This cream puff recipe is a Persian adaptation of a French classic known as the Croquembouche. Instead of crème pâtissière, they are filled with whipped cream and they tend to be on the larger side - weighing a third of a kilo in some bakeries. I have spared you the excess in this recipe - the resulting buns should only be slightly larger than the French ones.
- 100ml (7 tbsp) milk
- 100g (3⁄4 cup) plain flour
- 1g (1⁄2 tsp) vanilla sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1kg (5 cups) whipped cream
- 100ml (1⁄2 cup) water
- 100g (7 tbsp) unsalted butter
- 8g (2 tsp) caster sugar
- 2g (1⁄2 tsp) salt
Line an oven tray with baking paper and preheat the oven to 180oC/350oF.
In a saucepan, bring water, milk, butter, vanilla, sugar and salt to a boil.
Add the flour at once and cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly until the mixture pulls away from the sides. This should take about 5 minutes.
Transfer to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on low speed for 2 minutes, then add the eggs one at a time and beat until well combined.
Spoon the batter into a piping bag fitted with a flower nozzle.
Pipe the dough onto a baking sheet, making circles as small or as large as you wish (depending on how much cream you want in the centre). Make sure you leave enough space between them as they will more than double in size as they cook.
Bake for 20 minutes at 180°C/ 350°F, then lower the temperature to 140°C/285ºF for 10 minutes. Do not open the oven door or you will end up having deflated puffs.
Put the cream in a piping bag, make a small hole at the bottom of the puffs and pipe in the cream until the puffs are full.
If you want to make your own whipped cream, beat 750ml (3 cups) of heavy cream with 350g (1 and ¾ cups) of caster sugar until the sugar has fully dissolved and the mixture is light and airy.
