Salted Caramel Cream Puffs with Almond

Makes 12 puffs of about 2 to 2 1/2 inches diameter.

Ingredients:

For the puffs (pâte à choux pastry)

62.5 grams (1/2 cup) all purpose/plain flour
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
56.7 grams (1/4 cup/4 tbsp) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
125ml (1/2 cup) water
2 eggs at room temperature, lightly beaten

For the whipped cream filling:
375ml (1-1/2 cups) heavy whipping cream
66.7 grams (1/3 cup) sugar

For salted caramel sauce:

200grams (1 cup) granulated sugar
90g (6 Tablespoons ) salted butter, cut into cubes
120ml (1/2 cup) heavy cream
1 teaspoon salt

Preparation:

1. Prepare one or 2 baking trays lined with parchment paper or baking mat.

2. Measure our plain flour, sugar and salt in a bowl.

3. Whisk to make sure it is thoroughly mixed.

4. Crack the eggs in a small bowl and using the same whisk lightly beat the eggs.

4. In a heavy bottom saucepan, measure out the butter and water.

5. On medium low fire, melt the butter in the water. Bring the mixture to a boil.

6. Remove from the heat and stir in the flour mixture till combined.

5. Return the saucepan to the heat, stirring constantly with a silicon spatula till the mixture puts neatly away from the sides and forms a ball. Be careful not to overcook this! Else your mixture may become too hard and prevent you from having a smooth batter later.

6. Now, preheat your oven to 200 degree Celsius (400 degree Fahrenheit).

7. Let the mixture cool for about 10 minutes in the saucepan, or till it becomes lukewarm. Beat the dough on low speed for about a minute, then add the eggs in.

It may look like there's a lot of liquid, but do not worry. The mixture will become kind of runny and separates, just keep beating till it looks smooth and thick.

8. Using a small ice-cream scoop, divide the batter into 12 moulds onto the baking sheet, with each about 2 inches apart. The batter may look like it spreads, do not worry.

9. Bake at 200 degree Celsius for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 176 degree Celsius (350 degree Fahrenheit) to bake for 15 minutes more, or till the shells are quite dry inside. They should be a light brown colour. Take the puffs out of the oven and leave them on a wire rack to cool.

You can work on the cream and caramel sauce while the puffs are baking & cooling:

10. Measure out the heavy cream and sugar in a bowl. Make sure the heavy cream is COLD.

11. Use an electric beater to beat on high, till it starts to thicken.

11. To prevent your whip cream from being over-whipped, when it thickens, switch to low speed. Be patient here you don't want to over beat these, else it might curdle and separate.

12. On low speed, beat till it looks like this, stiff. Store this in the refrigerator till you need to use it to assemble the puffs.

Now we make the salted caramel:

13. Measure out all the ingredients required for salted caramel. For the sugar, measure out directly in a heavy bottom saucepan.

14. On medium heat, melt the sugar, stirring constantly with a silicon spatula. It will start to clump together.

Then it will start to melt. 

Then it will turn into an amber liquid. At this moment you may want to reduce the heat as you do not want to burn your sugar.

15. Once all the sugar has melted, add in all the butter. The caramel will start to bubble instantly.Stir in the butter till completely melted, about 2 minutes.

16. Then add in the heavy cream. It will bubble up rapidly again.

17. Keep stirring and allow the mixture to boil for about 1 minute. It will rise in the pan as it boils. Do not overcook.

18. It may seem too runny for your puffs but do not worry, it thickens up on cooling. Remove from heat and stir in the salt. Allow to cool down before using. I transferred the caramel directly into a glass bottle. Be careful, its hot.

Assemble the caramel cream puffs:

19. Fill a pipping bag with the cream filling. By this time your puffs would have cooled enough to be filled.

20. Using a butter knife, make a little cross in each puff, then pipe the cream in.

21. Using a teaspoon, spread some caramel on the top of each filled puff.

22. Chop up some toasted almond nuts or whatever nuts you like and garnish. The nuts will stick on the caramel.

The cream puff recipe is taken from Design.Bake.Run and the caramel sauce recipe is taken from Sally's baking addiction.

Enjoy!