Recipes: ‘Perfect little pastries’ rise to the occasion
In her latest cookbook, “Baking With Dorie” (Mariner, $35), Dorie Greenspan presents readers with 150 tantalizing recipes both savory and sweet. This is the 14th of Greenspan’s cookbooks, a spectrum that has meant for many cooks, Dorie Greenspan equals baking. Intrigued that in a book with so many recipes she labeled cream puffs one of her two “perfect little pastries” (with meringues as the other), I had to learn more.
Greenspan writes that her passion for cream puffs came after she learned from French pastry chef Pierre Hermé that cream puff dough, once shaped, could be frozen and then baked straight from the freezer. “This piece of information was transformative, because it moved something I’d thought of as fancy in the realm of everyday,” she notes in her discussion of these little pastries.
I shouldn’t have been surprised to learn that cream puffs were a favorite. After all, those who follow Greenspan know that hot-from-the-oven gougères have long been her signature nibble, served to arriving guests alongside a cold glass of white wine. As she notes, when the dough is prepared ahead of time and frozen, these little puffs can go right from the freezer to the oven and are ready to serve in 30 minutes. And Greenspan stresses that these should be served right from the oven.
Cream puffs get their name from the way they puff in the oven, and much of that puff comes from eggs, beaten into a hot flour and butter mixture, and the only leavener used in the dough.
Thinking of pastries that should be served right from the oven brought me to popovers, another pastry that gets its puff from eggs, and certainly a pastry that’s been bedeviling home cooks for as long as we’ve been trying to bake them.
While she doesn’t devote a chapter to popovers, Greenspan includes a recipe for Cheese Puffers, something she calls a cross between a muffin and a popover. Well-beaten eggs and milk are combined with flour and any flavorings. As with popovers, the batter goes into a hot, well-greased muffin tin and then right away into a very hot oven so each puff gets a quick boost to help it rise quickly.
So what about foolproof popovers? At Buckhead’s King + Duke, the bread service includes White Cheddar Popovers with the kitchen turning out as many as 600 popovers an evening. If anyone has perfected the way to get perfect popovers every time, it would be Chrysta Poulos, Rocket Farm Restaurants’ director of pastry.
We turned to Greenspan and Poulos for tips on how to get the best puff out of these pastries:
• It’s important that the milk or milk-and-water mixture be hot before adding it to the eggs.
• Beating the milk-and-flour mixture, whether for cream puffs or popovers, is one of the most important steps. Be sure to follow the recipe’s directions.
• With cream puffs, be sure to have the first egg fully incorporated before adding the second.
• Popover batter, like crepe batter, should be prepared ahead of time and then used right away. The batter must be made two hours ahead of time and the popovers should be baked at that point. No holding the batter overnight.
• Cream puff batter should be shaped as soon as it is made. Then it can be baked right away or can be frozen as soon as shaped. When frozen solid, pack the pastries airtight and when you’re ready to bake, arrange the frozen pastries on a lined baking sheet, then let them sit on the counter while the oven heats.
• Serve popovers and cream puffs immediately after baking.
RECIPES
In “Baking With Dorie,” Dorie Greenspan offers five cream puff recipes, including Gouda Gougères, the latest in the many variations of gougères she has served over the years. We share one of her sweet cream puff versions here along with her Cheese Puffers and Chrysta Poulos’ recipe for the White Cheddar Popovers served at Buckhead’s King + Duke.
King + Duke White Cheddar Popovers
These white cheddar popovers are part of the bread service at King + Duke, and the recipe was created by Chrysta Poulos, director of pastry for Rocket Farm Restaurants.
For the showiest results, use a popover pan with cups that are 2 inches wide and 2 1/5 inches deep. These pans are readily available and come in sizes that bake six or 12 popovers at a time. Popover pans have deep, steep-sided wells that force the batter up while baking so your popovers end up with crisp sides and a puffy top. This recipe will result in dense popovers as opposed to the hollow ones.
At the restaurant, a batch this size would be made with six extra-large eggs. Because we test recipes with large eggs, we weighed out both extra-large and large eggs by volume and found that seven large eggs were the equivalent. Poulos recommends using King Arthur flour. We mixed our batter in a 5-quart stand mixer and found we needed every bit of that volume to accommodate the batter.
- 4 1/3 cups whole milk
- 7 large eggs
- 5 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 5 3/4 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 cups shredded white cheddar, divided
- Pour milk into a medium saucepan and warm over low heat to 110 degrees, about 5 minutes.
- While milk is warming, add eggs to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whisk eggs on medium-high speed for 5 minutes. When the milk reaches 110 degrees, reduce mixer speed to medium and slowly add milk. Mix 2 minutes. While mixer is running, sift together flour, salt and baking powder. Turn mixer off and add flour mixture at once. Turn mixer onto low and mix 1 to 2 minutes or until flour is incorporated. Increase speed to medium and beat 3 minutes. Remove bowl from mixer and using whisk attachment, scrape around the sides of the bowl to be sure all flour is incorporated. Pour batter into a container and let rest at least 2 hours before using.
- When ready to bake, heat oven to 450 degrees and put popover pan in oven to heat.
