Thursday 27 September 2012

Totoro Cream puffs


Cream puffs are made of Choux pastry (pronounced shoo pastry) or pate choux which is a very famous French pastry. It is said that they are named as they look like a small cabbage or 'choux' in french. Besides cream puffs, choux pastry is used to make Eclairs and Profiteroles.
It is an unusual pastry which is first cooked on stove and then baked in the oven first at a high temperature and then on low temperature and this makes them puffy and crispy.


The idea of these cute shaped cream puffs came from an incredible blog Anna the red. These puffs have been described with extensive illustrations and great tips. 
This also introduced a novice like me into the world of cartoons. Totoro is a character from a Japanese animation who is the guardian of the forest possessing special abilities and can be only seen by children.
Though very sheepishly I admit that mine looked more like a cat !! I missed out on attaining those pointy ears and my little one has no ear!!
The Totoro characters
My Totoro

Ingredients: Makes about 6 puffs
  • 3 tbsp water
  • 2 tbsp unsalted butter 
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • 3 tbsp refined flour, sifted
  • a pinch of salt
  • 1 tbsp powdered sugar

Procedure
Preheat oven to 200 degree Celsius.
Prepare a baking tray by lining it with a sheet of aluminium foil and lightly grease it.
Sift flour, salt and powdered sugar.
Put water and butter in a pan and bring it to a boil.
When it starts boiling take it off the flame and add all the flour mixture at once. Stir very well.
When the pan is cool enough that you can touch the bottom with a finger, add the beaten egg 1 tbsp at a time. Stir well. In the beginning the egg and flour may look separate but if you keep stirring it will smoothen. 
Remember to add a tbsp of beaten egg at a time and stirring with all your arm strength. This is because you may not need the entire egg as their size varies.
What you need to achieve is the consistency of the dough where when lifted with a spatula, the dough falls in 3-5 secs. 
Now put the dough in a zip lock bag or any plastic bag and snip off one end. 
On the prepared baking tray, make a rough pear shape with the dough for the body. For the ears pipe some dough on the head end. If there are any pointy parts, use a wet finger to press them down.
(I made 5 such and little one with this recipe)
Put in the oven and bake for 10 mins. DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN. This is because in the first 10 mins the pastry puffs up in the high temperature oven.
Check if your pastry has puffed up and has risen well. If not give some more time. 
Now reduce the temperature of the oven to 176 degree Celsius and bake for 15 mins. In this time and reduced temperature the pastry gets well cooked from inside.
Take them out while still warm and make a slit in the bottom. Let them cool.



For the filling, I took the cheat's way out and made a strawberry custard from store bought powder. All you need to do is boil a cup of milk and add 3-4 tbsp of the powder dissolved in cold milk/water. Add sugar to taste and your custard is ready. 
Very carefully fill the prepared puffs with this custard lest you break the super crispy puff, like I did!



Now to give life to these super cute puffs all I did was grabbed my white chocolate from the fridge. I let it sit out for 10 mins till I went mad running around Vannya who had merrily opened my cupboard and was throwing everything on the floor!!
Once I got the situation in temporary control, I made round shapes for eyes of the now slightly gooey white chocolate. With the help of a toothpick and chocolate sauce I drew whiskers, eyes and a little nose.


Vishal was back from office and was very sweetly and patiently waiting for me take pictures before we all could jump on these cuties for tea.
The little cream puff obviously went to my angel who just gobbled it in one go. A satisfied affirmation that she enjoyed :):) 
I had taken a bite from one puff to take a picture showing the filling and had kept aside. When I returned to take it, I saw it wasn't there. My suspicion obviously went on Vishal but we soon realized who the real culprit was. It was my daughter Vaanya who was happily gorging on the puff. Must admit it was one of the sweetest feeling, my sweetheart loving and enjoying my handmade puffs. I must make them again for her very soon.


Vaanya had such a crazy time squishing the custard out of the now soggy puffs. Here is a picture of the demolition.


