Orange profiteroles

I'm a sucker for anything that contains custard and pastry, and in you add caramel to the combo I'm pretty much in heaven. So, it's no secret that I love profiteroles.

That being said, I don't make them quite as much as I would like. There's a good reason for this and it's not because they're complicated, it's because when I do make them I can't resist eating them. All of them. In a very short period of time.

For this reason, I only make them for friends. Sure, I still devour the delicious morsels but instead of eating the whole batch I only get 2 or 3. Sure, I'd like to eat them all but there aren't enough hours in the day to work off all those eggs or enough toothpaste to brush away all that delicious caramel.

Essentially what I'm saying is there's nothing good in a profiterole but it's okay because they're delicious. These ones are especially delicious as they have a subtle orange flavour. Essentially they're just a variation of these ones with a slightly better pastry cream recipe.

And yes, my bottoms got a little brown - hopefully yours won't do the same!

Orange profiteroles

adapted from Gourmet Traveller, July 2007 and The Art and Soul of Baking

Makes about 16

Orange pastry cream

• 170ml (1 1/2 cups) milk
• Grated zest of 1 orange
• 1 large egg
• 2 large egg yolks
• 6 tablespoons castor sugar
• 60ml (1/2 cup) orange juice
• 35g (1/4 cup) plain flour
• 30g (2 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter

Combine the milk and orange zest in a medium saucepan and heat until the mixture just begins to simmer. Remove from the heat and let it steep for at least 30 minutes.

Strain the milk and zest mixture and return to a clean saucepan. Heat the milk just below boiling point and remove from the heat.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, egg yolks, and sugar until well blended. Add the flour and orange juice and whisk until very smooth. Pour 1/2 a cup of hot milk into the yolk mixture, making sure you whisk constantly. Slowly pour the yolk mixture back into the remaining hot milk, whisking all the while

Heat the mixture, whisking constantly to prevent lumping, until it reaches the boil. Continue cooking for a about a minute or until the pastry cream is very thick. Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter. Stain the mixture into a clean bowl.

Press a piece of plastic wrap directly on to the surface of the hot pastry cream. Set the bowl in a bowl of water and cool to room temperature. Once cool, use or store in the refrigerator until required

Choux pastry

• 100g (3.5 oz) unsalted butter, coarsely chopped
• 1 tsp salt
• 250ml (1 cup) water
• caster sugar
• 150g (1 cup) plain flour
• 4 eggs

Preheat the oven to 220°C (430°F), line a large tray with baking paper.

Combine butter, salt, water, and sugar in a large sauce pan and bring to the boil over high heat. Add the flour and stir continuously with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes together in the centre of the pan. Remove from the heat and stand for 5 minutes.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating with the wooden spoon after each addition. The mixture will become matte when the egg is fully incorporated.

Spoon mixture into a piping bag fitted with a large 1cm (1/2 inch) nozzle. Pipe 5cm-diameter mounds about 4cm high on the paper-lined oven tray. Bake for 15 minutes and then reduce heat to 180°C (350°F) for another five minutes. Remove from oven and carefully transfer to a wire rack. Cool to room temperature.

Orange caramel

• 140g (5 oz) caster sugar
• 50ml (1/8 cup) lemon juice
• 75ml (1/4 cup) water

Combine the sugar, lemon juice, and water in a small saucepan and stir over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. Increase heat and bring to the boil, cook for 5-6 minutes or until the mixture in a caramel colour. Remove from heat.

To assemble the profiteroles

Before cooking the caramel, fill a piping bag fitted with a 0.5cm (1/4 inch) plain nozzle with pastry cream. Insert the nozzle into a profiterole and squeeze the bag to fill. Set aside on a plate or wire rack.

Cook the caramel, careful dip the tops of the profiteroles in it and arrange the finished profiteroles on a plate. Serve fresh.

Blackberry crème caramel

Crème caramel isn't something I see often in flavours outside of the usual vanilla, unlike it's seemly more popular cousin the crème brulee for which I've seen seemly numerous (and delicious sounding!) variations.

There was a time last year where it seemed like every man, woman, and dog wanted a blow torch to make crème brulee. Everyone just had to have one because they just had to make crème brulee. At this time I was working in a cookware shop and we'd regularly sell out of blow torches (Masterchef, you make Australian's mad!). I would have so many stressed out people looking desperately hunting for the last blow torch in the area. "I'm sorry, we're all sold out" I'd say, "you could try crème caramel instead, it's just as easy." Sometimes people would respond well to this, but most of the time they'd be adamant that they just had to make crème brulee. I suppose I can't blame them really, I know what it's like to be utterly determined to make something.

