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Friday, December 18, 2009

Durian Custard Cream Puffs




Remember there was this Durian Shoppe in Klang Valley few years back? They had these durian puffs which were so good. It’s durian season here again and this time, I’m gonna recreate that!!

It’s my first time making Choux pastry. One word---Tiring
Cos my Philips hand held mixer almost went “kaput” beating the eggs into the dough. I had to beat it for 20 seconds, stop the mixer, scrape everything back into the bowl cos they were stuck all between the whisks. Did this more than 10 times.. and I could smell the motor.. Ewwww!!

My brain: “If only I get a Kenwood Chef one of these days…. .”
Mike, did u overhear my mind???? 

But no matter how difficult it was…. The outcome was really good. The choux balls were dry and very puffy.
I’ve eaten some custard cream puffs (sold in KK bakeries) that were soggy and chewy, and I have to say, my choux was an accomplishment *blush*****

After giving some to my neighbor to try, I immediately got orders for this Saturday 
kekekekeke!!!


Choux Pastry:250ml water
90gm butter (salted)
150gm flour
10gm sugar
4 large eggs

1. Sift flour to remove clumps and mix with sugar, set aside.
2. Bring water and butter to a boil on low heat.
3. When butter has fully melted, dump (1) in at one go. Stir immediately with a wooden spoon, and continue to stir until a dough is formed, and it leaves the sides of the pot.
4. Remove pot from heat and leave to cool for 5 minutes.
5. Beat in eggs one by one, making sure each egg is fully incorporated before adding the next. Beat mixture until it is smooth and glossy.
6. Pipe or spoon mixture onto baking trays, about the size of a small lime/calamansi 2 inches apart from each other. Bake in a preheated oven of 190C for 10 mins and 170C for another 15 mins.
7. Cut a small slit immediately upon removal from oven to release steam from inside the puff.
8. Leave to cool down totally before piping in the filling.
Note: If u’re not using a fan-forced oven, u may need to jack up the temperature by 10C each time. And if u want to make larger puffs, extend the 2nd level’s baking time.

Adapted from: The Golden Book of Desserts (Publisher: Page One)



Before baked and after baked!! See the difference? But the pic below was puffs from 2trays, don't worry they don't get so so big that they were touching each other.


Durian Custard Cream
500ml milk
100gm sweet durian flesh (I don’t think D24 works well here, due to the bitterness, unless u like it that way)
1 large egg
80gm sugar or more
2 level Tbsp custard powder
2 level Tbsp all purpose flour

1. Bring milk and durian flesh to boil on low heat.
2. While the milk is coming to a boil, whisk egg with sugar until mixture turns pale. Put in custard powder and flour, stir to combine, make sure there are no lumps.Set aside.
3. Stir milk in pot, making sure the durian flesh looks dissolved. Bring to a boil. Prepare a strainer.
4. Strain ¼ of the hot milk into the beaten egg, and stir well.
5. Strain the rest of the hot milk into the egg mixture. Press the durian pulp to get all the milk mixture out. You’ll see the membranes and whatever insoluble fibres of the durian left in the strainer.
6. Return egg mixture to the pot and cook(stirring all the while) on low heat until custard is thick and no longer taste floury(at this point, if u think it’s not sweet enough add more sugar by the teaspoons, as the sweetness of the durian flesh may vary)
7. Cool custard and chill until ready to use.
8. To fill: either cut a large slit in puff and spoon the custard in or
put custard in piping bag fitted with a small(3mm diameter) round tip and pipe in through the slit that was cut earlier.








The whole bounty of durian puffs-----75 golf balls :)


I made these again few days later with durians of lesser quality.. and I had to double the amount of durian flesh in order to get a good fragrance of it. And by halving the choux amount, my Philips handmixer did a good job. Saved u on that, Mike!

