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​Religieuse cream puffs

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“Be inspired to create masterpieces from ​your own kitchen”.

​Religieuse Cream Puffs

​Religieuse is a French cream puff pastry, made of two choux pastry cases.
One larger than the other. Both filled with  pastry cream, usually infused with exotic flavors.  
​

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 The name religieuses means “nun” in French, which comes from some idea that these pastries look like a nun’s habit, I guess making them religious. ​Well, I don't know about them looking like nuns.  I associated the nickname with the word 'none', meaning that there won't be 'none' left after a bite out of these.
​
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​ The religieuse cafe' is similar to an éclair.
​They both are pate’ a choux cream puffs. Both filled with pastry cream and  both topped with poured fondant.



All Dressed Up
​​The religieuse cafe' is just dressed up ​ a little more, with its fancy touches.

Just like the eclair, these pastries also make a wonderful and beautiful contribution to your dessert table. 
​


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​​Religieuse  cream puffs are made up from two choux pastry cream puffs. In this recipe, the pastry cream is infused with espresso powder. ​The fondant is also flavored with espresso powder. This is a very delicious combination, and you don't have to like coffee.
​Although you can do this recipe in a day , can also make the cream puff shells the day before, which will lighten your workload when you assemble the religieuse.

​Make sure to bake the cream puffs long enough so that they dry out completely. Otherwise they will get soggy as soon as they are filled with cream.


​A large one on the bottom and a smaller one on top. Both filled with pastry cream
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​ They are traditionally iced with a chocolate or coffee flavored fondant, ​then joined together, and decorated with buttercream. ​However, you can get as creative with the toppings and fillings, as you want to.  I say, stick with the fondant as the topping and get creative with the filling. Fill them with jam, or lemon curd, or another cream.  
​


Like a buttercream mixed with a Chantilly cream.  Fill one cream puff with one flavor, and the other cream puff with a different flavor.​ Just make sure to be mindful whether flavor profiles are a good match.
​
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​This recipe will yield 30 religieuses.  If you don't want to make that many, you can cut the quantities for the pastry cream and the fondant in half.  ​Make a full recipe of choux pastry but pipe into other shapes with half the other of it. I live in sunny South Florida, and as you can see in the pictures, the fondant did its best to stand up to the heat. It was too beautiful a day to not take pictures outside.  ​​
​
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​But let me tell you, there was something special going on, having the fondant melt all over the cream puff like that. Let me tell you.


Your Mise' En Place'​

TOOLS EQUIPMENT
​All of these tools will be of great use for you. Most of them, you may already have on hand. ​​
  • Large pastry bag , with a 1/2" round tip, and a 'filling' tip.
  • I used Wilton Filling Tip Bismarck 230.
  • Wooden spoon or rubber spatula
  • Small rubber spatula
  • ​Large bowl of ice. 
​​
  • ​Wire Rack for cooling eclair shells
  • Cookie sheet(13"x18"), lined with parchment paper.
  • Stand mixer, using paddle attachments.
  • Medium sauce pans.
  • Medium sized microwavable bowls, preferably glass .
What's Next ?
Now that you've got your tools, you are now ready to complete the next three tasks in your mise en' place'.
The pastry cream, the pate' a choux, and the poured fondant. 
Espresso Pastry Cream
Pate' A Choux
Poured Fondant
 The pate' a choux,  once baked, can be frozen up to three months in advance. So when the mood for a cream puff just pops up in your head, you can have your pastry cream prepared, ready and done. 

​All within the hour you need for the frozen baked pate' a choux to thaw out. 
​ ​​​Just pop the pate' a choux in 350° F oven for about 5 -7 minutes, ​to bring back the 'crisp' of the edges. ​​​​

​Tips for Preparation

Before getting started, check out these preparation tips
​Day 1​​​
What to do on Day 1
​You could make these pastries in one day. While the puffs are baking, make the pastry cream, then make the fondant while the filled cream puffs set in the refrigerator.
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This project can be broken down into two days. The items you make on Day 1 can be made up to three days  ​in advance.

​On Day 1 prepare the pastry cream and bake the pate' a choux.​​
Here  is What You Need to Prepare
Your additional mise en' place for these cream puffs will be the completion of these next three tasks.
The pastry cream, the pate' a choux  and the poured fondant. I broke it down into two days.  ​​
The items you make on Day 1 can be made up to three days in advance, so there's your head start right there.
​​​The Espresso Pastry Cream
Make the Espresso Pastry Cream.
Espresso Pastry Cream
Espresso Pastry Cream
This can stay refrigerated, covered, up to 3 days in advance.​ The yield on the pastry cream should be enough to fill all 30 cream puffs.
The Pate' A Choux
​​​Make the Choux Paste
Pate' A Choux
Pate' A Choux
 Keep in mind, when you pipe these, you will be making equal amounts of two different sized cream puffs.

​The pate' a choux recipe will yield you just over two dozen cream puffs. Once assembled you will have yourself  about one dozen or more
 religeous pastries. ​
Don't forget to preheat the oven to 400° F/200'C°,  and make sure your sheet pans are lined with parchment paper. Dab a little of the choux paste into the corner of the sheet pan prior to laying down the parchment. This action will keep the parchment
The Piping
Pate' A Choux
I know, they're not staggered rows.
​​
​Fit two pastry bags with a 1/2 inch and a 1/4" round tips. ​Divide the choux paste in the pastry bags. Then
 pipe the batter into  rounds. With the 1/2" tip, your rounds should be approximately 1 3/8 inch-wide by  3/8 inch wide   rounds onto one sheet pan.
Make about 15 puffs. Try to stagger the rows and leave at least 1/2 inch between each round. ​These will become your bottom pastries. ​And your top pastries...​
​On the second sheet pan, pipe the batter into 1 inch wide by 1 inch high rounds, with  you 1/4" tip. Make 15.
Pate' A Choux
​​Make a recipe of egg wash, to glaze the top of each puff.

