Baking with Elliott

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Pastry

Profiteroles Recipe

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Whether you’re looking for the perfect choux pastry recipe or how to make profiteroles from scratch, this recipe has you well and truly covered.

To make these profiteroles isn’t too hard, with a little time and effort you’ll have yourself a batch whipped up in no time. People can be put off making these when they realise they have to make the pastry from scratch, well not any more. The recipe I’m about to share with you will change your mind about making choux pastry forever.

If you’re not sure what a profiterole is, well…  It’s a choux pastry bun (depending on where  in the world you are depends on what you know this pastry as. The most common names are choux and pate a choux, it’s basically the same thing), which is filled with anything from a whipped cream through to a custard, pastry custard or ice cream and is finished with a chocolate topping. What’s not to love about these?

To make the pastry, you’ll want to start by placing the water, salt and butter over a medium heat until it’s melted. You can then take it off the heat and add in the flour, stir until its combined then return it to the heat, constantly stirring until the bottom of your saucepan has a coating of flour. You can then transfer the pastry to a stand mixer or mixing bowl of choice and stir that until its cool enough for your to add your eggs, you will know when you’ve achieved this stage as you will be able to touch the bottom of your bowl without it being too hot. You can then gradually add your eggs, a bit at a time as you may not require all of the egg (or you may require more, it all really depends), the best way to tell if your pastry is done is to get a good amount on the beater and see how long it takes it to fall from the beater back into the pastry, if its between 3 and 5 seconds, you’re good to go.

Place the choux pastry into a piping bag with a piping tip which is about 1cm in diameter, then start piping small amounts onto your lined baking tray (I was able to pipe around 14 on a standard sized baking tray, so I’d recommend lining at least another 2 so 3 in total), if you want to make less then then the amount I ended up with, feel free to half the recipe or double if you need more. Once you’ve got them piped onto your lined trays, don’t forget to get rid of any peaks on top of them by dabbing them down with a damp finger, then you can give them the egg wash which will help them colour. Bake them off in a preheated oven for 20 minutes, before you open the door and release any steam that was built up in the oven. Close the door and bake for a further 10 minutes, this will ensure that they are hollow inside and well coloured and crisp on the outside. Once removed from the oven, allow to cool briefly on the baking tray before transferring them to a cool rack to cool fully.

Whip up a batch of sweetened whipped cream or whatever you’d like to fill them with whatever you’d like to (custard, pastry cream or ice cream will also work well), transfer the whipped cream into a piping bag with a plain tip nozzle and place in the fridge if you don’t intend on using it straight away. Make sure you fill as many profiteroles as possible, the make a batch of the chocolate topping. To make the topping is easy, place all of the ingredients into a small saucepan an allow them to melt, keep stirring them together until it becomes smooth and glossy. Dip the tops of your choux buns into the topping and that’s it. Super simple and yummy recipe.

Ingredients :

Choux Pastry:

• 300ml Water.
• 125g Butter.
• 150g Plain flour.
• 4 Eggs.
• Pinch of salt.

Bake at 200˚c/390˚f for 30 minutes (20 minutes, release the steam from the oven and then bake for a further 10 minutes at the same temperature). Allow to cool before filling and finishing.

Filling –

300ml Double cream.
30g Icing sugar.
1 tsp Vanilla (bean paste or extract will work well).

Topping –

65g Butter.
30g Sugar.
65g Golden syrup.
125g Dark Chocolate

Methods:

  • Before you start the mixing process
  • To make the choux pastry, place the water, butter and salt into a medium saucepan and place over a medium heat until its melted, stirring them together well.
  • Remove from the heat and add in the flour, mixing in the flour in until its full incorporated. Return to the heat and continuously stir it to cook the flour out. You’ll know once the flour is cooked out as the bottom of your pan will have a layer of the flour/pastry there, once you’ve achieved this, take it off the heat and transfer to a mixing bowl.
  • Mix the choux pastry on a high speed to cool it down. This takes a couple of minutes to achieve.
  • Once you can touch the bottom of you bowl, start to add your eggs. A little at a time until you reach a stage where the pastry takes between 3-5 seconds to fall from the beater – the amount of egg you need may depend, you may need more or less.
  • Place the pastry into a piping bag with a 1cm plain tip nozzle and pipe out small amounts on the prepared baking tray, I got 14 but you should be able to get about 15 onto a standard tray. Press down any peaks using your finger which has been dipped into some water, then egg wash each of the choux buns to get a perfect golden brown on top.
  • Place in the oven at 200˚c/390˚f and bake for 20 minutes, then open the oven door to remove the steam that’s built up, then place back in the oven and bake for a further 10 minutes then remove from the oven.
  • Allow the choux buns to cool for a few minutes on the baking tray before transferring to a cooling rack to cool down completely.
  • Once your choux buns are cooled, you can fill them with your whipped cream and store them in the fridge until you are ready.
  • The chocolate topping is really simple to make. Place all of your ingredients into a medium sized saucepan and allow them to melt together but remember to keep stirring them together until it becomes smooth and glossy.
  • Dip the top of each profiterole into the chocolate topping and allow it to set before you serve and enjoy them.