78 comments:

  1. The best durian cream puff I've tasted was in S'pore...forgot the name of the shop.
    Looking at your photos reminds me of them, they'r of cause bigger la, those commerial ones... mmmm...bite-sized should be easier to eat...and the fragrance...wow!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mel, the smaller the puffs are the shorter the baking time :) Save electricity
    Never eaten any cream puffs whenever I was in Spore, so, dunno abt that.
    Papa Beard also good, just that it's vanilla and not durian. One good snack that isn't that fattening :)

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  3. Your puff looks very nice, just like a ball, round but the swirl still remain intake. :)

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  4. hehehe next time i am going to make it :)

    Happy winter solstice!

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  5. DG: Thanks.

    Voon: Happy Winter Solstice to u too:) Ate any tong yuen?? I didn't make any this year. Totally forgot it's today.

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  6. this is a great treat. Any durian lovers would love these~

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  7. This is my first time to your blog, will visit more often. I did once the durian puff, very yummy..

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  8. Tracie, Sonia and BH: Thanks and Merry Christmas!

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  9. Merry X'mas & Happy New Year to you and your family :)

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  10. Happy New Year 2010 !!!!
    I love your blog :)
    I made chocolate mousse & cream cheese puffs few days ago for my friend's Christmas dinner.
    Your durian puffs looks great & tasty.
    I am going to try your recipe sometimes.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hey Foong Mun!!! Yeong Foong Mun right??

    Thanks for loving my blog! Good to know that u're reading it. Thanks a lot. Fatten up Big Tham :)

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  12. Oh we love durian puffs ! These are so nice and your photos are just great !

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  13. Hey Wendy, your cream puffs look really good! I have made durian cream puffs before but I did not make a custard for the cream. I just used lots of durian flesh and mixed with fresh cream.

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  14. Yeah...it's me. Big Tham wanna to keep fit, but I always make him be my "Guinea Pig" each time I learn to bake/cook something new :)

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  15. Shirley: Yeah, I saw that most online do that. Cream with durian flesh. I prefer custard :)

    Foong Mun: Big Tham will be so lucky to be ur guinea pig. Will there be a miniTham?

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  16. We have just decided !!!
    We are now waiting for God's "supply"!!!
    Hee heeee :)

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  17. short of durian flesh mail me at leongks52@gmail.com . I supply Malaysia durian flesh year long. No additive. We supply to Malaysia & Singapore

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  18. Hi Wendy, may i know what type of tray you were using to bake the puff? can i use the normal baking tray?

    Annie

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  19. Hi Wendy,

    Thank you for sharing all your lovely recipes. I really enjoy trying out the recipes and savoring the end results! :-)
    I just tried making the cream puffs today but my Choux puffs did not turn out as nice as yours. I could not get the puffs to retain their swirl and they turned out looking somewhat flat. Also, the colour of my puffs were very brown. I followed the recipe to the dot when making this and thus have no idea where I went wrong. I was hoping you might have an idea or any tips on any step that I should pay extra attention to in my next attempt?

    Thanks so much!

    -Lydia-

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  20. Lydia,
    I made choux puffs using this recipe countless times and so far, they have all yielded favourable results.
    One thing I suspect, is the sugar measured correctly? Because this recipe don't contain much sugar, it shouldn't brown that much.
    Another blogger that I know have tried out this recipe, and it worked for her.
    I hope u can try this recipe again and it will work out for u. Maybe try lowering the temp if it's really too brown. But I really suspect you might have mismeasure the 10grams of sugar, just 1 teaspoon.

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  21. Thank you for your reply Wendy. I will definitely try this recipe again and will pay extra attention to the sugar measurement.

    Once again, thank you :-)

    -Lydia-

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  22. hi wendy (: i would like to try this (: but may i know the cutting of the small slit is on the bottom or from centre? thank you! (:

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  23. Sweetylicious,
    Up to u.
    I usually find a soft spot to land the knife on.

