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A DUO OF CREAM PUFFS

Excerpted from The Dessert Architect by Robert Wemischner

A DUO OF CREAM PUFFS, lemon and espresso fillings, with a frilly skirt of filo garnish for the top puff, divided horizontally by a cocoa tuile with a powdered sugar edge, sauced with lemon curd sauce.
Yield: 12 servings

The order of things

  1. Make pate a choux dough puffs
  2. Make lemon filling
  3. Make espresso filling
  4. Make chocolate tuile batter and rest
  5. Prepare filo “skirts”
  6. Bake filo rounds
  7. Bake chocolate tuiles
  8. Fill the puffs
  9. Make caramel and dip the tops of twelve of the puffs into it
  10. Assemble the desserts just before serving

Equipment list:
Pastry bag, outfitted with a round plain tip, measuring ½ inch in diameter
Three round metal cutters, one each measuring 2 inches, 2-1/2 inches and 3 inches in diameter
A muffin pan with twelve 2-inch diameter muffin cavities
Tuile template with cut out circles 4-1/2 inches in diameter

Espresso and lemon have been inextricably linked but Italians who earn the bragging rights to claim that they invented espresso are adamant that serving a cup of espresso with anything other than a bit of sugar is purely an American affectation. They maintain that if the coffee is made with quality beans, properly roasted and properly ground, and the drink “pulled” properly using a fine-tuned espresso machine, then there’s no need for lemon peel to mask the true flavor of the coffee since it’s the coffee that espresso aficionados want to taste. Here pairing the two flavors, coffee and lemon, is conscionable and even desirable given the intervening elements of caramel, two kinds of crusty buttery browned pastry and chocolate. The architecture of this gravity-defying dessert appeals to the rational minded. A sturdy espresso cream filled puff is set on a plate adorned with tart and zesty lemon curd sauce, then surmounted by a bittersweet thin chocolat-y wafer and finally topped with yet another puff, this one filled with a starch-free lemon curd, the ultimate buttery distillation of the ubiquitous citrus fruit.  A bit of caramel crackles on the bottom puff and a shatteringly crisp frill of well-browned filo tops the upper puff. Whether the layers are demolished by the over-eager hand of someone who thinks that all foods are finger foods, or the dessert is caused to tumble more ceremoniously thanks to the ministrations of a knife and fork, in either case, the result is pure heaven on the plate.

Pâte à choux dough

Yield: 24 puffs, 1.3 oz each, allowing two 2-1/2 inch diameter puffs per serving, totaling 12 servings
Lbs Oz Grams Each Name of ingredient Baker’s percentages
  9 270   Water 128
  4.5 135   Unsalted butter 64
  .05 1.5 ¼ t. Salt .7
  1 30   Granulated sugar 14
  7 210   All purpose flour 100
  11 330 6 to 7 Whole large eggs 157
 Finished baked dimensions: large 2-1/2 inch diameter circle
Make the pate a choux dough as follows: Place the water, butter, salt and sugar into a heavy medium sized saucepan. Over high heat, bring the mixture to the boil, stirring with a wooden spoon until the butter is fully melted. Reduce the heat to medium and add the flour all at once, stirring until the mixture is thick and resembles mashed potatoes. Remove from the heat and transfer the mixture to the bowl of an electric mixer, outfitted with the paddle attachment. Place the eggs into a bowl and mix until the yolks and whites are mixed. Allow the cooked mixture to cool to 140 degrees F. and when it is at that temperature, add the eggs in a thin stream, mixing on medium speed until well absorbed and the mixture is smooth.Place the cream puff pastry into a pastry bag, outfitted with a plain round tip, measuring ½ inch in diameter. Pipe the mixture in even rounds onto a parchment paper lined sheet pan creating a base circle, approximately 2 inches in diameter, and building two more tightly coiled circles on top of the base circle. Using a finger dipped in warm water, smooth out the dough, eliminating any protruding points or irregularities before baking. Bake the puffs in a preheated 400 degree F. oven for 15 minutes, or until puffed. Reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees F. and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Remove from the oven when fully puffed and golden brown. Set on a cooling rack to cool and then using a sharp serrated knife, cut twelve of the puffs horizontally to remove the top half of each of them. (The top halves of these puffs may be discarded or reserved for another use.) These open-topped puffs will be filled with the lemon curd filling. When assembling the dessert, the baked filo skirts will replace the top halves of the puffs that have been removed. Examine the other twelve puffs and using a sharp serrated knife, trim off any points that will interfere with being able to balance the chocolate tuile cookie securely on top of them. Then set these puffs aside to be dipped in caramel as instructed below.