That being said, I honestly do think crème caramel is just as easy. Sure, there's caramel to make and if you're anything like me making caramel makes you extremely paranoid and scared of messing it up. I've made caramel many times before but even so, every time I freak out. What if it crystallizes, or burns, or catches on fire? I know in reality it doesn't really matter if any of these things happen because I'd just wash the pot and start again. But still, the mere thought of it.

In fact, I did crystallise the caramel for this. Massively so. So, I stamped my feet a bit and down the sink it went. Then I started again. And, voila, no crystallisation. Sure, I undercooked the caramel a bit and it wasn't quite as golden as it should have been but who cares?

So, after puckering on I had crème caramel. That was blackberry flavoured. That was also rather weird but mostly delicious. Seriously folks, time to move beyond the usual vanilla flavoured treats into the realm of berries, ginger, coconut, or anything really.

Also, I'm wondering how normal, more skilled people than I remove crème caramels from their containers? Every book I'm read says to carefully loosen them out with a knife but I just can't do this without ruining them. Instead, I just whack a plate on top, invert, and shake, shake, shake until I hear a satisfying sound that resembles a suction cap coming loose. Is it an elegant technique? No, no really so if you have a better one, let me know!

Down side is that after making this I have even more egg whites to use up. Time to continue on my quest to find an awesome biscuit that uses lots of egg whites.

Blackberry crème caramel

(adapted from Desserts by Christine Manfield)
makes six 150ml creme caramels

For the syrup

125ml water
200g castor sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

for the custard

350ml pouring cream
50ml water
150ml blackberry pureee
2 eggs
6 egg yolks
75g castor sugar
Freshly boiledwater, extra

Preheat the oven to 150°C (300°F).

Pour sugar, water, and cream of tartar for the syrup into a medium saucepan. Place over medium heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved and the liquid is clear. Increase the heat to high and boil rapidly, without stirring, until the caramel turns a deep golden brown.

Remove from the heat and immediately divide among the custard cups, swirling each cup to distribute the caramel halfway up the sides. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes.

To make the custard, place the cream in a small saucepan, place the blackberry puree and the water in another saucepan and bring both pans to just below simmering point.

In a separate bowl, gently whisk the egg yolks, eggs, and castor sugar. Slowly pour the hot cream into the egg mixture, stirring constantly. Add the hot blackberry mixture in the same way. Pass the custard through a fine sieve into a jug, then pour it into the prepared custard cups.

Place the custard cups in a roasting tray and transfer it into the oven. Fill the roasting rack with freshly boiled water so that it comes halfway up the sides of the custard cups. Bale for 45 minutes or until just set. Remove the custards from the oven and leave them to sit in the water bath until cool. Once cooled, stand on a tray and cover in plastic wrap then refrigerate for 5 hours to set before serving.

To serve, suspend each crème caramel in hot water for 30 seconds, then place a plate on top and invert - shaking gently if required.

Profiteroles with lemon cream

This is the second time I've tried to make profiteroles. The first time was around two and a half years ago and they were a disaster. Somehow I managed to make 2.5cm (1 inch) rounds that were completely solid. They were like little rocks. I have no idea what went wrong but from then on I was too nervous to try again.

I've grown up since then and conquered many of my bizarre fears; I no longer duck and cover when a magpie even glances my way, I've learnt that duck bites don't actually hurt, I finally believe that the sea can only rise so much during high tide, and, most recently, that profiteroles aren't out to get me. In fact, profiteroles are quite easy.

Except my pastry cream was a disaster, you can't have everything I suppose. It tasted good, so that's a plus one but it was a weird consistency so that's a minus one.

No one cared though, I took these to my friends house as an after dinner snack and all sixteen of them and they were gone in the blink of an eye. It feels good to see a plate cleared completely, they even ate the caramel that had stuck to the plate!

This recipe was a bit unclear to follow, Gourmet Traveller sometimes formats their recipes a bit funny. I've reworked it a bit so that all the mistakes I almost made don't happen to you. There's nothing more infuriating than getting halfway through a recipe, realising you have 100gm of sugar that you haven't used yet, and not having a clue what to do with it. It just causes freak-outs and freak-outs are best avoided.

Profiteroles with lemon cream

adapted from Gourmet Traveller, July 2007
makes about 16

Lemon cream filling

200ml (7 fl oz) milk
20ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
6 pieces of lemon rind, removed with a peeler
3 egg yolks
40g (1.5 oz) caster sugar
15g (0.5 oz) cornflour
200ml (7 fl oz) double cream

Combine the milk, lemon juice, and lemon rind in a saucepan and bring to just below the boil. Remove from heat and stand for 15 minutes to infuse.