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  24. Hey wendy,

    Just made this today, but was wondering why my mixture seems to be a lot runnier than yours. I've measured everything correctly so not sure what's going wrong here. What do you think it could be?

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous,
    Which mixture are you refering to?
    Choux or filling?

    ReplyDelete
  26. Oops sorry, forgot to write which mixture. The choux filling.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Anonymous,
    I guess you mean the choux pastry batter. Not the choux's filling right? The choux's filling will be the durian custard.

    How was the texture when you cooked it? It should be a lump of dough. You have to tell me which stage was it runny.

    ReplyDelete
  28. I really liked the durian fruit. it's also very unique and diverse kinds. but I do not understand, why many people who do not like durian

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  29. Hi Wendy,

    I tried the choux pastry recipe, but somehow my mixture is so runny and yours is like dough just perfect. I follow the instructions attentively but somehow the result is not like yours. Could you please explain more with steps 4 and 5? I got a feeling I might misinterpret.

    Thanks Heaps

    nana

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  30. Nana,
    When you put in the flour, your heat must still be on. Cook until it forms a dough, a real piece of sturdy dough. That is important.
    At step (3) is yours a piece of dough or it looks like batter? After that it shouldn't be a problem if the dough was properly cooked at step 3. I used pretty large eggs, weighing 60-65gm with shells on, so, it can't be that your eggs are larger than mine.

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  31. Hi Wendy,

    The step 3 is like a piece of dough, but at the last step where eggs has to be beaten, I think this is where i get confuse. Is the beaten eggs mix together with the dough and then beat again?. Because when I mix the beaten eggs with the dough it gets runny. The eggs I used more to medium size not too big. Looking forward to hear from you, I'm planning to make it on weekend again hehehe.

    Thanks again

    Nana

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  32. Hi,

    Really love the swirl of your cream puff as it stayed even after baking. Please can you let me know what number is the nozzle you are using? Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  33. anonymous,
    Mine are not wilton nozzles.
    I don't think you can refer to the same number.
    Just use any large 8point star

    ReplyDelete
  34. Hi Wendy , if i am usin a microwave oven to bake this , do i need to preheat my microwave? thanks. eve

    ReplyDelete
  35. eve,
    Microwave oven? Does it have convection function?
    If it's a basic microwave with only "high", medium, low, that type of setting, you cannot bake with it.

    If yours is a convection microwave oven that allows you to set the temperature in C, then you can bake with it, and of course, preheat it first.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Hi Wendy,

    Jamie Low here (from FB). I baked this yesterday and it turn out not so good as compare to yours :) (this is of course because you are expert). But my dough, when i pipe it will not stand so firm like yours it is actually quite watery. :( it did puff when baking but it didnt grow taller like yours, my is kind of flat :(.

    May i know what i did wrong? i read 1 of your comment, you replied this is dough form or batter. My is like batter more then dough. is it matter?

    if yes, how can i make it to form dough instead? Is the butter matter in this case? i used buttercup.

    Please advice, because i really love this and i want to make it again. :) pls pls...

    Cheers,
    Jamie Low

    ReplyDelete
  37. Jamie,
    The choux paste is actually a light dough, something like a very thick batter, but it's categorized as a dough.
    Another reader actually encountered the same problem and her puffs looks almost like yours.
    I have made this countless times using the same recipe and exact ingredients BUT with different ovens, different mixers, different scales and they all come out exactly the same.

    Did you change any of the ingredients besides using Buttercup?
    Any changes in amount?

    ReplyDelete
  38. Hi Wendy,

    no, i did not change anything except i using buttercup. :(

    when i put the dough into piping beg it come out just by itself without having me to squeeze it. is this right? please advice.

    or how long i need to cook the dough in the pan?