Filo dough “skirt” to decorate the upper cream puff of the construction

Yield: twelve “skirts”
  3 90 6 sheets Filo dough rectangles, measuring 12 inches by 17 inches Each sheet weighs approximately .5 oz
  12 to 16 360 to 480   Unsalted butter, melted  
Tip: When working with filo dough, be sure to keep the surface of the dough covered with a slightly damp cloth or paper towel. The objective here is to keep the dough damp enough to remain flexible but not so wet that the layers stick together, making it impossible to remove sheets intact from the stack of pastry layers. When buttering the sheets, brush gently but thoroughly, making sure that the entire sheet is evenly buttered all the way out to the edges of the dough.  Make two stacks of three sheets of filo each, brushing the surface of the bottom sheet with a thin layer of melted butter. Repeat the layering and buttering using two more sheets of filo. For each of the twelve filo “skirts,” using round metal cutters, cut the stacked dough into twelve circles each of 2 inches, 2-1/2 inches and 3 inches in diameter, using cookie cutters to cut the dough by firmly pressing down on the cutter and rotating it back and forth until the dough has been cut through. (Note that after all of the stacks of circles have been cut out, you will have a piece of leftover dough, measuring approximately 10 inches by 13 inches that may be saved for another use).
To build the “skirts,” start with the twelve 3-inch stacks of circles. Lightly brush melted butter on the top layer of each of these stacks and then center the twelve 2-1/2 inch diameter stacks of circles on top of the first ones. Brush the top layer of that stack lightly with melted butter and then finally center the 2-inch diameter stacks of circles on top of the 2-1/2 inch ones. Place these 9 layer stacks, graduating from largest at the bottom, to smallest at the top, on the back of each of twelve 1-1/2 inch diameter muffin cavities, protruding up from an inverted muffin plaque, lightly and gently crimping the stacks around the edges of the stacks before baking. Place the plaque onto a half sheet baking pan and bake in a preheated 375 degree F. oven for approximately 10 minutes, or until lightly golden. Remove from the oven and move the baked puffs from the muffin cups to a cooling rack to cool to room temperature. Make the two fillings as follows.

Espresso pastry cream filling for puffs

Yield: approximately 17 ounces, enough to fill twelve puffs with slightly less than 1-1/2 ounce each
Lbs. Ozs. Grams Each Name of Ingredient Baker’s percentages
Milk at 100%
  10 300   Whole milk 100
  .1 3 1 Vanilla beans, split 1
  2 60   Whole eggs 60
  2.5 75   Granulated sugar 25
  1 30   Cornstarch 30
  .5 15   Coffee extract 5
  1.5 45   Unsalted butter 15
    1 Pinch Salt .3
Place the milk and the vanilla bean into a medium sized heavy saucepan. Bring to the boil, reduce heat to simmer for 5 minutes and then remove from the heat. Cover the saucepan and let the liquid infuse for 15 minutes. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve, reserving the vanilla bean, washed and dried, for another use. Reserve the liquid. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs, granulated sugar and cornstarch together until smooth. Return the infused milk to the saucepan and reheat. Temper half of the hot liquid into the egg mixture in the bowl, whisking to combine until smooth. Pass the liquid through a fine sieve into the saucepan with the remaining milk in it. Return to the stove and cook the mixture, whisking, until it thickens. Remove from the heat and add the coffee extract, the butter and the salt, whisking until smooth. Scrape the mixture out of the saucepan into a stainless steel bowl, set over an ice water bath and cool quickly, stirring occasionally. When cool, transfer the mixture to a pastry bag, outfitted with a round plain tip, measuring ½ inch in diameter. Fold the top of the bag over and place the bag into the refrigerator until ready to fill the puffs.

