Moorkop (Dutch Chocolate Cream Puff)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy saucepan
• •Wooden spoon or sturdy spatula
• •Piping bag with large plain nozzle, optional
• •Baking tray
• •Heatproof bowl for melting chocolate

Instructions

1. 1

   Heat the oven

   Heat the oven to 200C. Line a baking tray with parchment and draw eight circles about 7cm wide on the underside as guides. Choux rises by force of trapped moisture, so give each puff room to swell without leaning into its neighbour.

2. 2

   Cook the paste

   Put the water, milk, butter, sugar, and salt in a saucepan and bring to a full boil. Tip in the flour all at once and beat with a wooden spoon until the dough gathers into a ball and leaves a thin film on the bottom of the pan, about two minutes. That film matters. It tells you the flour has cooked enough to drink in the eggs without sulking.

3. 3

   Beat in eggs

   Scrape the paste into a bowl and let it cool for five minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding the next only when the dough looks smooth again. Stop when the dough is glossy and falls from the spoon in a thick V-shaped ribbon; if your eggs are very large, hold back the last spoonful rather than making the paste loose.

4. 4

   Pipe the puffs

   Spoon or pipe the dough into eight mounds, using the circles as guides. Smooth any sharp peaks with a wet fingertip so they don't burn before the puff is baked through. Slide the tray into the oven and leave the door closed. Choux is a dramatic creature and collapses when interrupted.

5. 5

   Bake and dry

   Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the puffs are deep golden and feel light when lifted. Turn off the oven, prick each puff once with a skewer to let moisture escape, and return them to the turned-off oven with the door ajar for 10 minutes. A dry shell stays crisp under cream; a damp one becomes pudding with ambitions.

6. 6

   Whip the cream

   Whip the cold cream with the icing sugar and vanilla until it holds firm, soft-edged peaks. Don't beat it to butter. You want cream that can stand proudly inside the pastry but still tastes like cream, not a dairy argument.

7. 7

   Make chocolate cap

   Melt the chopped chocolate with the butter and syrup in a heatproof bowl set over barely simmering water, stirring until smooth and glossy. Let it cool for a few minutes so it thickens slightly. It should coat the cap, not run down the sides like a nervous confession.

8. 8

   Fill and finish

   Slice each cooled puff horizontally. Dip the top halves into the chocolate and set them on parchment until just set. Heap or pipe the whipped cream onto the bottom halves, then place the chocolate caps back on top. Serve the same day, while the pastry still has its crisp edges and the cream sits cold and generous.

Chef Tips

• •If the choux paste looks greasy before the eggs go in, it was not cooked long enough in the pan. Put it back over medium heat and beat for another minute until it comes together cleanly.
• •Fill moorkoppen as close to serving as you can. The shells can be baked ahead, but whipped cream is persuasive and will soften crisp pastry if given the afternoon.
• •For a bakery-style finish, keep the chocolate only on the top cap. Once the whole pastry is covered, you are walking toward the Bossche bol, and Brabant will have opinions.

Advance Preparation

• •The choux shells can be baked one day ahead, cooled fully, and stored uncovered or loosely covered at room temperature so they stay dry.
• •Refresh day-old shells for 5 minutes in a 170C oven, then cool before filling.
• •Whip the cream and assemble no more than 2 hours before serving; keep the filled pastries refrigerated.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 155g)