Rose Water & Pistachio Cream Puffs

Makes 30

I remember when I was a kid, my mom use to make these cream puffs for myself and my brother as a special treat or on special occasions. I recall how excited I would get when my mom would allow me to help her prepare these delicious cream puffs. A nice memory from my time growing up in Iran 😊.

Ingredients

For the pastry

250ml cold water

110g unsalted butter

Pinch of salt

Pinch of sugar

½ tbs vanilla extract

130g plain flour

4 medium free-range eggs

For the cream filling

600ml double cream

½ tsp rose water

2–3 tbsp icing sugar

For the chocolate sauce

100g dark chocolate

For the topping

50g silvered pistachio

Method

Place the water and butter into a medium saucepan over medium heat. Heat until the butter has melted. Bring to a rolling boil. Add the flour in one go. Beat continuously with a wooden spoon as it thickens. Continue beating until the pastry is smooth and comes away from the sides of the pan cleanly. Remove the pastry from the pan and place in a bowl to cool, about 10 minutes.

Beat in the eggs (either by wooden spoon of electronic mixer), one at a time, it will look curdled at first, but when you add the last egg it should become smooth. Beat until the mixture is smooth and glossy and has a soft dropping consistency.

Preheat the oven to 210°C fan/ 450°F/ Gas 8 and line two baking trays with baking parchment.

Fill a plain-nozzle piping bag with the dough and pipe the dough into small buns about 4cm in diameter onto the baking tray, leaving at least 4cm between each bun. If you don’t have any nozzles, just snip off the end of the bag to get a circle hole, you need the hole to be about 1.5cm in diameter. Gently smooth the pointed peaks with a moistened finger, rounding tops to ensure even rising.

Bake the pastries for 15 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 140°C fan/ 325°F/ Gas 3 and bake for an additional 20–25 minutes or until pastries are golden brown. Don't open the oven door while the pastries are baking.

Remove the pastries from the oven and poke a small hole in each bun (this will let any steam out and stop your buns going soggy), transfer to wire rack and leave to cool completely.

For the cream filling, lightly whip the cream with rose water and sugar until soft peaks form. When the profiteroles are cold, use a piping bag to pipe the cream into the profiteroles. Insert the tip into the opening of each pastry, and pipe to fill with cream.

For the chocolate sauce, break the chocolate into a bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water (the water shouldn't touch the bottom of the bowl). Stir until the chocolate is fully melted. Dip the tops of the filled cream puffs into melted chocolate.

Sprinkle some pistachio on top before the chocolate is settled. Fridge for an hour before serving for the chocolate to settle.

Enjoy!

Atoosa xx