    Cheers,
    Jamie Low

    ReplyDelete
  39. Jamie,
    If you put it like very very full, it will definitely ooze out on its own, but if just half filled, it should not.
    I just cook it until it forms a piece of sturdy dough, yeah like a real piece of dough. Won't take long after you put the flour in. Less than 1 minute.
    I used Grade A eggs that weigh 63 grams each, so my eggs are really large. U can't be using AA eggs gua.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Hi Wendy,

    It me again. i also using grade A eggs. hmm... i cook the dough in the hot pan while the fire still on, move to KA mixer to do the rest of the job. Shd i mix in the egg while the dough still very hot?
    i will want to try again :)

    Cheers,
    Jamie Low

    ReplyDelete
  41. Jamie,
    No. It should be warm, and the eggs should not get cooked when you put it in.
    You can transfer the cooked dough into ur KA, let it run to quicken to cooling down, then, only you start putting in the eggs.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Hi Wendy,
    After the mini oreo cheese cake for X'mas party, I shall try this for new year party :)
    Few questions to ask before I start:
    -If the butter is melted fully but the water is warm but not boil yet is that ok?
    -Wat is the mixer speed when mixing the eggs?
    -are you using all purpose flour?
    Thank Q~

    ReplyDelete
  43. gracelym,
    No it must be boiling to cook the flour in the shortest time.
    Hmm.. speed, medium speed should be fine. I don't really observe on the speed because the idea is just to incorporate the eggs not for aeration or something like that.
    Yes, all purpose, if no specific type is stated it is always all purpose. Don't use cake/sueprfine flour. You need the gluten for good structure.

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  44. hi, how long can the puff be kept and does it have to be refrigerated after?

    ReplyDelete
  45. Anonymous,
    Sorry. I have never experimented with its expiry date.
    But you can make the puff(unfilled) in advance, best kept air tight if you're not going to chill or freeze it. If room temp, 2 days no prob, but must be air tight, if not it'll go limp. If it goes limp, just rebake it for a while.
    If frozen.. hmm... long time, I kept mine for months.
    If you fill it, IT MUST BE CHILLED IMMMEDIATELY.and be kept chilled at the time. Filled ones can be frozen too, how long I don't know. As long as it doesn't smell bad.

    ReplyDelete
  46. hello..
    i've seen most of the pastry for cream puff is sprayed with water before baking. y u didn't do it? what is the purpose of it?

    (actually i'm quite xcited to try ur recipe since it didn't use milk. i'm looking for cruchy and thin pastry.. yum3)
    - siti

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  47. sorry, 1 more question... how to maintain the crunchiness of this cream puff pastry? if i store it in the fridge, will it maintain it crunchiness??
    -siti

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  48. Siti,
    The recipe I followed doesn't use this method.
    When it is properly baked, it is crunchy enough.
    Milk will burn the puffs easily and I have actually never seen one recipe calling for milk.
    This puff will remain crunchy if you DIDN'T fill it and please keep it air tight.
    But once u fill it, it wil soften, but won't be soggy. Still has a good chew to it, that is if it was properly baked and dried out.

    ReplyDelete
  49. how about spraying with water before baking?

    -siti

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  50. Siti,
    you can try if you want.
    I'd love to know about the outcome. It is supposed to produce a crispier crust, but like I said, this recipes doesn't need that method, at least for me.

    ReplyDelete
  51. okay, thank you so much! Happy Chinese New Year! :)
    -siti

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  52. hye Wendy,..

    how mush is the price of this lovely cream puff?? i would like to place an order,.. :D

    - cecilia

    ReplyDelete
  53. Hi Wendy,

    I tried making this puff yesterday however it doesn't puff up, though my dough texture is similar to yours. I have read another recipe from some cook book and the method/ ingredient are almost the same (except it calls for cake flour), do you know the possible cause for the puff that cannot be puffed up?

    Thank you.

    benny

    ReplyDelete
  54. Benny,
    If you'd ask me, cake flour and all purpose flour, I'd go with all purpose. Choux puffs taste best with higher gluten flours for better structure and less sogginess.
    Flours will higher gluten will be able to withstand expansion and less probability to collapse.
    I suspect your oven is not hot enough. Was it properly preheated at the temperature stated?
    If you're oven is not fan forced, make sure you jack up the temperature as recommended in the recipe itself.

