Delicious choux pastry filled with whipped double cream and topped with a caramel icing!! Mmmmmmm!!!
So the reason for these beauties stems from the inconsistent stock of our local supermarkets! We’ve been shopping at Morrisons recently thanks to a discount card and due to my sure-fire stubborness I refuse to go elsewhere whilst the card is still in use. The only trouble is they don’t stock one of our fave Friday night treats – Caramel Choux Buns…which for reference are amazing from ASDA and so calorific they can mostly only be deemed a weekend treat to reward you for a week of stress, chaos and general work related mayhem. Long story cut short, after Morrisons causing Grant severe trauma and an overwhelming sense of loss, I agreed to make choux’s at home; having made profiteroles on a frequent basis. Grant’s only stipulation ‘they MUST have caramel on top like ASDA do!’…YES BOSS! So here’s a simple recipe for choux’s which I hope you enjoy as much as I do…the final product is amazingly delicious and well worth the effort of baking fresh.
Ingredients
Choux’s
- 50g butter/willow
- 150ml water
- 65g plain flour
- 2 large free-range eggs
Filling
- 300ml double cream
- 1tsp vanilla essence
- 1tsp caster sugar
- 20g butter
- 20g brown sugar
- 1/2 cup of icing sugar
- couple of drops of milk to bind
Method
- Start by preheating the oven to 220 degrees or 200 for fan assisted ovens.
- Line a tray with greaseproof paper
Cube the butter so it melts quicker
Measure out your water…
Place both in a small saucepan and put the heat on full…but make sure you keep an eye so it doesn’t start to boil!
Heat the water until the butter melts then remove from the heat
Sieve in the flour and start stirring immediately!
As soon as it starts to come together as a ball combined mixture STOP and leave to cool for 10mins!
Now is a perfect time to have a…
Coffee :)
Whisk your eggs in preparation
After the 10mins pour in half the egg mix and then beat it in….once combined add the rest and stir again
Don’t worry if it starts to look lumpy, just keep stirring and it will combine!
Smoothly does it…
Now to put it in the piping bag. Spoon the mix in and ask for help if you may do a ‘Zoe’ and potentially spill it everywhere
Ready for piping
Pipe in circles and then add more to the top
Try to keep equal sizes and divide the mixture evenly, mine were about 3inches across
Now place in the oven for 15mins!
*IMPORTANT* make sure you take them out after the 15mins and skewer them in the side to allow the steam to come out. Then place them back in the oven for a further 5mins. This allows them to crisp up and avoid being soggy inside!
Remove from the oven and leave to cool
Place on a wiring rack to ensure no soggy bottoms
Pour out your double cream and add vanilla essence…
Whisk until firm
Perfect consistency to pipe with
Place in the piping bag with a star nozzle…this just makes it look pretty!
Pipe in swirls on to the bottom…
Place the lids back on but do not squish them
Now to make the caramel topping
Make the caramel by melting the butter…
Add brown sugar to the butter and allow to dissolve on a low temperature. Next add your icing sugar and then a few drops of milk or cream to bind it.
*IMPORTANT* Work quickly as the caramel icing sets within about 30secs!
Pour the caramel on to the cakes immediately as it sets, sprinkle with choc toppings (I used white choc stars) and TA DA you have CHOUX’S!!!
This recipe is merely a profiteroles recipe tweaked to make choux’s. If you fancy making your own flavour combinations just start with the basic choux recipe above as it’s a guaranteed winner – once again it was an ASDA recipe magazine freebie.
Possible flavour combinations could include coffee whipped double cream – just allow the coffee mix to cool entirely before adding to the cream – pre-whisking! You could also just top these with chocolate that has been melted down and could add some delicious fresh strawberries and raspberries to the top of the piped cream inside the choux’s! DELECTABLE!
Enjoy playing around with this versatile recipe and tuck in to some awesome home-made pastries.
ZoBird xxx