Les Trois Petits Chochons

My interpretation of my mum and aunts nostalgic Groppi dessert!

But instead of 3 scoops of ice cream, it’s 3 crisp choux buns, with 3 different fillings 🙂

Caramel Delight with salted caramel creme patisserie & a caramel glaze,
Chocolate Dream with chocolate mousseline & chocolate ganache
And finally, Strawberries and Cream with strawberry jam fruits, whipped chantilly cream & a dusting of icing sugar…

The taste is amazing! And filing the buns just a little while before serving meant they were beautifully crisp!

The dish is composed of 3 sections; making & baking the buns, making the fillings/glazes and assembly. Both the buns & the fillings can be made on separate days if you like and just filled & assembled before you serve. The chocolate ganache can also be made before hand and reheated gently back to pouring state over a water bath or in short bursts in a microwave (about 10 to 15 sec then stir with a spatula).

The quantity of creme patisserie below will make more than what you need to fill the buns. You can halve it if you like. In that case, only add 50 gm of melted chocolate & 50 gm of whipped cream for the chocolate mousseline. Add half the caramel sauce quantity for the caramel creme patisserie.

Enjoy!

• Servings: 8
• Difficulty: Advanced
• Print

Components:

1 quantity baked choux buns

For the creme patisserie: makes about 700ml.

Ingredients
500 ml milk
150 gm egg yolks (10 yolks)
40 gm cornflour
7.5 ml (1/2 tbsp) vanilla
130 gm icing sugar

Percentages
100%
30%
8%
1.5%
26%

 

 

 

 

For the cream chantilly:

250 ml whipping cream
3 tbsp icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 tsp cream of tartar (optional)

Caramel sauce:

100 gm sugar
50 ml boiling water
1 tsp crushed salt flakes (If you want a salted caramel)

Caramel glaze:

50 gm sugar

Chocolate ganache:

50 gm dark chocolate
50 ml whipping cream
1 tbsp corn syrup (optional)

And:

100 gm dark chocolate chopped

8 tsp strawberry jam (use a jam with whole fruit pieces)

some icing sugar to dust

Method

Make the cream chantilly:

• Whip cream chantilly with icing sugar & vanilla until almost soft peak stage. Sprinkle the cream of tartar if using.
• Whisk until stiff peaks form but its still glossy. Don’t over beat. Cover and keep in the fridge till needed.

Make the creme patisserie:

• Beat the egg yolks with the vanilla, cornflour and half the sugar till sugar is completely dissolved.

• In a small saucepan on low heat, heat the milk & other half of the sugar until just before simmering , once little bubbles appear at the side of the pot take it off the heat and pour it over the egg yolk mixture and with another hand whisk quickly so the egg yolks don’t cook.
• Turn the whole lot back into the saucepan and place back on the low heat.

• Keep stirring till it thickens. Which is right about the time it starts to approach simmering. It will thicken quickly. Keep stirring so no lumps form.

• Keep stirring while you leave it to boil for 2 or 3 minutes to cook out the raw starch taste. Use a wooden spoon to beat till smooth.
• When its cooked, pour it into a bowl and immediately cover its surface.
  Use a plastic sheet to directly cover the surface of the creme so it doesn’t form a skin.
• Set aside till the caramel and chocolate are ready. Don’t place it a cold area as we need it slightly warm.

Now make the caramel sauce:

100 gm sugar

50 ml boiling water

• On a medium low heat gently melt the sugar in a saucepan.
• When most of the sugar is melted decrease the heat and then gripping the saucepan from its handle gently swirl the sugar around to melt the rest.

• Place back on the heat and once you start to see small bubbles add the 50 ml boiling water careful that it may sputter.

• Now with a spoon stir till the sauce is completely smooth.
• Let it bubble and boil away for a few min on low heat till syrupy.

• Take it off the heat when ready. If it’s caramelizing too quickly take it off the heat and rest the base of the pan on a cold surface or cold water in the sink to stop further cooking.
• If you are making it as a Salted Caramel, add in the tsp of crushed salt flakes now and stir.
• Let it cool for a little while (You need it pourable though).

Caramel Creme Patisserie

In a separate bowl, weigh out 300 gm of the made creme patisserie. Pour the warm caramel into the still warm creme patisserie (If its cooled too much and stiff, place it over a water bath to warm up, stirring gently). Fold in (don’t use a whisk like I did!). Taste…taste again cause its soooo yummy! Now cover with plastic and set aside to cool completely!

