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Netflix suggested the other day that I watch The Great British Bake Off. I don’t always do what Netflix tells me to but I did in this case and I am glad because this baking reality TV show is awesome. For those of you not familiar with the program, a bunch of amateur bakers enter a several week-long baking competition held in a tent in the beautiful British countryside. They are judged by two accomplished bakers and TV personalities with the (actual and awesome) names Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood.
The premise may sound boring but it really isn’t, it’s very entertaining AND educational to boot! Over the course of the season I learned about all kinds of interesting pastries, some that I had vaguely been familiar with and one that I had never ever heard of (hot water crust pastry, which I will come to in a future post).
One of the pastries that caught my attention was pate a choux (pronounced “shoe”), the dough that’s used for eclairs and cream puffs. I had heard of it but never given it enough thought to develop any interest in actually making it until I saw the bake off contestants make mouthwatering eclairs. So I went to my cookbook shelf and dusted off my trusty copy of Baking at Home with The Culinary Institute of America. It’s a great book and I have no idea why I don’t consult it more often.
I followed the CIA’s cream puff choux pastry recipe to the t and unsurprisingly it worked out beautifully. To get ideas for a filling and glaze I simply took a peak into our liqueur cabinet and didn’t have to look further than the coffee liqueur, one of my favorite dessert ingredients. I mixed it with powdered sugar for the glaze and whipped it into heavy cream for the filling. And that’s it! The preparation of everything is easy and fuss-free and the result delicious and pretty!
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Looking for more things to do with coffee liqueur? Check out these Espresso Pots de Creme:
Coffee Liqueur Cream Puffs
Ingredients:
For the pastry:
- 1 cup whole milk
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup bread flour, sifted
- 3 eggs
- 1 egg white
For the filling:
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons coffee liqueur, I used Kapali
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
For the glaze:
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons coffee liqueur, I used Kapali
Instructions:
For the pastry:
- Heat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Add milk, butter, sugar and salt to a saucepan and bring to a boil.
- Turn the heat down to medium, then add the sifted flour all at once and stir with a wooden spoon.
- Cook, continuing to stir, until the dough starts to peel away from the sides of the saucepan.
- Transfer the dough to a bowl, then beat on medium speed until it's cooled down to lukewarm.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, then add the egg white.
- Fill the dough into a large piping bag with a large, round tip and pipe about 20 dollops onto the baking sheet.
- Bake for 20 minutes, then lower the temperature to 325 degrees F. and continue to bake until the puffs are golden-brown, about another 20 minutes.
- Let the puffs cool completely, then slice in half horizontally.
For the filling:
- Whip all ingredients to stiff peaks.
- Fill into a piping bag and fill into the cream puffs.
For the glaze:
- Whisk liqueur with powdered sugar and drizzle over the cream puffs.
Nutrition
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Nicole, your Cream Puffs look so tempting! I’ve only tried them with pastry cream and/or plain whipped cream, but adding coffee liqueur sounds fantastic since I like all coffee desserts.
I also wanted to tell you that I just went through your Photoshop for Food Bloggers Advanced Video Course. Even thought I’m not a Photoshop newbie, it was still very useful to me. While I was using layers and masks together with stamp tool, your method is easier and time saving. Thank you for that!
Oh, I love hearing that! I’m so happy that you found the course useful! :)
These are what my dreams are made of, lol. Really beautiful and coffee liqueur adds an element of luxury. Take care.
Thank you so much, Stacey! Hope you’re having a great weekend. :)
Nicole,
I LOVE these light and airy shots you achieve – as much as the darker shots really. I have to admit that a coffee cream puff would be just the perfect thing right now as I sit here cruising my favorite food blogs and having my coffee. I think I am going to check out that awesome cookbook too. Aren’t cookbooks the best? I’m a cookbook aficionado (you could translate that into ‘hoarder’ – lol). Thanks for another great recipe and photo!
Thank you so much, Wendi! I agree, cookbooks are the best, I have a whole bookcase full of them. :)
These look so decadent and delish ♥
summerdaisy.net
Thank you so much, Summer! :)
So The Great British Bake Off has made it to the US too!
It’s on it’s 6th series here and I love it too. With regards to hot water crust pastry, I didn’t realise you don’t have that in America. I have two recipes with it on my blog.
It’s a great pastry that’s very forgiving. These choux puffs look great, well done Nicole – I love choux pastry.
Thank you, Angela! So far they’ve only made the 5th season available here, I’m hoping they’re going to add the others too at some point. I don’t know why I didn’t think to come to your blog first for any pastry needs! I made a hot water crust pastry for the first time last week (following a video by Paul and Mary) and it was delicious and, yes, forgiving!:)
Good ol’ Paul and Mary :-)
Glad the hot water crust was kind to you – did you add jelly to whatever you made?
I did, I followed a recipe for pork pies that Paul and Mary have on YouTube. They made them in a muffin pan and that ended up a bit too crowded with my pies, they bumped into each other and then didn’t all come out in one piece. They were super delicious though!
Yum, these look so pretty and light and tasty! I have watched that show haha. My husband actually made us watch it (he’s English) and it is surprisingly entertaining. I liked when that guy totally botched the baked Alaska and threw it in the bin, then presented it to the judges.
Hahah, me too! I felt so bad for him, he just did what I thought anyone would have done, throw the stuff away and they were so harsh with him about that. I also loved the guy who made the plain lemon tart and thought it was “quite exotic,” he had a good sense of humor. :)
Whoa, those look too good, great idea adding the coffee liqueur!
Thank you, Anna! I love coffee liqueur, I could put it into almost everything. :)
Love those cooking shows! I always learn something new!
Your creme puffs look amazing, light and crisp!! And coffee liquor filling and glaze?? Genius!
PS: Agree on that bubble in the filling. Looks realistic!
Me too, and it’s so much to watch them! Thank you so much, Shinee! :)