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Orange cream puffs with chocolate shell.

Orange Cream Puffs

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These orange cream puffs are filled with a delicious orange pastry cream and topped with a delightful chocolate shell. Drizzle with some milk chocolate for an even more indulgent dessert!

Orange cream puffs

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

  • Chocolate-orange deliciousness: You can’t go wrong with that combination! These orange cream puffs taste absolutely amazing if you love that pairing.
  • Customizable: You can play around with the components if you’d like. Add a craquelin to the choux for even more crunch and sweetness. Pair the chocolate shell with different types of fillings etc.
  • Make-ahead: There might be several components in this recipe but you can easily make the choux pastry and pastry cream in advance. You can then bake the choux and fill them on the day before dipping them in melted chocolate.

How to Make Orange Cream Puffs

There are three components to this recipe:

  1. The choux pastry
  2. The orange pastry cream
  3. The chocolate shell

Choux pastry

I’ve previously shared a detailed tutorial on how to make choux pastry. Be sure to check it out first if you’ve never made choux pastry so you don’t miss out on all the tips and tricks.

The choux pastry can be prepared in advance and frozen for up to one month. My favorite way of doing this is by using dome-shaped silicone molds. Simply pipe the pastry in the cavities and freeze until firm enough to unmold. You can store them in a ziplock bag in the freezer and take them out whenever you need them. Simply thaw at room temperature while preheating the oven (15-30 minutes).

I like to dust the surface of the piped choux pastry with powdered sugar just before baking to minimize cracks. It will be easier to coat the choux with chocolate evenly if the surface is smoother. You could add a craquelin topping instead if you prefer. But since the chocolate shell will provide enough crunch, I chose to skip it this time.

Orange pastry cream

The pastry cream can be prepared the day before. In case you missed it, I recently posted step-by-step instructions on how to make orange pastry cream.

When you are ready to use it, just whisk it to loosen it. Alternatively, transfer it to a mixing bowl and mix it just until smooth. Don’t mix it for too long or it won’t be as firm.

Since we’ll be dipping the choux in melted chocolate, it’s best not to slice the choux buns to fill them with pastry cream. Instead, poke a small hole at the bottom of the choux and fill using a piping bag (fitted with a small round tip, if desired). Then chill while you melt the chocolate.

Chocolate shell

I like to use dark chocolate to contrast with the sweet filling. It’s best to use couverture chocolate which has a higher amount of cocoa butter than regular chocolate, to get a nice chocolate shell.

I was going back and forth wondering whether to temper the chocolate or not. The quantity of chocolate needed in this recipe is quite small making it trickier to maintain the desired temperature. The truth is, even without tempering (or if you mess up the tempering) you’ll still get good results, especially if you plan on serving the choux buns shortly after making them. But for even better results, we should ideally temper the chocolate, so it stays shiny, sets quickly and has a nice snap.

One of the simplest method is to melt finely chopped chocolate very gently without exceeding 32°C/90°F (for dark chocolate), so the chocolate doesn’t lose its shine. I haven’t had much luck with that method as I found it very hard to stay below that temperature.

So I tried the next best thing: the seeding method. If you’d like to try it out, chop the chocolate as finely as possible. Set aside about 1/4 of the chocolate, this will be our “seed”. Place the chocolate in a small microwavable bowl and heat in short increments (about 10 second), stirring in-between, until melted and the temperature reaches 46-49°C (115-120°F). I heated the chocolate in 6 increments.

Once the chocolate is fully melted, add the remaining chocolate (1/4) whilst stirring. The temperature should drop down to around 31°C-33°C (88°F-91°F), the ideal temperature to dip the choux buns in. If the seed chocolate won’t melt after stirring, the chocolate pieces were probably too large or the melted chocolate cooled down too quickly. This is likely to happen when working with small quantities as we will be doing today. You can gently reheat it in the microwave but try not to exceed 33°C (91°F) or you’ll have to temper the chocolate again.

Once you dip the choux in, let the chocolate set briefly at room temperature before chilling. Bring to room temperature and enjoy!

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Orange Cream Puffs

Orange Cream Puffs

Recipe by Tanya
0.0 from 0 votes

These orange cream puffs are filled with a delicious orange pastry cream and topped with a delightful chocolate shell.

