The actual recipe called for caramelized almonds and vanilla pastry cream. I do have sliced almonds but decided to go with Dorie's bon idee and made chocolate pastry cream instead. I had a couple of bars of Scharfen Berger chocolate (from the IFBC conference) in the cabinet so I knew the pastry cream would be delicious. Pastry cream has been tricky for me in the past...it tends to get lumpy but this time I managed to temper the eggs and the pastry cream turned out perfectly.
I was able to pipe out quite a few small extra puffs as extra little treats. Munchkin is home sick today so she and I had a couple while they were warm. Little Man was not a fan when he tried them after school. Once the pastry cream and a strawberry was added though he changed his mind. I don't know if my pastry was just too small but I had a lot of pastry cream left over. Of course, that made a perfect after school snack with bananas.
Are you afraid of making pastry like this? Don't be! This choux pastry is a snap to whip up and pipe out (with the right piping supplies). I had a Pampered Chef Easy Accent Decorator until a few months ago when part of it snapped off. I went to the store today to pick up some decorating tips and bags but found a Wilton Dessert Decorator
This turned out really well for many bakers this week so make sure to check out the LYL on the French Fridays with Dorie page. You can also check out the recipe in Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan.
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