Religieuse
Ingredients
- Choux pastry: 125 ml water, 125 ml milk, 110 g butter, 150 g flour, 4 eggs, salt, sugar
- Pastry cream: 500 ml milk, 4 egg yolks, 100 g sugar, 40 g cornstarch, 30 g butter, coffee extract or melted chocolate to flavor
- Chocolate or coffee glaze/ganache, for topping
- Buttercream, for the piped collar
A religieuse ('nun') pairs two choux puffs of different sizes, filled with coffee or chocolate pastry cream, glazed with matching fondant or ganache, and stacked so the smaller puff sits on the larger one like a nun's head above her habit. Piped rosettes of buttercream around the join finish the resemblance to a pleated collar.
Method
Pipe the choux pastry into two sizes of rounds — larger bases and smaller heads — on a lined tray, and bake at 180-200°C (350-400°F) until golden and firm.
Make the pastry cream, flavoring it with coffee extract or melted chocolate, and chill.
Fill both the large and small choux shells with the pastry cream through a small hole in the base.
Dip the top of each filled puff into a matching chocolate or coffee glaze and let set.
Stack a small glazed puff on top of a large glazed puff.
Pipe a ring of buttercream around the join between the two puffs to finish.
