On the very last day of 2014, apart from spending quality time with Baby Kwok #1 ( Opps.. Baby Kwok #2 was with her babysitter) I actually did something that was not intended to!
I.....Made....Beard Papa's style.....CREAM PUFFS!
Prince Charming and Baby Kwok #1 are both fans for Beard Papa's cream puff mainly because of the cookie dough shells. They are pretty expensive in my opinion - $2.50 for a normal custard filling and $3.80 for a speciality flavour (e.g. Durian)
With a cost for about 5 pieces of Beard Papa's puffs, I easily made about 11 puffs which means its almost 50% savings! Cheapo mummy on the run! LOL!
Anyway, I was really happy with the puffs because my family enjoyed them and I get good reviews on how it looked like the ones from Beard Papa! Something to make the last day of my 2014 so worthwhile!
Note: Custard cream and Cookie Dough should be made in advance before you start preparing for the shells.
To make these, you will need:
Shells
- 120g Butter
- 3/4 cups of Water (Approx. 170ml)
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 1/3 cups of Sifted Flour (Approx. 190-200g)
- 5 Eggs (Mine is about 58g each)
1. In a pot, add water, butter, salt and sugar. Bring to boil and ensure that the butter are distributively
melted.
2. Remove from heat and add the flour into the mixture. Stir well and ensure that the batter is lump
free. Put onto the stove to further cook. Cook for approx. 2 mins.
3. Stir well and let the steam go off from the mixture before adding in the eggs. Remember to add 1
egg at at time so that the mixture corporates well.
4. Pour the mixture into a piping bag and pipe onto a tray lined with baking paper. Add the Cookie
dough over the mixture.
5. Bake for 22-25 mins or until puffs are raised nicely and golden.
Cookie Dough
- 30g Butter
- 1/3 Cup Icing Sugar (Approx. 50g)
- 1/3 cup Plain flour (Approx. 50g)
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 2 Tbsp Veg oil (Optional)
1. Melt the butter in a sauce pan.
2. Combine the dry ingredients into the melted butter and mix well till it forms a dough.
3. Keep the dough in a ziplock bag for later use.
Tips: If you realised that your cookie dough is dry just before applying to the shell mixture, add in 2 tbsp of Veg oil and combine well with the dough.
Custard Cream
- 3 Cups Full cream milk
- 1/2 Cup of Flour (Approx. 70-80g)
- 1/2 Cup of Sugar ( Approx. 110-115g)
- 4 Egg Yolks
- 30g Butter
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 Cup of Whipped Fresh cream
1. Beat the yolks with about 50ml of the milk.
2. In a separate bowl, combine the flour with the sugar. Add the yolk mixture to it.
3. Mix well and add in the remaining milk.
4. Cook over stove on medium heat till the mixture get thicken. You should be able to see ribbon
trails when you stir the mixture. It should look like a normal custard cream but slightly thicker. The
thick consistency will ensure that the custard filling will not flow out from the shells while pipping.
5. Add in the butter and vanilla extract and stir well.
6. Cover with a cling wrap touching the surface of the mixture. This will prevent a thin film from
forming on the surface while cooling.
7. Before pipping, mix the fresh whipped cream into the custard cream. The texture would be like of
a thick melted ice-cream. It pretty taste like Ice-cream too :)
To assemble:
1. Ensure that your shells are fully cooled before you start pipping the custard filling
2. You can use a toothpick to poke a small opening at the sides of the puffs OR if you find that a
hassle like how I feel (actually I am just being lazy), simply use a long pipping tip to create a
opening while pipping the cream.
3. Dust the cream puffs with icing sugar before serving OR you can choose to serve them cold. I
popped my puffs into the freezer for about 3 hours and they tasted like ice-cream puffs!
To end this post, I like to wish all my readers a HAPPY 2015! May 2015 be a better and fulfilling year for all of us and till then, may I be blessed with more baking posts (If the little ones allow). Hahaha!