I had a super great time making these very easy and cute characters. A fun and quirky way to eat your cream puffs esp for a kid party (not taking away any excuse for adults to gorge on them)


Almost forgot to mention..hope you noticed my hand made tatting doily underneath the plate of cream puffs. Wonder when did I have the time to do such extensive work. 

Linking this recipe to a fun event Bake along hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours, Lena from Frozen wings and Zoe from Bake for happy kids 

to Its a party


Happy Cream Puff Eating
Amrita

36 comments:

  1. Too cute! Love the way Vanya is devouring them! :)

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    1. Thanks Hetal. loved watching her ..very satisfying!

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  2. Hey wow, wow wow!!! These are amazing. Love the pic of Vaanya eating them . Its the best compliment that a mom can get.Thanks for linking them.

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    1. Thanks Archana, you are so right. The biggest delight for a mum is to see her baby happy always. Glad to link in your event.

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  3. Wow they are awesome,cute and tempting cream puffs

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  4. Such a cute creamed puff, and your daughter is so cute :-)

    Priya
    Cook like Priya




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  5. Woow this looks absolutely delicious and Cute.. Adorable Vanya!!

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    1. Thanks Saraswathi, it was lots of fun making them.

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  6. Cute cream puffs! The strawberry custard is a very good idea, kids would definitely love this! And your daughter is very adorable! Thank you for baking along with us! Have a lovely weekend!

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    1. Thanks for liking them. More than kids we adults loved it !! Happy to join you.

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  7. These are so cute and nicely done. I would love the strawberry custard too!

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  8. Hi Amrita, your Totoro cream puffs are unbelievably cute!! I adore them to bits.

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    1. Thanks Yen, it was just an experiment and I am so glad it has been appreciated so much.

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  9. Your princess is approving, means delicious by any stand, super cute Amrita.

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    1. Yes Swathi, the true test to my puffs were Vaanya enjoying them to bits !! Thanks for liking

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  10. Hi just found out that you are in Kolkata too. so glad to know one more foodie in my city. the puffs look awesome. kudos to you for managing so much with a toddler.

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    1. Hi Sayantani, am so glad to have a blogger friend and mentor in you. Your blog is such an inspiration. Great to be in the same city!!

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  11. Hi Amrita! Your cream puffs look cute and delicious! I love Totoro, the movie's really nice ;)

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    1. Hi Jasline, thanks for liking the cream puffs. Even I have started liking Totoro!!

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  12. super cute!i alos like the expression of their eyes!i would probably hv fun making them too! THanks for joining, amrita!

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  13. Thanks Lena, having a great time baking along!!

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  14. Cute looking puffs....baby is so cute...

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  15. Thank you for your lovely comments.

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  16. Hi Amrita,

    Your Totoro cream puffs are so cute! The most baby one is my fav :D

    Zoe

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    1. Thanks Zoe, Yes the baby one was the quickest to vanish !!

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    2. Hi Amrita,
      Was attracted by your Totoro cream puffs..They are so cute and I believe they are super yummy with your strawberry flavor custard.
      Have a great week ahead.
      mui ..^^

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    3. Hi mui mui, thanks for your comments.Love your space.

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  17. Awww thats so cute!! Love your Totoro cream puffs. Great idea for kiddie party! And thanx dear for the lovely and heartfelt comment on my blog. M really touched. and the feeling is mutual, I also m super glad to have found you through blogging. Mwaaaaah
    Your cream puffs are just perfect. Would love to devour them. M really impressed because making choux pastry in this weather is frustating. i m not even going to attempt it and also because I did the Choux Swans last month only.

    xoxo
    Anuja

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    1. Hi Anuja,I was really missing your entry, but understand that doing it all over again is not very encouraging. Really look forward to more of your amazing baking /cooking. Keep 'em coming!!

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  18. hi amirta , i love your cream puff . happy to follow you.

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  19. SO CUTE!!! the cream puffs and little Vaanya! :) Loved the cream puffs, and they look so much like those chatracters :) way to go :)

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