Saffron Creme Patissiere and Cardamom White Chocolate Profiteroles

We all know eclairs. And profiteroles. Choux pastry, to be exact. In the winters, I love experimenting in the kitchen- the weather allows for you to hang around there without turning into a ball of sweat- so I took this opportunity to make something fancy! I wanted to make profiteroles, but give them an Indian touch to match the rest of the menu for the day. (It was chole bhature and chaat. Thank you for asking) So here we have it- saffron creme patissiere profiteroles with cardamom white chocolate frosting that I stuck some chopped pistachios in.

They were DIVINE. I love the delicate taste of saffron, the crunch of the pistachios. The floofiness- yes, I am coining the word- of the pastry itself. It’s the perfect dessert for lazy winter brunches-at home, of course.

 

Ingredients:

 

For the pastry:

4 Eggs

125 mL water

125 mL milk

100 g butter

150g maida

1 tsp sugar

 

For the creme patissiere:

4 egg yolks

134g granulated sugar

45 mL milk

Large pinch of saffron

80 g unsalted butter

 

For the chocolate frosting:

1 tsp cardamom powder

125 g white chocolate

Chopped unsalted pistachios

 

Method

1. For the Pastry, mix in the water, milk, butter and sugar in a chai wala utensil and warm until the butter melts. Then add in the maida and stir around until everything turns into a ball that pulls away from the corners of your pan.
2. Take it off the hub and allow to cool a little bit before putting in the four eggs individually, using a handmixer after each egg to turn everything into a creamy homogenous dough.
3. Transfer into a piping bag and pipe out... blobs on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 deg C for 25 minutes until they’re coming away from the paper easily. Refer to the image!
4. Once they’re done remove from the sheet or the bottoms will get soggy and allow the cool on a rack.
5. For the creme pat, in a small mortar and pestle add your pinch of saffron along with a pinch of sugar and 45 ml of warm water. Crush all together to release the flavor of the saffron.
6. Now  in a bain marie add the egg yolks and sugar along with the saffron milk without straining And while whisking continuously allowed to cook until the mixture becomes thick and glossy. This should take about 10 minutes of continuous whisking or it’ll turn into clumps.
7. Take the thick mixture of the hob and add the butter pieces, whisking continuously until it turns into an even glossier creamier creme.
8. Put in a bowl with a cling film on top -touching the custard otherwise a film will form!- and put into the fridge to cool.
9. Once it is cool put into a piping bag with a steel tip nozzle in order to fill your choux pastry.
10. pick up each small pastry, poke a hole at the base with the nozzle of the bag to fill with saffron creme.
11. On the Bain Marie, gently melt your white chocolate and add a teaspoon of cardamom powder in it stirring gently and occasionally.
12. Once the chocolate is melted pick up each pastry and dip into the chocolate mixture.
13. Sprinkle some chopped pistachios on the top to complete the look.
14. Allow the chocolate to set before enjoying :)