Don’t forget, if you make anything using my recipes, feel free to share your creations with me over on Twitter and Instagram!

Homemade Mince Pies

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Whether you like them or not, its mince pie season, regardless.

These tasty little treats are sweet, spicy and fruity all in one bite. Which can be overwhelming or downright confusing, especially if you haven’t them before.

If you’re from somewhere in the world that doesn’t have these easily accessible, don’t worry. Despite the name, the mincemeat is sweet (made most of dried fruit, sugar, spices and alcohol) and doesn’t contain a single gram of meat. Many years ago they would have been meat based but they have evolved to become what we know and love today.

I thought that mincemeat was available around the world, but it isn’t. Don’t worry I have already uploaded a recipe on how to make mincemeat here (which is actually super easy, it just needs some time to mature).

Some prep work won’t go amiss here. Preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f, weigh up your ingredients and get any equipment you may need ready.

The pastry isn’t exactly hard to make, all you need to do is beat the sugar and egg together, then set it aside until later on. Into a bowl or food processor place the flour, salt and butter then combine them together by either rubbing the butter into the flour or pulsing them together in a food processor (I went with the food processor method on this occasion. Mostly because I as short on time and my hands are warm and often heat up the butter, which isn’t what you want while making pastry).

Once they are combined, add in the egg/sugar mix and work it into the flour/butter mixture. This will bind the dough together, work them together until almost fully combined then tip out onto a floured surface to knead the pastry together. You’re looking for a clear dough, with no traces of a single ingredient. Wrap in clingfilm/plastic wrap then chill in the fridge for around an hour, this is to allow the butter to firm up and the gluten to relax.

After the hour in the fridge, take your dough out of the fridge and chop it roughly in half, keeping half out and rewrapping the other half and placing back in the fridge until you need it later on. Roll out your dough until you’ve achieved 5mm in thickness, once achieved, cut out your circles of pastry for each pie. Use a 3 inch cookie cutter, this gets your the perfect shape/amount for each cup on the cupcake pan. I only made 6 but you could easily make around 8-10.

Once you’ve got your pastry cases in the cupcake tin, you’ll then want to fill them with a generous amount of the homemade mincemeat, you can go as far as just a few millimetres below the top of the case (the more the better I say, but go with your preference). You can then work on the ‘lids’ which is a smaller circle cut out (around 1.5 – 2 inches), then place on top of each mince pie and secure in place by crimping the side of the pastry case and the pastry lid together with a fork, repeat for all your mince pies. You’ll want to egg wash your pastry (this helps to make your pastry bake a better golden brown colour), to make the egg wash, crack an egg into a small bowl and beat until its all combined. Use your pastry brush and give the tops of the mince pies a generous coating with the egg wash.

Just before you use the last of the pastry, stab a hole into the centre of each mince pie, this is to release any steam that may build up while they bake. You can then partially cover the hole with small cut out pastry decoration, I used a small plunger cutter do this but its completely optional. Egg wash the little cut out, then place into your preheated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the pastry is a nice golden brown.

 

Ingredients:

Pastry:

1 Egg.

90g Granulated sugar.

225g Butter.

375g Plain Flour.

A pinch of salt.w

Mince meat recipe here

 

Method:

  1. Start by doing some prep work by preheating your oven to 180˚c/350˚f, weighing up your ingredients into small bowls and prepare any equipment you’ll need to use.
  2. Start the recipe by making your pastry. Crack an egg into a small bowl then add the sugar and mix the two together until the sugar has dissolved in the egg, set aside until later on.
  3. Into a large bowl or food processor, place the flour, salt and butter then combine them by rubbing the butter into the dry ingredients or pulsing them together.
  4. Once they are fully combined, add in the egg/sugar mix from earlier on. Mix in or pulse together until they are almost fully combined, then turn out onto a floured surface and knead until a clear dough forms. Once you’ve got a clear dough, wrap the flattened ball of dough in clingfilm/plastic wrap and place in the fridge for an hour to chill. This give the gluten in the dough time to relax and for the butter to firm up.
  5. After about an hour, take your pastry out of the fridge and cut in half. Keep one half out and wrap the other back up and place in the fridge until you need it later on.
  6. Roll out the pastry on a floured surface until its about 5mm in thickness (this is the ideal thickness). Take a 3 inch cookie cutter and cut out your circles. I made 6 mince pies but with this amount of pastry you could easily make 8-10.
  7. Take your pastry circles and place them into the cupcake tin. Work and manipulate the dough to fit into the shape of the cupcake tray, repeat until you’ve got all your pastry cases done.
  8. Fill each mince pie almost to the top with the homemade mincemeat. Repeat this for each mince pie.
  9. With the remaining pastry, roll it out until slightly thinner than 5mm then cut out some more circles but this time they are smaller, around 1.5-2 inches (whichever fits just right on top of the mince pies).
  10. Crimp the pastry case and the lid together using fork. This secures the lid on top and stops it from popping off while baking. Once the lids are on, egg wash the top of each mince pie (the egg wash is just a beaten egg in a small bowl).
  11. Stab a hole in the centre of the mince pie, this is to allow the steam to escape. Then partially cover the hole with a small pastry cut out that has been made with a small plunger cutter. This is optional but adds a homemade touch to the mince pies. Egg wash the cut outs if you use them.
  12. Bake the mince pies in your preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until the pastry is a nice golden brown colour.
  13. Once baked and cooled, just before serving you can give them a dusting with icing sugar and enjoy on there own OR serve with some cream or ice cream.