Combine the egg yolks and sugar and whisk for 2-3 minutes, add the cornflour and whisk to combine. Return milk mixture to the heat, bring to just below the boil and strain over the egg mixture. Whisk to combine, then return the mixture to the pan.

Whisk mixture of medium heat for 3-4 minutes, or until thick and smooth. Transfer to a bowl and cover closely with plastic wrap, cool to room temperature then refrigerate until cold. When completely cold, whisk to break up slightly, add the cream and whisk until thick and smooth. Refrigerate until required.

Choux pastry

100g (3.5 oz) unsalted butter, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
250ml (1 cup) water
30g (1 oz) caster sugar
150g (1 cup) plain flour
4 eggs

Preheat the oven to 220°C (430°F), line a large tray with baking paper.

Combine butter, salt, water, and sugar in a large sauce pan and bring to the boil over high heat. Add the flour and stir continuously with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes together in the centre of the pan. Remove from the heat and stand for 5 minutes.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating with the wooden spoon after each addition. The mixture will become matte when the egg is fully incorporated.

Spoon mixture into a piping bag fitted with a large 1cm (1/2 inch) nozzle. Pipe 5cm-diameter mounds about 4cm high on the paper-lined oven tray. Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 180°C (350°F) for another five minutes. Remove from oven and carefully transfer to a wire rack. Cool to room temperature.

Lemon caramel

140g (5 oz) caster sugar
50ml (1/8 cup) lemon juice
75ml (1/4 cup) water

Combine the sugar, lemon juice, and water in a small saucepan and stir over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. Increase heat and bring to the boil, cook for 5-6 minutes or until the mixture in a caramel colour. Remove from heat.

To assemble the profiteroles

Whist the caramel is cooking, spoon cooled lemon cream into a piping bag fitted with a 0.5cm (1/4 inch) round nozzle. Pipe lemon cream into choux puffs and place on a plate or return to the wire racks. Once the caramel is cooked, careful dip the tops of the profiteroles in it and arrange the finished arrange profiteroles on a plate. Serve fresh.

Caramel crumb bars

I've always loved caramel slice but it is so sweet that I can't eat more than a single piece. This slice is similar to caramel slice in taste but far more buttery and less rich. I can easily eat a few pieces of this without feeling ill.

This slice is an perfect for sharing as it makes quite a large amount. Normally I halve, or even quarter, all my recipe because otherwise they make too much for me. With this one, I decided to just go ahead and make the whole amount. I don't regret it but I did need friends to share it with. Baking is a good reason to keep friends and co-workers around.

The slice itself is pretty delicate, so photographing it was a challenge. The crumbs aren't stuck to the top, rather they just sit on it. The slightest knock and crumbs end up everywhere. It's worth it though!

Caramel crumb bars

(adapted from The Modern Baker by Nick Malgieri)
makes 25

Dough

225g butter, softened
110g (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
350g (2 1/2 cups) flour
35g (1/4 cup) flour, extra

Filling

60g (4 tablespoons) butter
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
50g (1/4 cup) brown sugar
395g (14 ounces) sweetened, condensed milk

Set the rack to the lowest level of the oven and preheat it to 180°C (350°F). Grease and line the base and sides of a 23x33x5 cm (9x13x2 inch) pan.

For the dough, beat the butter, sugar, and salt with an electric mixer until soft and light, 2-3 minutes. Add the vanilla.

On the lowest speed, beat in flour. Scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula and continue to mix until the dough is smooth, and the flour has been absorbed.

Scrape 3/4 of the into the prepared pan. Use the palm of your hand to press the dough down evenly, without compressing it too much. Chill the dough. Work the extra 35g (1/4 cup) flour into the remaining dough with your finger tips to form 3mm to 6 mm (1/8" to 1/4") crumbs. Set aside.

For the filling, combine butter, corn syrup, brown sugar, and sweetened condensed milk into a medium saucepan. Bring mixture to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Allow the mixture to boil gently, stirring regularly, until it starts to thicken and darken slightly, about 10 minutes. Pour into a stainless-steel bowl to cool for 5 minutes.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and scrape the cooled filling onto the dough. Using a small offset spatula to spread the filling evenly. Scatter the crumb mixture on top.

Bake for 30 minutes or until the filling is bubbling and a deep caramel colour and the crumb topping is a light golden colour.

Cool in the pan for 15-20 minutes, until it is lukewarm. Lift the slab of baking dough out of the pan and on to a cutting board before it has completely cooled. Cut into 5cm (2") squares. Place slices on a wire rack to cool completely.