Lemon curd filling for puffs

Yield: approximately 33 ounces, enough to fill twelve puffs with approximately 1-3/4 ounces
  13.2 396   Whole eggs  
  9.6 288   Unsalted butter  
  7.2 216   Granulated sugar  
  3.5 105   Fresh lemon juice, sieved  
    5 1 medium sized lemon Fresh lemon zest, grated  
In a medium sized stainless steel bowl, set over a saucepan of simmering water (the water should not touch the bottom of the bowl), whisk all of the ingredients together, cooking until the mixture thickens to a mayonnaise consistency. When thickened, remove from the heat, pass through a fine sieve set over a heatproof bowl, pressing hard on the solids, reserving the curd and discarding the solids left in the sieve. Remove 9 ounces of the sieved curd for the plating sauce and place this portion into a medium sized bowl and set aside. Transfer the remaining curd to a stainless steel bowl, set over an ice water bath and stir until cool. When cool, transfer this portion of the mixture to a pastry bag, outfitted with a round plain tip, measuring approximately ½ inch in diameter. Fold the top of the bag over to seal and place the bag into the refrigerator while you complete the following sauce.
Sauce made from thinned-out lemon curd:
  3, approximately 90 Simple syrup  
  9 270 Lemon curd from above  
In a medium sized bowl, whisk the simple syrup into cooled lemon curd, adding more syrup, if necessary to thin the curd so that it flows easily as a plating sauce.

Chocolate Tuile Garnish

Yield: approximately 12 oz of tuile batter, enough for 12 tuile cookies, each measuring 4-1/2 inches in diameter, plus additional allowing for broken or otherwise imperfect cookies
Lbs. Ozs. Grams Each Name of Ingredient Baker’s percentages
  2.5 75   All purpose flour 83
  .5 15   Unsweetened cocoa powder 17
  3 90   Unsalted butter, room temperature 100
  3 90   Granulated sugar 100
  3 90 3 Egg whites, from large eggs 100
Sift the flour and cocoa into a bowl and set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, outfitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light. Add the egg white and mix to blend, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl to ensure a well-blended mixture. Add the sifted dry ingredients, mixing only until they disappear.
Using a small offset spatula, using a tuile template with circles 4-1/2 inches in diameter cut out of it, spread a thin but not translucent layer of batter onto a Silpat, placed on an inverted half sheet baking pan. Bake the tuiles in a preheated 375 F. degree oven for approximately 6 minutes. Place a circle of parchment measuring 4 inches in diameter over the center of each tuile. Sift confectioners’ sugar through a fine meshed sieve onto the edges of the cookie. Carefully remove the parchment template and repeat the process to make the remaining tuiles until all of the tuile paste has been used. 

Caramel to coat the baked puffs

Yield: approximately 7 ounces, enough to coat twelve puffs

 

 8 240   Granulated sugar  

 

 4 120   Water  
In a small heavy saucepan, cook the sugar and water together, without stirring, until the mixture turns a golden amber color, approximately 300 to 310 degrees F. Immediately set the edge of the pan from which the handle extends onto a folded towel so that the caramel pools in one side of the pan. Carefully but quickly dip the tops of twelve puffs into the caramel to coat lightly. Immediately place the puffs, dipped side up, onto a cooling rack, placed on a parchment lined sheet pan. Allow to cool.  Reheat the caramel, if it cools and hardens, if necessary, to complete the dipping of all of the puffs.

Assembly: It is best to fill the puffs just before assembling the dessert.   When ready to fill the puffs, remove the two pastry bags from the refrigerator, one filled with the espresso pastry cream and the other filled with the lemon curd. Insert the tip of the bag into the bottom center of each caramel-dipped puff and fill each with approximately 1.5 ounces of the espresso pastry cream.  Fill each of the open-topped puffs with approximately 1.75 ounces of the lemon curd. Set aside the puffs until ready to plate.

Plating: Squeeze out the thinned lemon curd onto each dessert plate. Then center one of the espresso pastry cream filled puffs on the sauce. Balance a chocolate tuile on each puff and then place one of the lemon curd filled puffs on top of the tuile. Carefully place a filo “skirt” on the top puff, allowing some of the lemon curd filling to show, and serve the dessert immediately.

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Posted 11 Oct 2009 by Surfas Events in Desserts, Recipe

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