a low heat until it boils, then remove.
• Beat egg white until stiff and fold it into the custard.
• Return to the heat again and add vanilla essence and cook for another few minutes.
• Use as Choux pastry (cream puff) fillings etc.