Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Raspberry Cream Puff Ring

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was a peppermint cream puff ring. I wasn't really in the mood for mint, and still had raspberry jam to use up, so I changed it to a raspberry cream puff ring. The change was simple enough - instead of using mint and letting it steep, fold about 9 tablespoons of raspberry jam into the whipped cream.

This was my first time making any sort of cream puff. I was pretty excited when I got to go to the store and buy a piping bag and tips (I know, I'm weird...these things excite me). I also picked up a few other goodies I'd been missing out on - a Y-peeler, a french rolling pin, some tea towels so I can try to make my own sourdough (that'll be interesting).

When making this cream puff dough, the taste and smell reminded me of Cream of Wheat I ate when I was little. Odd how you can get nostalgic smells/tastes like that. The dough ended up nice and silky after adding the eggs.

At this point, I threw it into my new (washed) piping bag and realized that my tip was much too small. Dorie calls for a 3/4-inch diameter tip, the biggest one I had gotten was less than 1/4-inch. Nevertheless, I decided to move on and make some thicker rings, and layer three rings on the bottom with two on top.

The leftover dough got thrown into a couple weird-looking blobs. Remember, my first time with a piping bag, first time with cream puffs, yadda yadda. I pulled these blobs out of the oven about 10 minutes before the larger ring, that way they wouldn't get burnt. The ring didn't rise as expected...instead of moving up, it just moved out to the sides. This made it a lot thicker and shorter than what I was hoping for.

Piping the filling really proved how new I was to the whole thing. I put a syringe-looking tip onto the bag and tried to pump filling into the puff blobs I had previously made, but nothing came out. I eventually took the tip off and found it clogged with a bit of raspberry. I removed that tip and attached the rosette tip. That was sure a lot better, but it too got clogged with raspberries about a dozen time through the process of topping the cut cream puff ring. Each time, I had to remove the tip, take out the raspberry, then put it back in. At least now I know better, and will be sure to strain things before throwing them into a mix destined for piping.

I ended up doubling the chocolate glaze recipe, because the puff was so much thicker than expected. When it came to cutting, I got out a nice serrated knife and tried to keep everything neat, but that just wasn't happening. The puff kept moving all over the place messing up my rosettes, so I began to push down harder. The puff started acting up and squirting out cream...I'm not going to say who started yelling at whom, but names were called, feelings were hurt, and I ended up just hacking at it with a chef knife. The end product was a bit more...squished than what it could have been, but the taste is dead on.

Recipe: Baking: From My Home to Yours, Dorie Greenspan, pp. 290-292

26 comments:

Big Boys Oven said...

this cream puuf looks so awesomely good! wow! just like it would melt in my mouth!

ostwestwind said...

Your cream puffs look gorgeous and the raspberry filling sounds divine

Ulrike from Küchenlatein

NKP said...

Beautiful. I wish I had thought of the raspberry jam idea...

Engineer Baker said...

Raspberry sounds fabulous, and I have flashbacks to a couple times when I had to keep unclogging the pastry tip as well...

Kayte said...

Next time, I am going with the raspberry...the color of your ring is really a lovely golden shade.

And, Kudos to you for going out and getting the bag and tip...I ran out of time and opted just to use a baggie...much prettier with the bag and tip, trust me! It's on my list for "next time I am near the area" of the store.
~Kayte

Jules Someone said...

The puff looks lovely! Piping just takes a little practice. You may have to do some more baking. You know, for practice.

April said...

Raspberry + cream = yum! Great flavor combo!

Heather B said...

Wow! They look delicious! Great job!

Susie Homemaker said...

looks great! i was excited a few weeks ago to buy the bag and tips - so you aren't weird!(unless i am, too, but i probably am...) super!

Dianne's Dishes said...

It looks great! I went with a fruity filling too.

LyB said...

Raspberries is such a nice twist, it looks delicious!

Sharon said...

I'm a little speechless right now trying to come up with words to describe how divine this puff looks. Glad it didn't end up tasting like cream of wheat :)

The Kitchen Vixen said...

it looks amazing! you did a wonderful job. i know exactly what you mean about being excited by baking supplies. I recent purchased a collection of decorating tips and felt like I had just purchased jewelry...lol

Heather said...

Looks good to me!!! This was my first time making a cream puff as well and I think with a little practice they will be a piece of cake in no time! ;)

Di said...

You can't go wrong with anything that combines raspberry and chocolate. =) I didn't do the ring this time, but when I do, I plan to try something suggested in one of my cookbooks--cut the "lid" into pieces and then reassemble on top of the cream before adding the glaze. That way you don't squish everything, since you only have to cut through the bottom part.

steph- whisk/spoon said...

this was a great first shot at piping! it gets much easier. :)

Prudy said...

Stunning! The raspberry filling sounds amazing!

enza said...

garrett itwas your first time with a lot of things but you're great!
creampuff is known as something very difficult.
Maybe your ring (or paris-brest as called in europe) didn't rise as expected because you've open the oven door to take off the little one and this is a big mistake making creampuff and it's crucial do not open it as it's crucial the oven temperature.
you was lucky...in my opinion of course.
great job!

kimberly salem said...

i have come to learn that taste is the most important! :) great job!

kimberly salem said...

i have come to learn that taste is the most important! :) great job!

Katy said...

those rise so much! it's like magic -- they look awesome, great job!

Megan said...

squished, squashed, it still looks delicious!

PheMom said...

I love chocolate and raspberry - this sounds great to me!

Bungalow Barbara said...

Love your idea for the raspberry cream. Your pictures look divine -- up til the last one of the poor hacked-up ring! That one made me laugh out loud! I'm sure it still tasted wonderful.

Dolores said...

I get excited by expeditions into Sur La Table and Williams Sonoma the way other women feel an adrenaline rush shopping for clothes, shoes or purses. I follow the Nordic Ware, Kitchen Aid and Calphalon releases the way sports fans follow their hometown heroes. To each his or her own. :)

And your raspberry cream looks *wicked* good. Great job!

Jaime said...

i had to double the glaze too. raspberry sounds so much better than mint.... congrats on your first puff pastry!