    ReplyDelete
  55. Thanks Wendy...
    Mine is those small conventional oven. Yes, i shall give it another try again and jack up the temp alittle bit.... Hopefully the next round i will get a better choux!
    Benny

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  56. Hi Wendy. U used whole egg or just r egg yolks? I tried using the whole egg but it seems like inside is not cooked but outside is hard and crispy. How long did u beat the dough together with the egg?

    ReplyDelete
  57. Shirley,
    If I used only egg yolks, it will be written as egg yolks.
    Is your oven's temperature accurate?
    Did you preheat your oven?
    Why do you say inside is not cooked?
    Did it expand?
    Not a matter of time, just beat until it's well incorporated and looks glossy. Won't take long.

    ReplyDelete
  58. hmmm i followed everything the same. it did expanded everything seems good from the appearance but when i opened it up, it is a little tacky and moist. my mom and i did tried eating it, taste a bit uncooked. maybe this weekends i will try again. probably will wait till the dough cool down totally before adding the eggs once at a time.

    ReplyDelete
  59. shirley,
    If your choux dough is piped bigger than a calamansi, then the baking time will be longer, the bigger then the longer you will need.
    you can beat the dough to quicken the cooling down, as long as it's not hot enough to cook the eggs, then it's fine already.

    ReplyDelete
  60. Hi Wendy,

    love your blog and are going to try out some of your recipes. Please may I know what number is the nozzle you are using? Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  61. Na,
    It's not Wilton, neither is it Ateco.
    So, the number may not be applicable to you.
    I used a medium closed star tip here.

    ReplyDelete
  62. Hello wendy, I just baked this durian cream puff, but why does the bottom of my puff for holes when i tried to remove them from the baking tray?
    thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  63. Hi Wendy, i do not have an electrical kitchen aid. Will hand whisking cause any difference? If yes what are the differences and how can i resolve them?

    Teddybear

    ReplyDelete
  64. Teddybear,
    I suggest you get a handmixer if you want to bake more. There shouldn't be much difference beating by hand, but it's soo tiring cos the 'dough' is sooo thick!

    ReplyDelete
  65. Hi Wendy, I hv just try this recipe. Everything is perfect, but I hv the same problem with wvfy that posted on 10 dec 2012. When I want to remove the puff from tray it stick to the baking paper and came out with a big hole which I can't fill the cream. Any advise?

    From : vivien

    ReplyDelete
  66. vivien,
    Oh no, I didn't see wyfy's comment.
    May I ask what type of paper did you use?
    Greaseproof, non stick or ?

    ReplyDelete
  67. Hi Wendy, I thought there's only one type of baking paper?! I bought it from one of the baking supplies shop, they sold by few sheets per roll! Anyway, can I know what brand/ type of baking paper that u use for this recipe?
    Is really delicious, definitely will try to bake this again :)

    From : vivien

    ReplyDelete
  68. vivien,
    Tesco baking paper. Glad brand works just as well.

    http://wendyinkk.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-10-fav-kitchen-items-and-your-q.html

    ReplyDelete
  69. Hi Wendy, may I know what flour do you use for the choux? And if i want to do it as custard cream puff only without durian, does it mean I omit the durian portion and everything else remains for the filling recipe?
    Thanks, Vivien.

    ReplyDelete
  70. vivien anand,
    plain flour. For ingredient information you can read "ABOUT"

    ReplyDelete
  71. Can I omit custard powder or replace with other flour? Corn flour?

    ReplyDelete
  72. MH,
    sure u can, the only difference will be the colour

    ReplyDelete
  73. I love the flavor of durian. I'm sure biting into one of these puffs is just heavenly. I think I'm going to have very sweet dreams about your puffs tonight

    ReplyDelete

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