MAKES: 18-22 SERVINGS
Prep time: 30 minutes, Cook time: 32 minutes
INGREDIENTS
CRAQUELIN TOPPING
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup brown sugar
CHOUX PASTRY
½ cup whole milk
½ cup water
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
¼ tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
COCONUT CREAM FILLING
1 13.5-oz cans coconut cream, chilled overnight
6 tbsp confectioners’ sugar
½ tsp lavender extract
½ tsp pistachio extract
1 Color Kitchen Green Food Color packet
1 Color Kitchen Pink Food Color packet
1 Color Kitchen Blue Food Color packet
DIRECTIONS
Make the craquelin topping. Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, mix the butter, flour, and brown sugar until they come together into a dough.
Form the dough into a ball, then sandwich it between two sheets of parchment paper. Roll out the dough to be about ⅛ inch thick, then place it in the freezer while you prepare the pastry.
Make the choux pastry. Place the water, milk, butter, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add the flour to the pot and stir vigorously for two minutes. The ingredients should come together into a ball of dough.
Transfer the dough to a stand mixer with a paddle attachment and beat for 30 seconds to a minute to cool. Add the eggs to the dough, one at a time, to create a thick batter. The batter has the correct consistency when you can lift up the paddle, and the batter drips off in a V-shape. If the batter is too thick and does not create a V-shape, add one additional egg.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Spoon the batter into a piping bag with a large round tip. Pipe 1 ½ inch rounds onto the baking sheets. Cut 1 ½ inch rounds from the craquelin topping. Press a craquelin round onto each piped cream puff.
Bake the cream puffs at 425 degrees for 10 minutes, then turn the oven temperature down to 325 degrees and bake for an additional 22 minutes, until golden brown. Let cool for at least 15 minutes.
While the cream puffs are cooling, prepare the coconut cream filling. Open the chilled cans of coconut cream and scoop out the cream from the top of the can. Discard the coconut water that has settled to the bottom of the cans. Place the cream in the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment and add the confectioner’s sugar. Whisk on high speed for 1 minute, until smooth and fluffy.
Divide the coconut cream between 2 bowls. In one bowl, fold the lavender extract, blue color packet, and pink color packet into the cream. In the other bowl, fold in the pistachio extract and green color packet.
Combine the two coconut creams in a piping bag with a star tip. Cut each cream puff in half. Pipe the coconut cream into the bottom half of each cream puff, then sandwich the two halves together.