Yesterday morning I made a couple of dozen savory gougères to take to Daniel and Frances as part of a family brunch. The pate à choux came out so beautiful and is so easy to make I thought, perhaps taking some sweet pastries would be a good idea also. While Frances and Daniel like savory, Kathy, Fran and I really do like sweet. Oh yeah, I also made some Christmas and Chanukah cookies on Friday and might as well bring those along too. There were too many for just Fran and me. Well, not too many but…

All the “how to” instruction videos and tutorials stress that you should make all the eclairs uniform size by drawing a template on the backside of some parchment paper. I say, who cares? It’s not like these are for sale, they are for personal consumption and if the eclairs are 2, 2½ or 3″ long, well, I really don’t care.

Anyway, I made about 4 dozen of these little bits ‘o heaven and took over half to the brunch, heh, heh, heh.

The pate à choux (or just choux) uses one saucepan and the stand mixer, the crème pâtissèrie (creme pat) uses the same saucepan, a sieve and a bowl, and the ganache the same saucepan and a low sided bowl for dunking the filled eclairs in the chocolate. Easy! The most time consuming part of making eclairs is the drying of the choux after the initial bake. I use this time to prepare the creme pat and ganache and to clean up from making the choux.

Ingredients

• Choux Pastry:
  • ½ c (65 grams) AP flour
  • ½ tsp granulated white sugar
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 4 tbsp (55 grams) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
  • ½ c (120 ml) water
  • 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• Glaze: (optional)
  • 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• Pastry Cream:
  • ½ c sugar
  • ¼ c corn starch
  • Pinch salt
  • 2 c whole milk
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 2 Tbl butter
• Chocolate Glaze:
  • 2 ounces (55 grams) semisweet
  • chocolate, finely chopped
  • ¼ c (60 ml) heavy “whipping” cream (cream with 35% butterfat content)
  • ¼ tsp pure vanilla extract
  • ½ tbsp light corn syrup (or golden syrup or glucose)

Method

1. Choux Pastry:
   1. Preheat oven to 400^o F (200^o C) and place rack in center of oven.
   2. In a bowl whisk the flour with the sugar and salt.
   3. Place the butter and water in a saucepan over medium high heat and bring to a boil.
   4. Remove from heat and, with a wooden spoon, add the flour mixture, all at once, and stir until combined. It will look like mashed potatoes. 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). The dough will film the bottom and sides of the saucepan and make cleaning a pain.
   5. Transfer the dough to an electric mixer and beat on low speed to release the steam from the dough (about 1 minute).
   6. 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).
   7. Place the dough in a pastry bag fitted with a large plain tip and pipe oblongs of dough (about 3/4 inch (2 cm) wide) onto the parchment lined baking sheet. (When piping hold the bag at a 45-degree angle.) If desired, with a pastry brush, gently brush the tops of the dough with the lightly beaten egg.
   8. Bake for 15 minutes and then reduce the oven temperature to 350^o F (180^o C).
   9. Remove from oven, pierce an end of each éclair with a small skewer to release the interior steam.
   10. Continue to bake for a further 25 minutes or until the shells are a nice amber color and when split, are almost dry inside. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.
2. Pastry Cream:
   1. Whisk eggs and milk together and add to all other ingredients (except vanilla) to a medium saucepan.
   2. Bring to boil whisking constantly
   3. Cook until thickened (it will look lumpy, its ok)
   4. Sieve lumpy mixture into a bowl and add 1 tsp vanilla, mix thoroughly
   5. When incorporated, cover with plastic directly on the cream and cool.
3. Chocolate Glaze:
   1. Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl.
   2. Heat the cream just until boiling and immediately pour it over the chocolate.
   3. Gently stir until the chocolate has melted.
   4. Stir in the vanilla extract and corn syrup, mixing to ensure incorporation.
4. To complete:
   1. Fill a piping bag equipped with a filling tip (such as Wilton 230). Inject crème pat into the hole you made to allow the steam to escape. When you feel the side of the éclair begin to bulge, the éclair is full.
   2. Dip the top of each éclair into the warm, thin ganache and set on a piece of waxed or parchment paper to dry. (I use the parchment paper previously used to line the baking sheet.)

