Phenomenal Phoods

Chocolate Coconut Cream Puffs

Ingredients:

For the craquelin For the choux pastry For the coconut pastry cream For the chocolate mousse

Instructions:

For the craquelin
  1. Use a mixer to cream together brown sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add the flour and mix until combined.
  2. Spread out a sheet of parchment paper and place the dough on top. Top with another piece of parchment and use a rolling pin to roll the cookie dough into a large, flat rectangle. It should be about 1/4 inch thick. Place in the fridge for at least an hour or overnight. The first time I made these, I was low on time so I popped it in the freezer for 15 minutes, and that worked fine as well.
For the choux pastry
  1. Combine the water, milk, butter, salt, sugar and vanilla bean paste in a saucepan until the butter is melted, and it has started to boil.
  2. Remove the pan from the heat and add the flour. Mix together until the mixture resembles mashed potatoes.
  3. Return the pan to the heat and cook, stirring constantly, for a minute or two until the mix has formed a ball of dough.
  4. Transfer to a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and let it mix on medium-low speed for about a minute to cool it down before adding the eggs. This will prevent the eggs from scrambling.
  5. You will notice that in the recipe below, I say 3-5 eggs. Start by taking 3 eggs and beating them together in a bowl. With the mixer on low, add the first 3 eggs, very slowly. Mix until the eggs are fully incorporated and then stop the mixer. Lift the paddle out of the pastry, straight up. The mixture should form a "V" that falls slowly off of the paddle. You don't want it to break off too quickly without forming a full "V" shape, and you don't want it to be super runny because it needs to be piped and hold its shape. If the mixture breaks off too quickly, take the other 2 eggs that you set aside and lightly beat them together. Turn your mixer back to low and add the extra egg, very very slowly in small increments, mixing to incorporate after each addition and checking the status of the pastry by lifting the paddle again. I ended up using about 4 1/2 eggs to get it just right, but it will vary depending on the size of the eggs you're using among other conditions in your kitchen that may be different from mine.
  6. Take a couple sheets of parchment paper and a circular cookie cutter or glass that is about 2 inches around and trace circles on the parchment paper. They should be a couple of inches apart so depending on the size of your cookie sheet, you can get 6-8 on each sheet. The recipe makes 12 total so I did 6 per sheet. Flip the parchment so you aren't piping on top of the pencil.
  7. Fill a piping bag fitted with a round tip with the choux pastry. Hold the bag straight up and pipe mounds, using the circles you traced as a guide. Note that you should not move your hand in a circle but just hold the bag steady and squeeze so that a round, mound fills (similar to how macarons are piped). When it has reached the size that you want, stop squeezing the bag and pull off with a little flick of your wrist in a circular motion. If you end up with a little point at the top, just dip your fingers in some water and pat it down.
  8. Use the same cookie cutter or glass that you used to trace the shapes on the parchment to cut out circles of the chilled craquelin and place them on top of the piped choux.
  9. Bake at 375 degrees F. for 30-35 minutes until the choux is golden brown on the outside, and the craquelin has turned into that perfect, crinkled texture on top. Remove them from the oven and transfer to a cooling wrack. Use a knife or toothpick to poke a small hole in the side of each to allow steam to escape as they cool. This prevents the inside from getting soggy.
For the coconut pastry cream
  1. Fill a pot with about an inch of water and bring to a simmer on the stove.
  2. Meanwhile, stir together egg yolks and sugar. Add the flour and mix to form a thick paste. Set aside.
  3. Bring coconut milk and whole milk to a simmer. Don't let it come to a full boil.
  4. Remove the milk from the heat and very slowly pour into the egg mixture, whisking very fast the whole time to combine and temper the eggs.
  5. Place the bowl overtop of the pot you prepared earlier with the inch of simmering water in it. It should be over about medium heat. Whisk the custard mixture constantly and as quickly as you can for about 5 minutes until the mixture is very thick. Make sure you whisk like a crazy person to prevent the eggs from scrambling. If you're having trouble keeping up, reduce the heat. It will take longer to get the mixture thick enough, but better that than have scrambled eggs. The mixture should be about the thickness of pudding when you remove it from the heat.
  6. Remove from heat and run the custard through a fine sieve to remove any lumps. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it on top of the custard to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate for several hours to until completely chilled and set. I like to make this a day in advance so it has plenty of time to set.
  7. When the mixture is chilled completely, whip heavy cream until stiff peaks form and fold into the coconut custard. Chill until ready to use.
For the chocolate mousse
  1. Heat 3/4 cup of the heavy cream in a small saucepan just until it looks like it's going to start boiling. You want it to just come to a simmer, but don't let it start full on boiling, or the high heat will cause chunks in your ganache.
  2. Pour the heated cream over some chopped, dark chocolate and let sit for a minute or two. Stir together until smooth. Add vanilla and a pinch of salt, stirring until combined.
  3. Whip the rest of the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Fold into the ganache.
To fill the cream puffs
  1. Cut the cooled cream puffs in half.
  2. Use a piping bag with any decorating tip you like to fill the bottom half of the cream puffs with the chocolate mousse.
  3. Pipe a layer of coconut custard on top of the chocolate and top with the top half of the cream puffs. I also added some toasted coconut flakes for added texture and flavour, but this is optional. Drizzle with melted chocolate if you like.