Větrníčky with vanilla cream

Small star-piped choux puffs filled with vanilla buttercream and dipped in a white sugar glaze. About 30 pieces.

Ingredients

• Choux pastry: 125 ml milk
• 125 ml water
• 100 g butter
• a pinch of salt
• 150 g plain flour
• 4–5 eggs at room temperature, beaten
• Vanilla buttercream: 500 ml milk
• 80 g of our vanilla pudding powder
• 2 egg yolks
• 80 g caster sugar
• 200 g softened butter
• 1–2 tablespoons rum (to taste)
• Sugar glaze: 250 g icing sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon rum
• 2–3 tablespoons hot water

Method

1. Start with the cream, as it must cool completely. Whisk the pudding powder into 100 ml of the cold milk with the yolks. Bring the rest of the milk to a boil with the sugar, pour in the pudding mixture while stirring, and cook over a low heat for 1–2 minutes until thick. Transfer to a bowl, press cling film onto the surface and cool to room temperature.
2. Bring the milk, water, butter and salt to a boil. Lower the heat, tip in all the flour at once and stir for 2–3 minutes until the dough forms a smooth ball and leaves a thin film on the bottom of the pan.
3. Move the dough to a bowl and let it cool for 5–10 minutes until just lukewarm. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Add the last egg a little at a time: the dough is ready when it falls from the spatula in a thick, glossy “V”. You may not need all of the egg.
4. Heat the oven to 220 °C (conventional, top and bottom heat). Put the dough in a piping bag with a large star nozzle and pipe 4–5 cm rosettes onto a lined tray, about 3 cm apart.
5. Bake for 10 minutes at 220 °C, then lower to 180 °C and bake for another 15–20 minutes until deep golden and light. Do not open the oven for the first 20 minutes, or the puffs will collapse.
6. While still warm, split the puffs horizontally with a serrated knife and leave them to cool completely on a rack.
7. Beat the softened butter for 3–4 minutes until pale and fluffy. Add the cooled pudding a spoonful at a time (it must be the same temperature) and beat until smooth. Finally mix in the rum.
8. Sift the icing sugar and stir it with the lemon juice, rum and hot water into a thick glaze that slowly runs off a spoon.
9. Pipe the cream generously onto the bottom halves with a star nozzle so it shows above the edge. Dip the tops in the glaze, let the excess drip off and place them on the cream. Chill for at least an hour to set before serving.

The lemon juice keeps the glaze white. If it is too thick, add hot water drop by drop; if too thin, add more icing sugar.

The butter and the pudding must be at the same temperature. Cold pudding in warm butter will make the cream split.

Lighter version: fold 150 ml whipped cream into the finished buttercream. Puffs filled this way keep in the fridge only until the next day.

Unfilled puffs keep for 2 days in a closed tin. Fill them no more than a few hours before serving so they stay crisp.