3/20/2007

Okay, this is weird…tell me if Shucream isn’t exactly like eclairs or cream puffs? :P To me, it’s exactly the same. And what a coincidence that I should bump into this recipe because I just made some cream puffs last night.

Eclairs or Cream puffs or Shucream they’re all the same, made from the very same choux pastry. The only difference is in shape. While eclairs are deemed to be more elite and is often served in gourmet meals as part of dessert, the cream puff (or sometimes they’re called profiteroles) is just like the eclair’s slightly unrefined cousin from the country side. Pfft…they all taste the same!

Eclairs comes in puffy fingers or I would dearly call them fingerlings, while cream puffs comes in shapes of cutesy round and is puffy. Many places have made them in different shapes, and sizes. I don’t know if they have this in Japan but a chain called Beard Papa sells large sized cream puffs for a few dollars each. Let me just say that if you buy, say, 5 Cream puffs from them, you’ll probably have enough money to make your own choux pastry dough(with all the frills like custard and chocolate chips) that will yield you about 30 cream puffs or 40 eclairs. Yep…they’re cheap to make and easy to do. So really, I don’t care much for paying for them or eating them outside unless they’re free or REALLY cheap.

[EDIT: I just checked, they do have Beard Papa in Japan ..the creator is a Japanese dude too]

So today, I am going to teach you how to make shucream (the japanese version of cream puffs, which is actually cream puffs to begin with), to which if you just manipulate the choux pastry dough’s shape into a fingerlings, you’ll have eclairs! :) All this, in your very own home! I’m going to make this fancier and have a chocolate topping to go along with the custard filling.

You’ll need a medium size pot and a wooden spoon to start off with.

And now for the ingredients of the choux pastry flour:
1 cup water
1/2 cup butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour
4 eggs

Method:
1. Boil water, salt and butter together until butter melts and the butter+water mixture it is rolling.
2. Dump your flour in carefully as to not scald yourself with hot water. Turn the heat off and start stirring vigoriously!
3. You will get a collected and sorta like a cookie dough at the end.
4. While the dough’s still hot, mix in one egg at a time until it is well incorporated.
5. You will have a soft textured dough which can be easily piped. This is your choux pastry dough.
6. Fill your piping bag with the choux dough and pipe it into circular mounts (for shucream/cream puff) or in 2 inch length strips (for eclairs).
7. Bake in a 425 degree (Fahrenheit) or 220 Degree Celcius oven for 20-25 mins. Once the choux pastry is brown on the top and tripled its size, you have your shucream shells.

p.s: if you don’t have a piping, use a ziplock bag and cut a rather large bit of its corner tip off and you have a homemade disposable piping bag! :)

Filling:
You can buy custard from a store and just put it in OR you’re baking this late at night and all the store’s closed, u can make your own custard like me! :P

3 Egg yolks
3 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup old fashion cream (35% fat cream ++/double cream)
1 and 3/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method:
1. Mix your sugar, milk and cornstarch until they are well incorporated in a saucepan.
2. Heat the saucepan under medium heat. In the mean time, add in your yolk and whisk till well mixed.
3. Stir constantly (use a whisk) until it starts to boil and thicken. Let it boil for 1 minute and then take it off the heat and let it cool before use.
4. Fill it into a bag with corners, like a ziplock bag and cut a small tip out or use a piping bag if you have one.

Chocolate Topping:
1 cup semisweet chocolate

Method:
Melt the chocolate chip on a double boiler or have a pan over hot water.

Assembly:
Take the shells and pipe in the custard. Once you’re done with that, take each of the eclairs/shucream/cream puffs and dip its top into the melted chocolate and let it cool. Do the same on ALL of them and once you’re done, you can pop them in your mouth right away OR you can chill them abit in the refridgerator for later.

MMmH!

Source: A Series of Kitchen Experiments