Course: DessertCuisine: FrenchDifficulty: Medium
Yield

16

choux
Prep time

1

hour 
Cook time

45

minutes
Rest time

2

hours 

Ingredients

  • For the orange pastry cream
  • 180 g strained orange juice (freshly squeezed) (6.3 oz., 3/4 cup, from 2-3 medium oranges)

  • 130 g white granulated sugar or to taste, see notes (4.6 oz., 2/3 cup)

  • 8 g orange zest (0.3 oz., from 3 oranges)

  • 5 large egg yolks (about 85 g/3 oz.) at room temperature

  • 40 g cornstarch (1.4 oz., about 5 Tablespoons)

  • 300 g whole milk (10.6 oz., 1 and 1/4 cup), at room temperature

  • 70 g unsalted butter, diced and cold (2.5 oz., 5 Tablespoons)

  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional

  • For the choux pastry
  • 70 g all-purpose flour (2.5 oz., about 1/2 cup)

  • 60 g water (2.1 oz., 1/4 cup)

  • 60 g milk (2.1 oz., 1/4 cup)

  • 55 g unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and at room temperature (1.9 oz., 1/2 stick)

  • 1 teaspoon white granulated sugar (4 g/0.14 oz.)

  • 1/3 teaspoon salt (2 g/0.07 oz.)

  • 100 g to 125 g eggs slightly beaten with a fork, at room temperature (3.5 oz-4.4 oz., from 2 to 3 eggs)

  • powdered (icing) sugar for dusting, optional

  • For the chocolate shell
  • 170 g finely chopped bittersweet chocolate (6 oz., 65% cocoa, ideally couverture), divided

Directions

  • Orange pastry cream
  • Place a fine mesh sieve over a wide heatproof container and set aside.
  • Pour the orange juice in a medium-sized saucepan. Place over medium heat and bring to a simmer.
  • Meanwhile, rub together the sugar and orange zest in a large bowl using the back of a large spoon (or your fingers) until the sugar looks wet (2-3 minutes). This step will deepen the orange flavor.
  • Add the egg yolks and whisk immediately to combine (so you don’t end up with clumps). Whisk in the cornstarch then add the milk and whisk once more to combine.
  • Gradually pour the hot orange juice into the egg mixture in a thin stream, whisking constantly (to avoid scrambling the eggs).
  • Pour the mixture back into the saucepan. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly. When the pastry cream thickens (about 4 minutes), lower the heat if needed and check for bubbles forming (stop whisking occasionally to check). Once you see the bubbles, let it boil for about one minute and remove from the heat.
  • Add the cold butter and whisk until completely smooth. Then whisk in the vanilla extract (if using) and pour into the container through the sieve to get rid of zest and any lumps. Use a large spoon to press down the pastry cream and scrape the bottom of the sieve (with another spoon if desired).
  • Place a piece of parchment paper or cling film straight onto the surface of the cream to prevent a skin from forming. Cool down slightly at room temperature (about 15 minutes) then chill for at least 2 hours or until set. You can prepare the choux pastry in the meantime.
  • Choux pastry
  • Preheat the oven to 190°C (374°F) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Sift the flour into a bowl and set aside.
  • Place the water, milk, butter, sugar and salt in a small saucepan. Heat over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. Once the butter has fully melted, increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. At the first sign of bubbles, remove from the heat and add the sifted flour in one go. Stir with a wooden spoon until fully combined before returning to medium heat. Tip: Press the dough against the sides of the saucepan if needed to get rid of flour lumps.
  • Continue to cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the dough no longer sticks to the saucepan (about 50 seconds). If you shake the saucepan, the dough should easily collect into one smooth mass, You’ll also notice a film forming on the bottom of the saucepan (unless you are using a non-stick saucepan).
  • Transfer to a large bowl (or to the bowl of a stand-mixer fitted with the paddle attachment). Mix with a wooden spoon (or on the lowest setting) for a few minutes to cool down slightly (to about 60°C/140°F) before adding the eggs (so they don’t get cooked). Alternatively, simply spread the dough against the edges of the bowl to create a thin layer and set aside for a few minutes. Tip: If you don’t have a thermometer, you’ll know it’s cool enough when your bowl doesn’t feel extremely hot and there is no more steam coming out.
  • Add about a third of the egg and mix until fully incorporated. The dough will initially look curdled but will come together with mixing.
  • Add a little more egg and stir once more until fully combined. Repeat the process just until the dough looks smooth, glossy and falls from the spoon (or paddle) in a thick ribbon, leaving a V shape on the spoon. You might not need to add all of the egg to get to that stage. If you add too much egg, the dough will be too runny to pipe and will yield flat choux. If the dough looks dull or doesn’t fall from the spoon, keep adding more egg. Tip: If using a stand mixer, it’s best to switch to a wooden spoon towards the end so you can keep a close eye on the consistency of the choux pastry.
  • Transfer the choux pastry to a piping bag fitted with a large round tip. Get rid of air bubbles by gently pressing down the pastry. Pipe or spoon 3.8 cm (1 and 1/2 inch or desired size) choux mounds in staggered rows, spacing them about 5 cm (2 inches) apart. Press down any peaks with a damp finger then dust with powdered sugar if desired (to minimize cracks).
  • Bake in the middle of the oven for about 20 minutes or until puffed up (don’t open the oven door so they don’t deflate). Reduce the temperature to 170°C (338°F) and keep baking for about 20-25 more minutes until completely golden. There should be no white traces remaining in the pastry. Undercooked pastries will quickly get soggy. If desired, cut one pastry in half to check the inside. It should be dry or very slightly moist.
  • Transfer to a wire rack and cool down completely at room temperature before filling with pastry cream.
  • Filling and coating the choux
  • Filling the choux buns: Whisk the cold pastry cream to loosen it (or transfer it to a mixing bowl and mix briefly until smooth). Note that if you mix it for too long it won’t be as firm.
  • Transfer the pastry cream to a piping bag fitted with a small round piping tip. Using a dented piping tip (or a knife), make a small hole on the bottom of the choux and fill with pastry cream. Wipe off the excess cream from the choux with a knife (or a clean finger). Chill while melting the chocolate.
  • Melting the chocolate: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Place about 3/4 of the chocolate in a small microwavable bowl and heat in short increments (about 10 second), stirring in-between, until melted and the temperature reaches 46-49°C (115-120°F). Be careful not to overheat the chocolate.
  • Once the chocolate has fully melted, add the remaining chocolate (1/4) whilst stirring. The temperature should drop down to around 31°C-33°C (88°F-91°F). Tip: If the chocolate doesn’t melt or if it becomes too thick for dipping, you can gently reheat it in the microwave without exceeding 33°C (91°F).
  • Quickly dip the top of the choux buns in melted chocolate. Keep them upside down for a few seconds, letting the excess drip back into the bowl. Place on prepared baking sheet (chocolate side up).
  • Let the chocolate set briefly at room temperature (about 5 minutes) before chilling. To serve: Take the choux buns out of the fridge 5-10 minutes before serving for the chocolate to warm up a little. Enjoy!

