Choux pastry dough is baked into petite round cream puffs that are filled with a luxurious Elderflower Pastry Cream and adhered to one another with a lovely Vanilla Buttercream in this dignified dessert. Pictured with our Lemon Curd & Meringue Tartlets.
Royal Religieux
Serves: 18
Ingredients
- 3⁄4 cup water
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 1⁄4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- Elderflower Pastry Cream (recipe follows)
- Vanilla Buttercream (recipe follows)
- Garnish: confectioners’ sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium saucepan, combine 3⁄4 cup water, butter, sugar, and salt. Cook over medium heat until butter melts. Add flour all at once, stirring vigorously. Cook and stir until dough pulls away from sides of pan, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove pan from heat, and let stand for 2 minutes, stirring a few times to cool dough.
- Transfer dough to a large bowl. Add eggs, one at a time, beating with a mixer at medium speed until well incorporated. (Dough should be shiny and smooth.) Transfer dough to a piping bag fitted with a large round tip (Sunny Side Up Bakery #2A or Ateco #806). Pushing downward, pipe 18 (1 1⁄2-inch wide) dough mounds and 18 (1-inch wide) dough mounds, 2 inches apart, onto prepared baking sheet. Pat dough peaks down with a damp finger.
- Bake until puffs are golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer puffs to a wire rack. Using a wooden pick or the tip of a pointed knife, poke a small hole in sides of each puff to allow steam to escape. Let cool completely before cutting a small slit in bottoms of all puffs.
- Place Elderflower Pastry Cream in a piping bag fitted with a medium round tip (Wilton #12). Inserting piping tip into bottom slits, fill each puff with pastry cream.
- Place Vanilla Buttercream in a piping bag fitted with a large open-star tip (Sunnyside Up Bakery #8B). Pipe an upright dollop of buttercream on top of each larger puff. Place a small, filled puff on top of buttercream, pressing down gently to secure to bottom puff. Serve immediately, or place in an airtight container, refrigerate, and serve within a day.
- Just before serving, dust with confectioners’ sugar, if desired.
Elderflower Pastry Cream
Serves: approximately 2 cups
Ingredients
- 4 large egg yolks
- 1⁄2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 cups whole milk
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1⁄8 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons elderflower liqueur
- 1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together egg yolks and sugar.
- In a medium saucepan, heat milk over medium heat until very hot but not boiling. Gradually add hot milk to egg mixture, whisking constantly. Whisk in cornstarch and salt until incorporated. Strain mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into saucepan. Whisking constantly, cook over medium heat until mixture thickens.
- Remove from heat. Whisk in butter, liqueur, and vanilla extract. Transfer custard to a heatproof bowl. Cover custard with plastic wrap, pressing wrap directly onto surface of custard to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until very cold, 4 hours to overnight.
Vanilla Buttercream
Serves: approximately 1 cup
Ingredients
- 1⁄2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 3 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1 tablespoon whole milk
- 1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1⁄8 teaspoon fine sea salt
Instructions
- In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugar, milk, vanilla extract, and salt with a mixer at low speed until combined, scraping down sides of bowl at the beginning. Increase mixer speed to high and beat until buttercream is light and fluffy. Use immediately.
