passover week 2017 - raspberry craquelin profiteroles

passover week 2017 - raspberry craquelin profiteroles

• 4 Apr 2017

Welcome to Day 2 of Passover Week. Many years ago I used to make Passover 'bagels' which were made from choux pastry using matzo meal instead of flour. Last year I tried making passover profiteroles using my Passover baking mix and they were an abject failure. The potato flour when cooked was a nasty thing so I went back to the drawing board and decided to try again this time using superfine matzo meal by itself.




For the choux pastry, I used this Trine Hahnemann recipe swapping superfine matzo meal for the flour. I wanted to top the profiteroles with something other than chocolate so I made a crumble or craquelin topping.



Traditionally this topping is made using brown sugar but I couldn't track down any brown sugar in the passover section of the supermarket so I used plain sugar and it turned out just fine.



I lightly adapted the filling from Trine Hahnemann's recipe and I added some lemon curd I had in the fridge.



Here's the recipe for you which makes 12 profiteroles. Please note for all my recipes, I use a 250 ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon. All eggs are 60 grams and my oven is a conventional oven not fan forced, so you may need to reduce your oven temperature by 20°C.



Raspberry Craquelin Profiteroles – makes 12
Craquelin
50g Passover baking mix (equal quantities potato flour and superfine matzo meal)
50g caster sugar
40g unsalted butter, softened

To make the craquelin, place baking mix in a small food processor and blitz with the sugar and 40g butter and whiz to combine until a soft dough forms. Place dough between 2 sheets of baking paper and roll out to 2 mm thick. Place on a tray and refrigerate or at least 30 minutes to firm up. Cut out twelve 5cm circles and refrigerate until needed.

Choux Pastry
100g butter
200mls water
100g superfine matzo meal
½ teaspoon caster sugar
Pinch salt
3 eggs, lightly beaten
butter, for the tray

Cream Filling
300ml cream
3 tbs caster sugar
1 vanilla pod
150g raspberries
Optional – lemon curd

Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Line a buttered baking tray with baking paper. Mark twelve 5cm circles on the paper leaving space between.

Put the butter in a saucepan with 200ml of water and let it melt over a gentle heat before bringing to the boil. Meanwhile, sift the matzo meal, sugar and salt into a bowl. Take the saucepan off the heat, add the meal and stir with a wooden spoon until a firm, smooth paste is formed. Return to the heat and beat until it comes away from the edges of the pan and forms a ball, then remove from the heat and leave to cool for 10 minutes. Add the eggs to the dough a little at a time, beating well after each addition, until the mixture is smooth. You may not need all the egg.

Put the dough into a piping bag fitted with a 2cm plain nozzle and fill each circle. Brush the top of each profiterole lightly with any remaining egg then top each bun with a craquelin circle. Bake for 30 minutes; do not open the oven door for the first 10 minutes or the pastry may not rise. With a sharp knife pierce a hole in the side of the bun to let the steam out, then reduce oven to 160°C and bake for a further 10-15 minutes or until dry to the touch. The pastries are done when they are golden brown and firm. Transfer to a wire rack and with a sharp knife, slice the profiterole in half. Remove any uncooked mixture and return to the oven to dry out for a further 10 minutes. Leave to cool.

Cream Filling
Put 12 whole raspberries to one side. Whip the cream together with the sugar until soft peaks form. Slit the vanilla pod lengthways with a sharp knife and scrape out the seeds with the tip. Add to the cream with the raspberries, whipping again briefly to mix in the vanilla and roughly break up the berries. Pipe or spoon some of the raspberry cream on the bottom half of the choux bun. Place a whole berry on top of the cream before placing the other half on top, being careful not to press them together. Refrigerate until serving time.

I had some leftover lemon curd in the fridge so I spooned 2 teaspoons of the curd in the base of the profiterole before filling with the cream and decorating with a single berry. If you’d like to do the same, the recipe is below.

Lemon Curd
2 egg yolks 
1/3 cup caster sugar 
1 tablespoon potato flour (starch)
Grated rind and juice of 2 lemons 
¼ cup (60 ml) water

Method
In top of a double saucepan mix the egg yolks, sugar, potato flour, lemon rind and gradually stir in the lemon juice and water. Cook stirring over boiling water until the filling is smooth and thick. Cool before storing in an airtight container. Keep refrigerated until serving time.



Yes these are a little bit of a fiddle but I think they're worth the effort and I'll definitely make them again. 

See you all again tomorrow with Day 3 of Passover Week 2017.

Bye for now,

Jillian