Cream Puffs

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Chuck Hughes' clementine cream puffs with custard cream topped with chocolate sauce - a heavenly dessert that will wow your guests.

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 145 minutes
Yield: 6-8

In a stockpot, immerse clementines (with the skin on) in water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes or until the clementines are tender. Strain and let cool.
Thinly slice the clementines. Place them back into the saucepan with sugar, lemon juice and zests. Simmer on low heat until the peels are translucent and candied, about 1 hour. Set aside.

Place the milk, butter, sugar and salt in a heavy saucepan over medium high heat and bring to a boil, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and, with a wooden spoon, quickly add the flour. Return to heat and stir constantly until the dough does not stick to the sides of the saucepan and forms a thick, smooth ball, about 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing constantly with a wooden spoon until smooth and thick.
Cook’s note: The right texture is attained when you place a small amount of dough between two fingers and two peaks form when you pull your fingers apart.
Preheat oven to 220 C (425 F).
Transfer the dough into a piping bag and pipe the dough onto a baking sheet covered with parchment paper, spacing them a couple of inches apart. Beat together 1 egg and water, and with a pastry brush gently brush the egg wash on the top of the dough. Flatten down the dough peaks to ensure you have nice rounded puffs. Sprinkle with the pistachios and sugar.
Bake for 15 minutes at 220 C (425 F) and then reduce the oven temperature to 180 C (350 F). Bake for another 15 minutes or until the shells are golden and dry inside. Turn the oven off and, with the oven door slightly ajar, let the shells dry out for another 15 minutes.
Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack.

In a saucepan, whisk cream and ½ cup of sugar together. Add the scraped vanilla and bean. Bring to a boil and remove from heat.
Next, whip the egg yolks and remaining (1/2 cup) sugar to the ribbon stage, and then whip in with the hot cream mixture. Return saucepan with cream mixture to the heat and stir constantly until the sauce coats the back of a wooden spoon, about 5 minutes. Strain over a bowl and cover the cream with plastic wrap touching the cream to prevent a skin from forming. Keep in the refrigerator for an hour or until cold.
Add 250 ml (1 cup) of the Clementine marmalade and the pistachios to the cold custard base. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for about 4 hours until firm.

Heat the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Add the chocolate, melt it and stir with a wooden spoon until smooth. Keep it warm.

Split the pastry shells in half, fill the bottom half of the shells with a scoop of the frozen custard, and replace the top. Drizzle warm chocolate sauce over the profiterole and garnish with crushed pistachios. Serve immediately.
Cook's note: The puffs can be frozen. Defrost the puffs and then reheat in a 180 C (350 F) oven for 5 to 10 minutes, or until crisp. Cool before filling.
Choux pastry rises due to the egg content and steam. Therefore it is essential that the oven is hot, when placed in the oven. Without this initial burst of steam they will not rise properly or they will dry out; they will stay flat and become soggy.