Strawberry Cream Puffs

The surprising strawberry filling in these little puffs will make any afternoon tea or party tray pop! By mixing jam with pastry cream, you make a delicate natural strawberry flavour with insane creaminess. Choux pastry is much easier to make than you might think — if you have a stand mixer now is the time to use it. Stirring the eggs into the flour mixture to make the choux dough by hand requires a lot of muscle!

Ingredients

Choux paste:

• 1 cup water
• ½ cup unsalted butter
• 1 tsp sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 cup flour
• 4 eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tbsp water

Strawberry jam:

• 1 ½ cups chopped strawberries
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 tsp gelatin powder
• ¼ cup water
• ½ tsp lemon zest

Pastry cream:

• 2 cups whole milk
• ½ cup sugar, divided
• 1 tbsp vanilla bean paste
• ⅛ tsp paste
• 5 egg yolks
• 5 tbsp cornstarch
• ¼ cup unsalted butter
• ⅓ cup strawberry jam
• Pink gel food colouring, optional

Glaze:

• 1 cup icing sugar
• 3 tbsp strained strawberry puree (about 5 strawberries blended up and strained)

Preparation

Choux paste:

Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment. Heat oven to 425F degrees.  

Bring 1 cup water, butter, sugar and salt to a boil in a medium saucepan. Remove saucepan from heat and add flour. Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until mixture comes together.

Place the pan back over medium heat and stir until dough is dry and doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan, about 2 minutes. 

Transfer the dough into a stand mixer and mix on low until the dough stops steaming, 2 to 3 minutes. Continue to mix the dough while adding the eggs one at a time allowing each to incorporate before adding the next. 

[Tip: Before adding the last egg, it’s a good idea to test for the right consistency, scoop up some dough with a wooden spoon and let it slide back into the bowl, it should leave behind a little "V" of dough on the spoon. This variable in the recipe can be due to not properly drying the dough on the stovetop.]

Transfer dough to a piping bag fitted with a large round tip and pipe 1 ½-inch rounds onto prepared pan leaving 1-inch between each. 

Mix egg yolk with 1 tablespoon of water in a small bowl. Brush the top of each puff gently with egg wash. 

Bake at 425F degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 375F degrees and bake until evenly golden, about 15 to 18 minutes.  

Jam: 

Bring the strawberries and sugar to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook until slightly reduced and darkened in colour, about 8 minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat. 

Meanwhile, sprinkle gelatin over water is a small bowl; let stand 3 minutes. Stir into hot strawberry mixture until gelatin is fully melted. Cool 5 minutes. Transfer to the bowl of a food processor and pulse a few times to break up fruit. Transfer to a bowl, stir in lemon zest and refrigerate until cool, about 30 minutes. 

Pastry cream: 

Heat the milk, ¼ cup sugar, vanilla bean paste and salt until steaming in a medium saucepan.  

Meanwhile, whisk together the remaining ¼ cup sugar and cornstarch in a large heatproof bowl. Whisk in the egg yolks. Slowly stream in the milk mixture, whisking constantly. Pour the mixture back into saucepan and cook over medium-low, whisking constantly until mixture thickens and bubbles. Stir in jam and some food colouring, if desired. Pour onto a rimmed baking sheet. Cover surface with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cooled completely.  

Glaze: 

Whisk together the icing sugar and puree in a medium bowl until smooth.  

Assembly:  

Spoon the pastry cream into a large pastry bag fitted with a long, narrow piping tip. Push piping tip into the base of each cream puff. Fill each with pastry cream. Dip tops in glaze and set aside on serving platter to dry.  

Yield: Makes 24 puff pastries