Irish Cream Puffs

Science and baking run hand-in-hand, and that's half the reason baking appeals to me so much. Egg whites, steam, and rising agents (baking soda, baking powder) all cause baked goods to rise, but often give different textures. For these cream puffs, it's steam, gluten, and a hot oven that make them puff up so well. The steam makes that lovely blank slate on the inside of the puff. Add a beautiful cream or custard with any flavour you want, and you have a gorgeous dessert. Add some cheese, and you can have a tasty starter.

The name of this pastry base is choux pastry, and it's a really good recipe to master. Once you can make choux pastry, you can make the puffs, eclairs, churros, beignets, the base for the Fogo de Chao cheese puffs, and so much more. As with all things, if you do your research and understand the technical elements behind this recipe, you can do it, no problem. Here are a couple of tips that will help to know before you start:

• Place a tray full of water in the bottom of the oven to create more steam.
• Do NOT open the oven until the buns are almost done because steam will escape and the buns won't rise as much.
• Always, always, put into a preheated oven, or the temperature won't be right for enough steam to form, and the buns will be flat.
• Bake for a little bit longer than you think you need to until they are a beautiful medium golden colour. Let rest in the oven after it's turned off for a few minutes to dry out.
• Remember, all cooking times are just a guide line for how long it should take. All ovens are different, and therefore you should monitor your puffs from about 25 minutes. 

The second major component of this dessert is the cream filling. I love whipping cream and adding different flavours to it. Just be careful not to over-whip it, or the texture will be off, and you'll need to start again.

Irish Cream Puffs

Makes 12 Puffs

Make the cream first, and let it sit in the fridge to get nice and cold.

Bailey's Cream Filling:

200ml double cream / 7 oz heavy cream

2TBSP Bailey's
100g caster sugar / 1/2 c. sugar

Place ingredients in a mixing bowl. Whip with a hand mixer (or just a balloon whisk if you don't have a mixer, although this is a work out) until the cream forms stiff peaks. Cover with cling film and refrigerate.

Puffs:

70g unsalted butter / 4 1/2 TBSP

200ml water / 7 oz

80g plain flour / 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

pinch of salt

2 eggs

Preheat oven to 200º C/375º F. Place a roasting tray half-full of water in the bottom of the oven and let it heat up with your oven.

On a baking sheet, measure out baking paper. Draw 4cm circles on the paper with a pencil. You can use a small cookie cutter to do this. Space the circles about 2cm apart. Flip the paper upside down so the pencil markings are against the baking sheet. You should be able to see the circles through the paper.

Measure and sift flour and salt. Set aside.

Heat the water and butter over medium heat. Bring to a rolling boil, then reduce to a simmer until all the butter is melted. Take off the heat, and immediately add the flour. Beat with a wooden spoon. The texture will be watery at first, then lumpy. Continue to beat until you have a smooth batter that starts to form a ball. Place into a bowl, smash up the sides a bit to cool faster, and let cool for 5 minutes or so.

When the mix is no longer piping hot, stir in your eggs one at a time with the wooden spoon until they are completely incorporated.

This is what your dough should look like after you've added the eggs.

When completely smooth, spoon batter into a disposable piping bag. Cut a 1cm opening in the bag, and with the bag at a 90º angle, pipe your circles onto the baking sheet.

You can use a glass and fold your bag over to help in filling it.

Place puffs into the hot oven, and close the door. Do NOT open for 25 minutes. At 25 minutes, rotate the tray so the puffs brown evenly. Cook for a further 10 minutes (35 minutes in total) until the puffs are a nice brown colour. Turn off the oven and let the puffs rest in there for 2 minutes to dry out. Cool fully on a wire rack.

With a bread knife, carefully cut the puffs in half. Fill piping bag with the cold Bailey's cream. Pipe cream into the bottoms of the puffs.

Move on to the chocolate when all the cream has been piped.

Chocolate

Don't melt until you're ready to start dipping the tops of your puffs.

Bring about 3cm of water to a very gentle simmer in a saucepan. In a heatproof bowl, place chopped 100g of milk or dark chocolate and set the bowl over the saucepan. Make sure the bowl does not touch the water. Gently stir chocolate with a rubber spatula until it is completely melted. Start dipping the tops of the puffs and replace them on top of the cream filled bottoms.

If the chocolate gets too cold and starts to go solid while dipping, place bowl into a larger bowl of hot water, and stir until it warms up a bit.

You can sprinkle with toasted nuts, coffee beans, or additional chopped chocolate or chocolate shavings if you want. Or just leave plain.