Catherine Devaney, who writes regularly for The Courier’s food magazine The Menu, shares a recipe from a kitchen in the Fife countryside
Here’s the thing about choux pastry. Of all the different kinds of pastry it’s the easiest, the quickest and the most impressive. Sunday found us with the first of this season’s incredible Blacketyside raspberries so there was nothing for it, we made raspberry choux buns, drizzled decadently with white chocolate.
Filled with whipped vanilla cream, mixed through with lightly crushed raspberries, this is an afternoon tea treat made for sunny days; and the perfect way to celebrate these gorgeous juicy raspberries.
If you prefer a savoury version, try filling them with whipped cream cheese, dill and hot smoked salmon.
Choux begins with a pot, into which you put 250ml water, 100g diced unsalted butter, a pinch of sugar and a pinch of salt. Bring it to the boil, turn down to a medium heat and add 150g strong flour.
Mix well with a wooden spoon until the mix comes together and leaves the sides of the pan clean (this is the ‘panada’, or as my four-year-old likes to call it, the ‘panda’). Remove from the heat and let it cool. Transfer to a stand mixer and gradually add 4-5 beaten eggs, little by little.
The paste is ready when it slowly drops off the beater (you may not need all of the egg). Pipe small buns onto a baking sheet and bake at 200C for 15-20 minutes.
Songs to cook to
Tidy Up by Nick Cope. With so much time spent at home this seems something of an endless occupation just now!
Read more about Catherine’s adventures in the kitchen at Harper and Lime.
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