These ugly choux buns filled with diplomat cream and poached pears are here to impress, but deceptively easy to create.
Difficulty – Difficult
Prep time – 30 minutes
Cook time – 40 minutes
Serves – 12
Ingredients
Choux Paste x 12 buns:
150g water
60g Westgold Butter, sliced
120g strong flour, sieved
5g sugar
Pinch salt
4 approx. Eggs, beaten
Poached Pears:
5 pears, peel, halve, cored
500g sugar
450g water
50g white wine
½ cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
½ lemon, juice & peel zest
Vanilla Diplomat cream:
400g Westgold Salted UHT Milk
1 vanilla pod, split and seeds scrapped out
80g sugar
2 eggs
20g flour
15g cornflour
2 gelatine, soaked in cold water, drained
200g Westgold Cream, lightly whipped
Crumble topping:
900g Westgold Butter
110g sugar
110g soft flour
Pinch salt
Method
Choux Paste x 12 buns:
Melt butter, salt, and sugar in the water.
Bring to a rapid boil.
Immediately remove from heat and beat in flour all at once.
Return to heat and cook out panada until it comes away from sides of pot to form a ball.
Allow to cool slightly before slowly beating in the eggs a little at a time making sure to mix well before next addition. Reduce the amount of egg added as the mixture gets close to the correct consistency to avoid adding too much and making the mix too soft. This may mean not all the egg is used.
The mixture should be smooth, glossy and correct piping consistency i.e. very slow dropping consistency off a wooden spoon.
Pipe into bulbs for choux buns topping with a disc of crumble and bake at 200°C until cooked rich golden brown (approx. 20mins), lower to 175°C to dry out.
Cool slightly and pierce a small hole into the bottom of each bun to release steam and assist drying out.
When ready to serve, cut in half and fill (see assembly below).
Poached Pears:
Boil ingredients for poaching syrup and simmer for 10 minutes to infuse.
Add pear, cover with cartouche (with hole in middle) making sure pears are submerged.
Simmer until cooked, depending on pear ripeness until they are tender.
Remove from heat and leave to cool in syrup.
Vanilla Diplomat cream:
Bring milk and vanilla pod/seeds to boil.
Lightly whisk sugar and yolks until pale, add flour and mix until smooth.
Strain the milk into the egg mixture, whisk well then return to the heat.
Bring back to boiling point whisking constantly to avoid lumps.
Turn heat down to simmer and cook out (until can’t taste uncooked flour), stirring occasionally.
Remove from heat. Add gelatine whisking to dissolve it.
Pour into bowl and cover directly with Clingfilm, pressing Clingfilm onto surface of custard, to prevent a skin forming.
When cool, whisk custard, temper in a little cream to soften the mix, then fold in remaining cream.
Crumble topping:
Rub butter into whisked dry ingredients to form a paste.
Roll out to 3mm thickness between greaseproof paper and place in fridge to firm up.
Use plain pastry cutter (6cm) to cut out discs.
Place on choux paste.
Assembly:
Pipe or spoon diplomat cream into base of choux bun, add half poached pear, add another small amount of diplomat cream, add lid and lightly dust with icing sugar.
Original recipe sourced from: Westgold
