Passover coffee cream puffs
The dough for these Passover cream puffs is fast and easy to make. It is similar to pâte à choux, the dough used to make cream puffs and éclairs. The only difference is that this is made with matzo meal instead of flour.
Pastry cream is usually made with flour or cornstarch, but since many avoid both during Passover, we thicken our pastry cream with potato starch. Sometimes I drizzle the filled puffs with chocolate sauce to make profiteroles. Cream puffs filled with coffee walnut mousseline cream, then topped with honey and walnuts, have become Passover favorites of ours.
To make the puffs pareve, use nondairy milk and margarine instead of milk and butter.
From the story: Tired of traditional Passover food? Try making profiteroles
Make the filling: In a heavy saucepan, combine the milk and vanilla bean and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Remove from heat, cover and set aside to steep for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the vanilla bean, scraping out any seeds and adding to the milk (discard the bean or save it for another use).
In a heatproof medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar until blended. Sift in the potato starch and coffee, whisking until thoroughly combined.
In a heavy saucepan, bring the milk back to a boil. Remove from heat and gradually add the milk to the egg mixture, ladling and whisking it in to temper the eggs. Return the milk and egg mixture back to the saucepan and heat over medium-low heat, whisking constantly. Cook until the mixture begins to thicken, 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat and strain the mixture into a bowl set over a larger bowl of ice water, discarding any solids. Continue whisking until the custard is completely cooled and smooth. Transfer the custard to a covered container and refrigerate until completely chilled.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter until soft and smooth, about 3 minutes. Slowly add the custard, beating in each addition until fully incorporated and smooth. This makes about 5 cups filling. Cover and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 to 2 hours.
Using a serrated knife, carefully cut off the top half of each puff and reserve this part as a “hat.”
Fill the puffs: Using a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip, pipe the filling generously onto the bottom of each puff, allowing the cream to show slightly at the sides. Top each puff with its “hat.”
Sift powdered sugar over the cream puffs and serve.
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