Vanilla Eggnog Choux Pastry Bites
A scrumptious recipe that uses really neat ingredients to make a home made eggnog filling - instant pudding. If you are new to the process of making choux pastry don't worry, it is not that difficult to master, the key really seems to lie in properly incorporating the eggs one at a time into the doughy flour ball. Beat in each egg for 2-3 minutes and then add the next one, doing this will help to ensure that your final pastry with rise in the oven.
If you like you could always top these with a little bit of thick homemade caramel sauce or melted butterscotch chips as well. Serve on a pretty platter or tiered dessert stand and delight in the wonderful holiday flavours that these eggnog treats bring to your tongue.
Vanilla Eggnog Choux Pastry Bites
Choux pastry
1 cup of water
½ cup butter
4 large eggs
1 cup all purpose flour
½ tsp salt
Eggnog cream filling
1 package (the four serving sized box) vanilla instant pudding and pie filing
1 cup milk
1 tsp nutmeg (preferably freshly grated)
¼ tsp ground ginger (or to taste)
1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
2 cups whipping cream (heavy/double cream)
Icing sugar (Confectioner's sugar) to garnish the finished pastries with
Preheat you oven to 400°F/200°C.
In a heavy bottomed saucepan (copper based pans are great for making choux pastry in) bring the butter, salt and water to rapid boil over high heat, and add all of the flour in quickly once the water is boiling.
Reduce the heat to low and stir the mixture very briskly. Continue stirring until a ball of dough has formed around your mixing spoon, quickly remove the pan from the heat and keep mixing the choux pastry for 1 minute.
Allow the mixture to cool for about 2-3 minutes and then beat in each of the eggs rapidly one at a time, but do not add the next egg until its predecessor has been fully incorporated into the dough (see note above). I find that this works extremely well with an electric mixer. (I've noticed that if you try to add the eggs too soon you can end up with a ball of floury scrambled eggs, so do wait a couple of minutes before adding the eggs. But not so long that the flour mixture goes cold). Continue to beat the mixture until it is smooth and glossy looking.
Scope up ¼ cup (or thereabouts) portions of the choux pastry dough and gently place them onto a non-stick baking sheet (you may need two sheets or to make them in batches, depending on the size of your baking sheet) about 3 inches (8 cm) apart.
It's fine to make the choux pastry dough in “bun” sized shapes, or alternatively you can pipe them through a pastry bag (Use a ½ inch or 1.5 cm piping tip) into longer éclair shaped buns or round circles. Smooth out their surfaces and dab your finger into a little water (or a beaten egg, used as an egg wash) and lightly brush the top of each pastry so that it is ever so slightly damp.
Place your baking sheet in the preheated oven and bake for 20-30 minutes, or until the choux pastries are nicely golden brown on the top.
Remove the tray from the oven and allow the choux pastries to cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes before carefully transferring them to a colling rack with a wide spatula or cooking flipper.
To make the vanilla eggnog cream combine all of the ingredients, except for the whipping cream, into a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer (on medium-low speed) for 2 minutes. Add in the cream and continue to beat for another minutes or two, until the mixture has increased in volume and soft peaks have formed.
Place the eggnog mixture in the fridge to chill for at least 20 minutes before using.
Once the choux pasties have cooled off completely gently cut each one in half (a bread knife works well for this) and fill with a dollop of the chilled vanilla eggnog cream.
Cover each one with the top haves of the pasties, and dust them all with a light showering of icing sugar. Serve at once or place them into an airtight container and store for up to two days in the refrigerator.
Makes approximately 10-12 pastries