Invited to the family birthday celebration of the dynamic duo of daughter Kim and father Joe (parental, not priestley type father), I asked if I could bring a couple of varieties of pastries I was working on that day. I was making some tartlets in recognition of the Mandarin Orange Festival recently held in this area. I also wanted to make ganache/caramel/sea-salt tartlets. Also, having just binge watched several seasons of The Great British Bake Off with Fran I was compelled to try my hand at a roulade. I told Kim I would bring those that were successful. Disasters never leave home.

I have a nice, easy recipe for tartlet shells and used it to make a dozen, six small 2½”  and six larger 3″ diameter, wanting more surface area for the orange slices. Because the oranges are very sweet and the creme de Patisserie is likewise sweet, I wanted to add something to balance. I added the zest of three small mandarin oranges to the creme pat to add just a little bitter to the mix. (Hindsight – use 3 slices,  not 5. Even small slices were too big/many.)

Sadly, the ganache did not set (too much hot cream initially, and not enough time to correct it before the party.) Happily, I had some extra creme pat so I could substitute some blackberry tarts for the ganache/caramel/sea-salt ones originally planned. (Remember, disasters stay home.)

Back to the GBBO binge.  A roulade is a rolled sponge cake filled with something. Think Swiss Roll but without the chocolate and yodelling. I filled mine with cream cheese frosting, a blackberry reduction and fresh blackberries, hence extra blackberries for tartlets above.

I made a genoise sponge, taking a bit of a risk having never attempted one. A genoise is a sponge cake that is leavened naturally with eggs using the foaming method which is the gentle warming of the eggs with sugar and beating them until they are foamy and thick. After baking and while still warm the sponge is dusted with confectioners sugar, rolled up in parchment paper and left to cool. While waiting for it to cool, I made the berry reduction and cream cheese frosting. The reduction is simply mixing equal weights berry and sugar and cook over medium heat until boiling for a few minutes, until it starts to thicken. The cream cheese recipe, while equally simple is below. Once the two spreads are ready, carefully unroll the now cooled sponge, coat with both layers, lay a dozen or so fresh berries on the fillings and re-roll, this time without the parchment paper.  Refrigerate until the filling is set, dust the top with more confectioners sugar, trim the edges to a clean line and serve.

Note: I am slowly converting recipes to weight and want to be consistent with units but am too damned lazy to convert existing recipes until I need to.

Tartlet Shell
Ingredients

• 50 g cold butter cut into small cubes
• 100 g all-purpose flour
• 30 g icing
• ¼ tsp vanilla
• ⅛ tsp salt
• 1 egg – ½ for the dough and the other ½ reserved for an egg wash

Method

1. Mix butter with sugar
2. Add salt then vanilla
3. Add egg
4. Stir in flour. Mix by hand until incorporated
5. Cover with plastic and refrigerate for 30 min

Then:

1. Butter tartlet pans, or use non-stick pans
2. Roll dough to about ⅛” thick
3. Lay over tart mold and press into all crevices
4. Roll top to cut off excess
5. Prick holes in bottom and sides of formed dough
6. Fill tarts with pastry weights (I put beans in a cupcake paper and remove 5 minutes before the end of the bake.)
7. Paint edges of the tartlet with the egg wash.
8. Bake in preheated oven 350 deg F (175 C) for 15 min
9. Immediately remove from pans and cool on a wire rack

Creme Patisserie (Creme Pat to us philistines)
Ingredients

• ½ cup sugar
• ¼ cup corn starch
• Pinch salt
• 2 cups whole milk
• 4 egg yolks

Method

1. Whisk eggs and milk
2. Add 2 Tbl butter
3. Bring to boil whisking constantly
4. Cook until thickened (it will look lumpy, its ok)
5. Sieve into a bowl
6. Add and stir 1 tsp vanilla
7. Cover with plastic directly touching the cream
8. Refrigerate

Cream Cheese Filling
Ingredients

• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 4 oz cream cheese
• 2 cups confectioner sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Add all the ingredients to a bowl and beat it with the whisk attachment to make as light, airy and spreadable as possible.
2. Easy, huh?

