Tuesdays With Dorie - Peppermint Cream Puff Ring

Here we go...my first TWD.

I've been looking forward to baking since I came across TWD entries on other blogs and now it's my turn to join in the fun. This week's recipe, Peppermint Cream Puff Ring) was chosen by Caroline of A Consuming Passion. I still have not received my book so I scrounged up a recipe on epicurious.com. (Edited to add -- The book arrived in the mail today. It's wonderful.)

I originally planned to just watch the action this week and start the action next week since I don't have the cookbook yet, but excitement got the better of me and Saturday night found me at Kroger buying the ingredients I didn't have on hand.



Ingredients needed:

Pastry

• water
• whole milk
• unsalted butter
• sugar
• salt
• flour
• eggs

Peppermint cream

• heavy whipping cream
• fresh mint leaves
• chilled crème fraîche or sour cream
• sugar
• peppermint extract (optional)

Glaze

• bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
• whipping cream
• light corn syrup
• sliced almonds, toasted
• additional fresh mint leaves

I began by starting the peppermint cream. I boiled and steeped the cream and mint leaves and then chilled it overnight. In the morning, I strained the cream and whipped it. Then I folded in a mixture of sour cream (no crème fraîche at my Kroger) and sugar. The pale green tint from the mint leaves was a great color.

Instead of making the pastry in a ring shape, I chose to make individual puffs. I had a brunch to attend on Sunday morning and the puffs were easier to serve at the location of the party. To make the pastry I mixed the water, milk, butter, sugar, and salt and brought it to a boil. I then added the flour and stirred, continuing to cook the mixture for 2-3 minutes...long enough to dry it out a bit. Next, I put the mixture in my stand mixture and turned that on the lowest setting to stir for a few minutes (tip received from steph (whisk/spoon) and others at TWD). This allowed the steam to escape before I added the eggs. I always have a fear of adding eggs to hot mixtures and the tip to let steam out was a great one.



When all the eggs were mixed in, the dough was "silky and shiny." I used a piping bag to make the individual puffs on parchment paper and then baked them for about 15 minutes. When done, I turned off the oven, leaving the puffs inside. This helped them dry out completely and not be too eggy-tasting.

After filling each puff with the peppermint filling, I made chocolate glaze with bittersweet chocolate, corn syrup, and more cream. I drizzled this over half of my puffs, leaving some plain for the crazy people who don't like chocolate.



End notes:

• Thank you to all the TWD people for the great welcome and inspiring blogs. I'm glad to be here with you.
• The cream puffs were well-received at the brunch.
• I would like to flavor the filling with raspberry, strawberry, or orange next time.
• This was a fun recipe to make. I hadn't made cream puffs in a long time even though they are pretty simple.
• I need to remember to take more pictures...and work on my photo techniques. The light in my kitchen is not favorable to good pictures.
• "Baking: From My Home to Yours" by Dorie Greenspan can be purchased here: Amazon
• Tuesdays With Dorie site is here: TWD