- When oven is heated and pan is smoking hot, remove pan from oven, spray wells evenly with nonstick cooking spray and pour in batter almost to the top of the well. Top each with 2 tablespoons shredded cheddar. Put pan into oven immediately and bake about 25 minutes or until popovers are puffed and golden brown. Resist the urge to peek before 20 minutes because you’ll release the hot air of the oven and may cause the popovers to collapse. When popovers are done, remove from oven and gently turn the pan over to release the popovers. Repeat with remaining batter, spraying with nonstick cooking spray before baking. Makes 16 popovers.
Nutritional information
Per serving: Per popover: 290 calories (percent of calories from fat, 30), 13 grams protein, 38 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 9 grams total fat (5 grams saturated), 102 milligrams cholesterol, 877 milligrams sodium.
Chocolate-Tipped Cream Puff Pocky Sticks
We liked these as a sweet treat that’s not too much of an indulgence. And the sticks make a charming presentation, a nice addition to a dessert buffet. If you want an alternative glaze, Greenspan suggests substituting white chocolate for the other chocolates here and adding a teaspoon of matcha. We can see these decorated for the holidays with a glaze spiced with 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin spice and decorated with Demerara sugar crystals or flavored with a drop of peppermint extract and decorated with crushed peppermints.
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup milk
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 eggs
- 3 ounces milk, semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon flavorless oil, such as canola or vegetable oil
- Sprinkles, if desired for decorating
- Heat oven to 350 degrees. Have 2 rimmed baking sheets ready.
- Using a ruler and pencil, draw 12-inch-long lines separated by 3/4- to 1 inch on 2 sheets of parchment paper. If you prefer shorter sticks, the lines can be 6 inches long. Set aside.
- Prepare a pastry bag with a plain 1/4-inch tip or cut a 1/4-inch opening in the tip of a disposable pastry bag or bottom corner of a gallon-size food-safe plastic bag.
- In a medium saucepan, combine water, milk, butter, sugar and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat. When the butter is melted, add the flour all at once and beat with a wooden spoon or sturdy spatula until the mixture pulls away from the side of the pan and leaves a film on the bottom, about 4 minutes.
- Turn the dough out into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Turn the mixer on low and add 1 egg. Beat 1 minute before adding the second egg. Beat 1 minute or until you have a smooth, shiny dough.
- Scrape dough into prepared pastry or plastic bag. Dot the corners of both baking sheets with a small dollop of batter. This will hold the parchment sheets steady. Add parchment paper to each sheet, pencil side down. Using steady pressure and holding the tip of the pastry bag at a 45-degree angle close to the parchment, pipe the dough on top of each line. Put both baking sheets in oven at the same time. Bake 25 minutes, rotating the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back after about 12 minutes of baking. Work quickly when moving the pan in order to lose as little heat as possible. When the sticks are lightly golden brown, turn off the oven and open the door just a bit. Let the sticks dry in the oven for 15 minutes. They should feel firm and you should be able to peel them off the sheet easily. Remove sticks from oven and cool, still on the baking sheets, on a wire rack.
- When sticks are cool, make the glaze by combining the chocolate and oil in a small microwave-proof bowl. Melt in the microwave, 30 seconds at a time, until chocolate is melted. Stir until mixture is smooth. Spoon the glaze over the ends of the sticks and scatter with sprinkles, if desired. Keep cool until set. These are best served the day they are made. If you need to serve on a different day, glaze the sticks just before serving. Makes 25 (12-inch) sticks.
Nutritional information
Per serving: Per stick: 47 calories (percent of calories from fat, 57), 1 gram protein, 4 grams carbohydrates, trace fiber, 3 grams total fat (2 grams saturated), 20 milligrams cholesterol, 27 milligrams sodium.Adapted from a recipe in “Baking With Dorie” by Dorie Greenspan (Mariner, $35).
Cheese Puffers
Greenspan suggests the cheddar and scallions in this recipe are just one variation. Substitute any cheese that melts well such as Monterey Jack or Gruyere, and experiment with spices if you wish by adding paprika or mustard powder. You can even include a few tablespoons of chopped nuts.
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 12 cubes
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- A few grinds of black pepper
- Pinch of cayenne
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup milk, room temperature
- 4 ounces shredded cheddar
- 3 scallions, finely sliced or chopped
- Heat oven to 425 degrees. Drop 1 piece of butter into each well of a 12-cup muffin tin. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, pepper and cayenne.
- In another bowl, whisk eggs and milk vigorously. When thoroughly beaten, stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, then add cheese and scallions. At this point, stir everything together but don’t be overzealous.
- Put muffin tin in oven to heat and as soon as the butter in the cups has melted, remove tin, brush the melted butter around edges of each cup and divide batter evenly between the cups. Return tin to the oven.
- Bake 20 to 23 minutes or until the puffers are tall and golden. Transfer the tin to a rack, run a table knife around the edge of each cup, and pop the puffers out. Serve immediately. Makes 12.
Nutritional information
Per serving: Per puffer: 150 calories (percent of calories from fat, 47), 6 grams protein, 14 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 8 grams total fat (4 grams saturated), 65 milligrams cholesterol, 231 milligrams sodium.Adapted from a recipe in “Baking With Dorie” by Dorie Greenspan (Mariner, $35).
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