Chocolate Mousseline

100 gm dark chocolate, chopped

100 gm of the whipped cream chantilly

• Add the chopped dark chocolate to a small bowl. Heat in 20 sec intervals on high power in a microwave. After each interval take it out and stir with a spatula or spoon. If not melted give it another 20 seconds. If you need a 3rd interval make it 10 seconds. We want it melted, not burned 🙂 Heat in small intervals till completely melted & smooth. Alternatively, place it over a water bath with only a little water in the pan and leave to melt stirring occasionally.
• Weigh another 300gm of the made & still warm creme patisserie into a bowl. Pour in the melted chocolate and fold in. Make sure its completely mixed in with the creme.

• Now fold in the whipped cream chantilly till completely mixed in.

• Cover with plastic and set aside till completely cool.

Assembly:

Strawberries & Cream:

• Using a serrated knife, halve 8 of the buns, keeping each base beside its “cap”.
• Fill the base with a tsp of chilled cream chantilly. Top with a tsp of strawberry jam (use the fruit pieces not the jelly)
• Top with the cap.
• Dust lightly with icing sugar.

Caramel Delight:

• Take the next 8 buns and pierce the bases with a long nozzle.

  

  The nozzle on the left is what I used to pierce & fill the buns with. The one on the right I used to pipe the chocolate mousseline (below) which was too thick to pipe using the long nozzle.

• Take the 50 gm of sugar & melt over low heat (same as when you made the caramel for the creme patisserie). When it’s a dark amber and small bubbles appear, take it off the heat, let the bubbles subside and then very very carefully, holding each bun from the base, dip the sides & tops of the 8 buns in the caramel to make a thin “glass” coating. DO NOT LET IT TOUCH YOU! Sugar burns are painful! You can tilt the pan with one hand to make a deeper pool of caramel to dip the buns into. Don’t double dip the buns in the caramel or it will be too thick and difficult to eat. If the caramel gets too thick/cool, warm it over a low heat till its runny again.
• Carefully set each bun base down on a wire rack to harden.
• Fill a piping bag with the same long nozzle used before with the caramel creme patisserie.
• After the caramel glaze has set & hardened, hold each bun from the base (avoid touching the hard caramel glaze so you don’t smudge it). Insert the nozzle in the base of the bun and fill with the caramel creme patisserie. Set aside.

Chocolate dream

• Take another 8 buns and pierce the base same as for the caramel using the long nozzle.
• Fill the piping bag with the chocolate mousseline and fill the buns. Set aside.
• Now chop 50 gm of dark chocoloate and place in a bowl.
• Heat 50 ml of cream until almost simmering.
• Pour over the chocolate and leave for a few min till the chocolate melts. Stir gently with a spatula.
• Add 1 tbsp of corn syrup and gently mix in (This is optional but it makes the ganache shiny). Let it cool a little.
• Now take each bun and dip the top and sides in the chocolate ganache (It should be cool but still in a pourable state) and set on a wire rack to set.

Serving:

Either arrange all in a large serving plate or 1 of each per individual serving plate.

Bon appetite!

Notes:

• If the creme patisserie is on a high heat or you don’t stir well when the creme patisserie is coming up to the boil it can go lumpy. If that happens, take it off the heat and whisk hard till it becomes smooth or pass through a fine sieve then place it back on a low heat to continue cooking out the raw starch flavor.
• The creme patisserie needs to be warm if you are adding ingredients such as melted chocolate or caramel which would set if the creme patisserie is cold. Other ingredients such as fruits or jams or whipped cream should be added to cooled but not chilled creme as it will be difficult to fold the ingredients into it.
• The additions/flavorings (Caramel, chocolate, etc..) added to the creme are 100gm for every 300gm of creme patisserie. These additions are thick sauces that solidify when cool and don’t make it runny. If you want a coffee flavoured creme then add the coffee granules to melt with the milk in the first stage of making the creme patisserie.
• Beat chilled creme patisserie with a spatula (don’t whisk) if any lumps have formed when it cooled.
• Creme patisserie can stay stored in the fridge for up to 3 days but do not freeze! The starch will break down and it will lose its texture.
• Resources for the different components are from Professional Baking, Micheal Roux, & San Francisco Baking Institute.