Notes

  • Make-ahead tips: The orange pastry cream will keep in the fridge, well covered, for up to 2 days. You can prepare the choux well in advance and freeze them. To freeze the choux, pipe shapes on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (or in dome-shaped silicone molds). Place the baking sheet in the freezer for about an hour or until the piped pastry is frozen. Transfer the choux pastry to a zip-lock bag and freeze for up to a month. Simply thaw at room temperature for about 30 minutes before baking. Baked choux pastry can be frozen as well. Once it has baked and cooled down, place the choux pastry in a zip-lock bag and freeze for up to a month.
  • Sugar (for the pastry cream): It’s best to taste the oranges before using them. If they are very sweet, you might want to decrease a little the amount of sugar used.
  • Egg yolks in the pastry cream: The yolks add richness and flavor to the pastry cream. If you really don’t want to separate 5 eggs however, you can replace the 5 egg yolks with one large egg and two yolks. You can use the leftover egg whites to make meringues, financiers etc.
  • Baking the choux: If you don’t manage to pipe all the choux on one baking sheet, chill any remaining pastry in the piping bag. Pipe mounds just before baking so the pastry doesn’t dry out. I wouldn’t recommend placing two baking sheets in the oven at the same time. If reusing the same baking sheet, wait for it to cool down completely before piping the pastry.
  • Using templates for piping: You can print out two copies of the choux pastry template (pick desired size). Slide them under the parchment paper for easy piping then simply remove them before baking.
  • First time making choux pastry? It’s best to start with the detailed choux pastry tutorial.
  • Melting the chocolate: You can use a double-boiler instead of the microwave for melting the chocolate. Just be careful not to get any water into the chocolate. You’ll have to move quickly when dipping the choux buns in as the quantity of chocolate is quite small making it a bit tricky to maintain the ideal temperature. You could work with a larger batch of chocolate if you prefer and save any leftover for another use.
  • You can drizzle the chocolate coated choux buns with some melted milk chocolate for an even more indulgent dessert!
  • Cup measurements: Please note that these measurements are approximate. For best results, I’d recommend weighing the ingredients, especially the cornstarch.
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