Cornflake Tart Recipe

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If you’re looking for the perfect recipe for a cornflake tart, look no further, I’ve got your back.

Now I’m not sure if this is a local thing or national but if you went to school in the UK, you might recognise this. This recipe has been around for quite some time, a lot of people who went to school in the 70s, 80s, 90s or 00s should remember this! It’s super simple to make and doesn’t take that long either – what’s not to like?

This recipe is my take on the traditional version of a cornflake tart, it’s a really quick, easy and cheap recipe to make and will go down well with many who get to try it. If you’re not sure what a cornflake tart is, I’ll give you a quick run down of what exactly it is. It’s a pastry case which is topped with jam (I opted for strawberry, which is what i remember but feel free to use any berry jam) and then topped with cornflakes that have a sugary sweet syrup stirred throughout them. So, it’s 3 simple layers of shortcrust pastry, jam and sweetened cornflakes, you might even have the stuff in to make it!

If you haven’t made your own pastry before, don’t worry. I have a great recipe for my own shortcrust pastry that I use for all of my pie and tart crusts, it’s yet to fail me! Don’t be intimidated by the thought of making pastry, it’s simpler than you’d think. Here is a link to my recipe, it’s got all the information you need to know, along with tips and tricks on how to make this turn out perfect for you each and every time!

Once you’ve made your pastry and allowed it to chill in the fridge, you’ll want to take roughly about half of it and roll it out until it’s about an inch bigger than the tin you’re using, I opted for a disposable 6 inch/15cm tray but feel free to use whatever you have. Once the pastry is rolled out, I then place it in the tray and press it down so it’s in place and then trim away the excess from around the edge, then dock the bottom of the pastry using a fork, this is just to stop the pastry from having air pockets while baking. The final stage before we bake this is to place it in the fridge for around 1 hour, then bake it off at the required temperature. *I only chilled mine for a short period, so the longer you chill it for, the less it will shrink*.

While your pastry case is baking in the oven, it’s best to make the filling. Place the all the ingredients (except for the cornflakes and jam) into a small saucepan and melt them together over a medium heat, stirring well. Once it’s all melted and well combined, the mixture will be a deep orange colour. Pour this mixture over your cornflakes and stir the two together until they are well coat, it doesn’t take very long at all.

Once the pastry case is out the oven, spread a good amount of your jam on top of it, then spoon on your cornflake mixture. I like to add mine gradually so I don’t make a mess, but feel free to do it your own way. once you’ve added all the cornflakes on top of the jam, I like to gently push them down a little, so its more compact. Pop this back in the oven for a few more minutes, just so the cornflakes become more golden brown, remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before enjoying.

Ingredients:

Cornflake Filling :
115g Golden syrup.
55g Butter.
20g Granulated sugar.
20g Demerara sugar.
A pinch of salt.
85g Cornflakes.
100-150g Jam (I used strawberry but feel free to use any red berry jam).

Method:

  • Make your pastry (using my recipe, if you’d like) and allow that to chill in the fridge for 1 hour before use.
  • After 1 hour, roll out half of the pastry, just until its about 1 inch/2.5cm bigger than the 6 inch tin/tray you’re using.
  • Press down the pastry into the tin and trim away the excess from the sides. (If your pastry has ripped or torn, fix it at this stage).
  • Dock the bottom of the pastry, using a fork.  This prevents pockets of air forming while the pastry is baking.
  • Chill in the fridge for around an hour, then bake in your preheated oven at 200˚c/400˚f for 15-20 minutes.
  • While the pastry is baking, make your cornflake filling. Place the golden syrup, butter, granulated sugar, demerara sugar and a pinch of salt into a small saucepan and place that over a medium heat until everything has melted and come together, stirring well.
  • Remove the liquid mix from the heat and pour over the cornflakes, stirring well until the cornflakes are all well coated in the syrup mixture.
  • Once the pastry case has been removed from the oven, spread over a generous amount of jam (I opted for strawberry but feel free to use your preferred flavour) and then spoon on your cornflake mix, pressing it down slightly once all the mix is in the case. Place back in the oven for a following 5-7 minutes (or until the cornflakes are starting to turn a golden brown colour).
  • Allow to cool completely before you enjoy it, to serve enjoy it on its own or with custard, cream or ice cream.

Don’t forget, if you make anything using my recipes, feel free to share your creations with me over on Twitter and Instagram!