Meringue Cookie Crust Cream Puff Muffins
These are crispy, luscious cream puffs – in muffin form! They’re topped with toasted Italian meringue and filled to the brim with diplomat cream inside a cookie crust shell…
This recipe was inspired by a picture of adorable bear-shaped cream puff muffins; I just used my usual choux recipe, which was so simple to adapt to muffin form! This fun twist on cream puffs is surprisingly great for choux pastry beginners as well – you don’t have to worry too much about these deflating; the cupcake tin helps give them structure and stability. You can also stuff this with even more cream than your standard cream puff!
Although some of my customers prefer my choux in its normal form because of more crust to cream ratio, many still like its cute form and the addition of the meringue. I used Italian meringue here because it’s the most stable out of all meringues and is perfect for piping. These are also torched because I’m a bit of a food pyro and I’m addicted to the roasty toasty~
You can fill this with anything, but if you need inspiration, here’s a link to seven of my pastry cream recipes! click for link to recipes
Ingredients
Makes 8-10 muffins
For the pate a choux:
90mL (1/4 cup and 2 Tbsp) water
90mL (1/4 cup and 2 Tbsp) milk
6 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
113g (3/4 cup) flour
3 large eggs
For the craquelin:
4 Tbsp (50g) unsalted butter, softened
2 Tbsp (25g) sugar
2 Tbsp (25g) brown sugar
7 Tbsp (50g) flour
pinch of salt
For the Italian meringue:
2 large egg whites
1 tsp lemon juice or 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
Any pastry cream or diplomat cream: click for link to recipes
Instructions
For the craquelin:
Mix softened butter, sugars, flour, and salt together in a large bowl using a spatula.
Place dough between two sheets of waxed paper or parchment.
Press or roll dough to a 1/4 inch thickness. Freeze crust until hard and stiff, several hours or overnight.
For the Italian meringue:
Beat the egg whites and cream of tartar to a soft peak in your stand mixer bowl (you can also do this in a bowl if using hand mixer).
Heat the sugar and water until boiling. When it reaches 240F, take it off the heat and turn on your stand mixer with a whisk attachment. Slowly stream in the sugar syrup while whisking on high.
Beat until you have stiff peaks that stand up straight. Store in the fridge while you work on the choux.
For the choux pastry:
Preheat the oven to 425F. Line a regular size cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
Combine water, milk, butter, and salt in a saucepan; bring to a simmer over medium heat.
Add flour and stir with a wooden spoon vigorously until mixture comes together into a smooth dough and pulls away cleanly from the sides and bottom of the pan. It’s ready when there is a thin film on the bottom of the pan and it smells like mashed potatoes.
Transfer to a bowl or stand mixer bowl. Spread the dough out with a spatula to speed up cooling or turn on the stand mixer on low and let the steam escape.
Cool until lukewarm, about 10 minutes.
Mix in eggs, ONE AT A TIME, with a spatula (or paddle attachment of stand mixer). Add the next egg when the last one is FULLY incorporated.
Scoop dough into pastry bag. Pipe in an even pile into each cupcake liner, about a little under 1/2 of the liner.
Take out the frozen craquelin. Use a 2-1/4 inch cookie cutter to cut out circles in the craquelin, working quickly so that it’s easy to handle.
Lightly push each crust circle onto each choux pile.
Place the cupcake pan into the oven. Immediately switch the oven temp from 425F to 350F. Bake for 50 minutes. Do not open the oven door or they will deflate.
When done, turn off the oven, hold the oven door open with a wooden spoon and let it dry out more for 10 minutes.
Take out of the oven and cool.
Assembly:
Cut out a little hole in each choux muffin with a small knife.
Fill with your choice of pastry or diplomat cream.
Top it off by piping meringue in swirls onto the filled choux muffins.
Toast the meringue with a kitchen torch.
Serve or store in fridge for a couple days.
You can also freeze the shells for a while, and store pastry cream in the fridge for a week.