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.
All Dressed Up
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. |
|
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.
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.
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. |
|
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.
The pastry cream, the pate' a choux, and the 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.
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
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. |
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 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. 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 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 |
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.
On the second sheet pan, pipe the batter into 1 inch wide by 1 inch high rounds, with you 1/4" tip. Make 15.
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.
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. |
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.
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.
|
|
Preparation
|
Let's Dip
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.
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. |
For this recipe, I made a mousseline with the the remaining coffee pastry cream and butter.
|
Mousseline
|
Eat. Serve. Share. The religieuses are now ready to be served. |
|