Foolproof Cream Puffs

Directions

1. 1
   Making the custard cream!
2. 2
   Add all of the ingredients marked with to a bowl and mix well.
3. 3
   Strain the mixture into a saucepan.
4. 4
   Warm the mixture on a low heat while stirring.
5. 5
   Once the mixture starts to thicken stop the heat.
6. 6
   Make sure the mixture doesn't burn.
7. 7
   Once the heat is stopped, add the butter, some vanilla essence, and rum to get your desired flavor.
8. 8
   It's ready!
9. 9
   Cover the cream with plastic wrap to prevent the surface from drying out.
10. 10
    Now to make the choux pastry.
11. 11
    Add all of the ingredients marked with to a saucepan.
12. 12
    The mixture should have yellow bubbles at first.
13. 13
    Bring the mixture to a boil until the bubbles become whiter and finer.
14. 14
    This is the first important point.
15. 15
    Stop the heat and add the flour all at once.
16. 16
    Mix the mixture together quickly and then turn the heat back on to low.
17. 17
    Keep mixing the mixture quickly.
18. 18
    Stir the mixture strongly for around 1 minute then stop the heat.
19. 19
    If you don't mix well here then the choux pastry won't rise in the oven.
20. 20
    Add the egg in 2-3 goes, mixing after each addition.
21. 21
    There is a whole egg yolk in this photo for easier understanding, but you should be adding well beaten egg a little at a time instead.
22. 22
    The mixture will look like this when you've just added the egg but it should come together much better after some more mixing.
23. 23
    Once the mixture looks like this, add some more egg and stir again.
24. 24
    When you're making choux pastry it's important to work and mix quickly.
25. 25
    The mixture needs to become creamy and should fall slowly off a spatula in triangle shapes.
26. 26
    When it does, preheat the oven to 190C.
27. 27
    When the mixture slowly falls off a spatula as described above, it's ready.
28. 28
    Add the egg while keeping an eye on the consistency of the mixture.
29. 29
    Pipe the mixture out onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
30. 30
    Leave plenty of space between each dollop of mixture and spray evenly with water before putting in the oven.
31. 31
    You can make your own piping bag but transferring the mixture to a plastic bag and cutting off one of the corners.
32. 32
    Bake the choux pastry for 20 minutes at 200C, then turn the temperature down to 180C and bake for a further 5-10 minutes.
33. 33
    *Please don't open the oven until the choux pastry has baked or they may not puff up!
34. 34
    (Caution) Do not turn the oven temperature down until the cream puffs have puffed up completely.
35. 35
    The time listed here is just an estimate, the cooking time will actually vary depending on your oven.
36. 36
    If you turn the oven temperature down before they have fully puffed up, the choux pastry will deflate.
37. 37
    Slice open the baked choux puffs and add the custard cream.
38. 38
    In this photo I made cream puffs with both custard cream and whipped cream.
39. 39
    I sifted some sugar over the top and added a strawberry to each cream puff to finish!
40. 40
    Kiwi fruit also looks good.
41. 41
    Cooking time and temperature will vary depending on your oven so please adjust accordingly.