Use a pastry brush. Then cross-hatch the top with the tines of a fork, to ensure that the dough rises evenly in the oven.​
​                         Tip
You may have extra batter, so you can make even more. Or make new shapes.
​At this point, once piped, you can freeze the raw choux paste, or bake them first and then freeze them.
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​​If it helps' draw the circles onto the parchment paper before piping, however make sure you flip the parchment paper over so the pencil marks​ do not bake onto the pastries.
The Baking​
​​It's important that your oven has already been preheated to 400° F/200'C°. This high heat will elevate the necessary steam. To gain a full understanding of what this means please read all about this in Pate' a Choux

​Bake the puffs at 400° F,/200° C for 10 to 15 minutes, until they rise. ​

​Then turn down the oven to 325° F/160° C. and bake until they are golden brown. ​
​

For the small ones, bake for another 25 minutes. ​For the large ones, bake for an additional 35 to 40 minutes.
​​Do not interrupt the baking by opening the oven door multiple times, as this 'releasing of heat' might cause the puffs to collapse. If they collapse they will not rise again.  ​At the appropriate time, remove from the oven and allow them to cool completely. These puffs are crispy on the outside, with a nice bite. Their hollow centers are now ready to be filled with espresso pastry cream.
cream puffs, pate a choux,
Extra golden brown.
Day 2

​Assembly Time

Step 1
​​

​Prepare your pastry bag with your 'filling tip'. 
I used Wilton's Filling Tip, the Bismarck
230
. 

Remove pastry cream from the refrigerator and whisk vigorously for a few seconds.


Pate' A Choux, pastry cream, espresso pastry cream, cream puffs
Reserve 2 1/2 ounces of the coffee pastry cream, for the mouselline cream, later. You will be using this mouselline to pipe the garnishing onto the pastries. Mouselline  is pastry cream enriched with soft butter. Fill pastry bag with the cream. Fill the pastries.
Press the tip end of the pastry tip into the top of the cream puff. ​​​
​
And lightly squeeze that pastry cream into the cream puff. It  doesn't take a lot of cream to fill in the pockets of the cream puff.
Pate' A Choux, pastry cream, espresso pastry cream, cream puffs
​You don't want any extra filling spilling out. When all the cream puffs are filled, place them in the refrigerator while you prepare the Expresso  Fondant Glaze.

Expresso  Fondant Glaze

​​​​​If you don't have fondant prepared already, you can find the recipe here.

​But if you do have fondant on hand, you'll need about  1/2 cup of the fondant and about 1/4  of simple syrup to thin it out. 
Poured fondant
Expresso  Fondant Glaze
Ingredient List
Amounts
Poured fondant      ​
​   1/2 cup
​Simple syrup   ​
1/4 cup
Espresso powder ​
​ 1 tablespoon
Important Tips

​When using poured fondant that has set, it will be very thick.
​You will need to scoop it from the container.
The hot simple syrup will thin  and smooth out the fondant. 
Preparation
​​​
  1. In small microwavable-bowl, put in half of the simple syrup,
  2. Microwave 60 seconds, at 50% power.
  3. Add the espresso powder to the warmed syrup and stir to combine
  4. Microwave, again, another 60 seconds, again at 50% power.
  5. ​Stir until the mixture completely comes together

​7. Pour the syrup  over the fondant, and stir
    together. The fondant will be a stiff, at
   first, but with the warmed syrup, it'll give
​    in and then come  together. 
8. To slowly thin the fondant even more,
     add the remaining syrup, just a little at
     a time. Make sure the remaining syrup
     was  also heated for 60 seconds
​     in the microwave
 , at 50%  power.
​​
Let's Dip

Step 2
​

On with Step 2 and we begin with the larger cream puff. Remove from the refrigerator. Dip the top of each puff into the fondant first, covering the hole.
Return the large cream puffs to the refrigerator. Remove the smaller cream puffs. ​ Dip the smaller puffs in the same manner.
cream puffs, pastry cream, fondant glaze,
​Align the smaller cream puff on top of the larger cream puff. Place them in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes to allow the fondant to set. Doing this will make garnishing pain free.
cream puffs, pastry cream, fondant glaze
My fondant's consistency is a little thin.
As you can see, I did not go for pastry perfection here, with the fondant being a little thin.  Truth be told, at this point I was ready to get done.

The remedy would be to add more fondant until a thicker consistency is reached.
​The Finishing Touch​
You have a couple of options for the garnishing of these pastries. ​ Buttercream is great if you happen to have any leftovers stashed in the fridge.

​ For coffee flavored buttercream mix 1 tablespoon of espresso powder with two tablespoon of milk, then stir that into 1 cup vanilla of buttercream.

Pipe buttercream between the top and bottom cream puffs. Garnish by piping buttercream on the top.

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 For this recipe, I made a mousseline with the the  remaining coffee pastry cream and butter.

 Mousseline

Ingredients
Ounces
Grams
​Coffee Pastry Cream   ​
​ 2.5 ounces
 70 grams
Butter, softened  ​
​  7/10 ounce
​20 grams
Make sure that your butter is soft.
Place the pastry cream and the butter in a small bowl and whip until smooth.
Transfer to a pastry bag fitted with 1/4 inch star tip.
Pipe at the neck of the religieuses,  where the two puffs meet.
​Pipe a small rosette on the top of the small puff. 
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​Eat. Serve. Share.

​The religieuses are now ready to be served.​

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