Sunday, August 26, 2012

The Daring Bakers

August 2012 Challenge: 

FILLED PATE A CHOUX SWANS




Kat of The Bobwhites was our August 2012 Daring Baker hostess who inspired us to have fun in creating pate a choux shapes, filled with crème patisserie or Chantilly cream. We were encouraged to create swans or any shape we wanted and to go crazy with filling flavors allowing our creativity to go wild! 
Recipe here



Since I was about 10 years old I've always wanted to make choux swans. I 
first saw them in a recipe book that belonged to my older sister. They looked so special, I hardly believed it was possible to make them at home. the recipe book was called Cooking Better all the Time - Katie Stewart 1966 London - I used to love looking through the pages - although the food styling and photos are now 46 years old - the pictures were very enticing.


So I was delighted when I saw this month's challenge for the Daring Bakers. I hadn't made  choux pastry for years but remembered from years ago when I made a lot of it - that you kind of get a feel for it and know the correct texture and consistency of the mixture.
This mixture was quite thin - it probably didn't need so much egg. I read in another recipe book to add the eggs 1 at a time when making choux, look at the mixture after each addition - sometimes it doesn't take all the eggs. Alternatively  if the mixture is too thick it can be thinned with an egg white or two - added one at a time.



I filled my swans with the Vanilla Creme Patissiere (in the recipes given) and Chantilly Cream.



This was a fun challenge ! I must make choux pastry more often :) 



9 comments:

  1. Your swans look gorgeous, Heather, I love that they are swimming on that beautiful glass plate, looks like water!
    Thanks for your lovely comment :o)

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  2. Beautiful job with such a tricky dough! I had to make choux pastry quite a few times to understand the right stiffness (regardless of what the recipe calls for) and color the dough should have when baked. Well done!

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  3. Such a fun challenge for us all. Glad to see that you were successful. Such a nice job!

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  4. How fun that this challenge was something you'd been eyeing up for a while :) You did a wonderful job - your swans are beautiful!

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  5. Beautiful swans - I love seeing them all lined up like that :) I agree, more choux more often!

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  6. thanks for your visit and your nice comment!!
    your swans are so pretty and so elegant!!
    kouky cuisine à 4 mains from Algéria

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  7. You are right, we should add one egg at a time, checking the consistency.
    Your swans turned out really well. Great job!!
    Thanx for stopping by my place.

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