Genoise Sponge
Ingredients

• 3 large eggs
• 3 large egg yolks
• Pinch of salt
• ¾ cup sugar
• ½ cup cake flour (spoon flour into dry-measure cup and level off)
• ¼ cup cornstarch

Method

Set a rack in the middle level of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Butter a jelly roll pan, line it with parchment paper, and butter that too.

1. Half-fill a medium saucepan with water and bring it to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat so the water is simmering.
2. Whisk the eggs, yolks, salt, and sugar together in the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer. Place over the pan of simmering water and whisk gently until the mixture is just lukewarm, about 100 degrees (test with your finger or play with your infrared thermometer, which is what I do). Attach the bowl to the mixer and, with the whisk attachment, whip on medium-high speed until the egg mixture is cooled (touch the outside of the bowl to tell) and tripled in volume. The egg foam will be thick and will form a slowly dissolving ribbon falling back onto the bowl of whipped eggs when the whisk is lifted.
3. While the eggs are whipping, stir together the flour and cornstarch.
4. Sift one-third of the flour mixture over the beaten eggs. Use a rubber spatula to fold in the flour mixture, making sure to scrape all the way to the bottom of the bowl on every pass through the batter to prevent the flour mixture from accumulating there and making lumps. Repeat with another third of the flour mixture and finally with the remainder. There is a balance between incorporating all the flour mixture and deflating the egg mixture. Be thorough but careful.
5. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
6. Bake the gênoise for about 25 minutes, or until well risen, deep gold, and firm to the touch. Do not over bake it.  Also, do not over fill the pan. Very thick genoise is more difficult to roll.
7. Immediately use a small pairing knife to loosen the cake from the sides of the pan. Invert the cake onto a rack, then reinvert onto another rack and let the cake cool right side up on the paper. Remove the paper when the cake is cool.

Storage:

Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for several days, or double wrap and freeze for up to a month

Gougeres are baked savory choux cheese pastries. The cheese is typically Gruyere and, as this was my first attempt at this pastry, I wanted to follow the recipe exactly. (I actually found them a little bland and will use a sharp cheddar next time.) I added a little flavor to them by piping some whipped cream inside, which, while bastardizing the savory gougere, did increase the flavor.

The recipe I used did not include the step to dry the choux after the bake. Typically, after the first bake at 425 F, each piece of pastry is punctured and returned to the over for another 30 min at 375 F. This lets the steam out of the inside of the pastry and gives them that little crispness usually found it cream puffs or eclairs.

Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• 1 pinch kosher salt
• ½ cup unsalted butter, cut up
• 1 cup flour
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup cheese, Gruyere or sharp cheddar

Method

1. Boil: Heat water, salt and butter to a boil
2. Mix: Dump in flour, all at once. Stir with a wooden spoon to a big soft lump that looks something like mashed potatoes. Stir another minute to cook the flour.
3. Beat: Scrape dough into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium, slowly pouring in eggs. Sprinkle in ¾ cup cheese. Dough will look like vanilla pudding.
4. Shape: Scrape dough into a piping bag fitted with a plain ½ inch tip. Pip about 48 1-inch diameter mounds onto parchment lined baking sheets. Sprinkle remaining cheese on the top of the little lumps
5. Bake: Slide pans into a 400^o oven, bake until gougeres are golden and puffed, about 20 minutes. Pull one out, break open and check. Inside should be steamy and creamy but not wet. If need be, bake another minute.
   1. NOTE: My correction would be to puncture each pastry and place back in the oven at reduced heat. The initial oven temperature should be 425 F then turned down to 375 F as soon as you put the pastries in.
   2. They are done when they are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped with a fingernail.
   3. Puncture each pastry (I use a wooden chop stick) followed by another few min at 300 F. Break one open and check that the inside is dry.
   4. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
6. Serve: Delightful plain, or use a paring knife to slip the bottom and stuff with any savory morsel – even a pistachio, chunk of brie or whip of salami.