Efforts to resist myself were futile; I succumbed to temptation. I baked. Really, I should have been digging into my books and excavating that abundant wealth of knowledge, yet I didn't.
However, one would be guilty too if they had an absolutely legitimate craving and desire and they didn't fulfil it, right? Oh, it's an excuse, but I baked durian puffs anyway hehe. You could say that I was celebrating Singapore's 46th birthday as well. Yup, I baked them yesterday, on the 9th of August.
'Happy belated birthday Singapore! Majulah Singapura!'
Durians are an iconic food in Singapore since you normally don't see them elsewhere except Malaysia and Thailand and we even have the Esplanade building whose design was inspired by durians.
Being the king of fruits, it is easily recognisably by its spiky green shell, pungent smell and strong taste that lingers in your mouth and breath long afterwards. Many would avoid it, yet ironically, many would flock to places selling them once they are in season. It's a love or hate thing really, like I've mentioned in my previous post.
Enough said, it was my first attempt at baking choux pastries and it was a success I would conclude. Nothing terrifying about them, you just need to inject love and patience like all other times of baking and they'll come out rewardingly well. Proof?
Proved.
Durian Puff (adapted from Maameemoomoo)
For 8 puffs
85ml water
50g butter
pinch of salt
1/4 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla essence
50g bread flour
20g cake flour — i didn’t bother with cake flour, substituted with plain flour –
2 eggs (lightly beaten)
Step 5 - the signature triangle you're looking out for.
1. Cook water, butter, sugar and salt in a saucepan till bubbling hot. Turn the heat to low.
2. Add in the flour mixture in one go and mix with a wooden spoon till a dough is formed
(picture on the left)
3. Still on low heat, cook the dough for 1 – 2 minutes till a thin white film is formed at the bottom of the saucepan.
(picture in the middle)
4. Transfer dough to a mixing bowl and beat till it is lukewarm.
5. Add in egg by thirds and mix till well blended and smooth. It needs to be glossy looking. Test the batter by taking a scoop of it and it hangs down and form a smooth triangular shape, it means u’re on the right track ;)
(picture on the right)
6. Place batter into piping bag and pipe it onto a lined pan in rounds of about 5cm in diameter. Spray some water on it. (i piped mine 5cm and it turned out HUGE! will pipe 2cm and get 20 small puff pastry instead. i like them mini :))
7. Gently smoothen out the pointed peaks with a moistened finger.
8. Bake at 200C for 25 (mine took only 20) minutes then 180C for 8 – 10 minutes or till dry and golden brown in color.
Durian filling
200ml whipping cream (will reduce this to 150-170ml)
1 tbsp rum
550g durian pulp
3 tbsp milk
1. Whip up whipping cream to a soft peak.
2. Fold in durian pulp. Stir in milk and rum.
3. Put fillings in a piping bag and pipe it out into the baked choux pastry.
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