Day 12

A little late. Actually, very very late. Sorry sorry!! I started an internship a few weeks ago, so my formerly free-as-a-bird days are no longer so free, leaving Monday as my only “me” day, which, not surprisingly, hasn’t been spent blogging.  Also, as Day 12 was a big day—we began our section on pâte a choux, or choux paste (the stuff of eclairs and cream puffs) and I learned the secret of another one of my “immaculate foods”—I knew I had much to share and procrastinated in writing it up…once again, sorry!

So without further ado…

Day 12:

• Choux a la Crème
  
• Cygnes (“Swans”)
• Chouquettes (pearl sugar)
  
• Preparacion du Praliné (hazelnuts, sugar)
  

So Day 12’s “immaculate food?”  Choux a la Crème, or cream puffs. But unlike Day 10’s palmiers, cream puffs are a recent addition to my favorite foods list.

Since I was a tot, I’ve been a big (i mean big) fan of creamy, custardy desserts. My mother knew that if she whipped together some milk (or better yet, cream), eggs and sugar in some fashion or another, I’d be a happy camper.  She also knew that if she bought me a half-gallon of Blue Bell Cookies ‘n Cream ice cream, she wouldn’t have to dirty up the kitchen :-). In spite of my love for all desserts creamy, I never took a liking to cream puffs.  Believe me, I gave the puffs their chance—many times over. But after being repeatedly disappointed in a filling that was too heavy and clumpy or a shell that was too soft and thick (thereby overpowering the cream, which I believe to be the “star” of the show), I gave up on the treat. But about 491 days ago (a rough estimate), I had the cream puff that changed all of that.

Last year, I worked as an English teacher through the Princeton-in-Asia program and every Tuesday and Thursday, I passed a tiny pâtisserie en route to one of the kindergartens I taught at.  For the first month or so, I just kind of peered into Lapin and admired its cute logo—a bunny wielding a whisk—but for some reason or another, was scared to go in.  My curiosity finally overcame me and one Friday afternoon, I entered the shop of the whisk-wielding bunny.

And there they were: the biggest cream puffs I’d ever seen.  The sheer size of the puffs—literally that of a baseball—and the fact that they occupied their own section in the display case peeked my curiosity.  I’d never had a cream puff I’d really enjoyed, but for 220 Yen (about $2.50), what was their to lose?

So I bought the massive cream puff (I bet it weighs in around 250 grams) and after I took that first bite, I felt about ten steps closer to the gates of Heaven. Seriously. It was an epiphany moment.  “Cream puffs like this exist?” Granted everybody’s idea of what makes a cream puff delicious varies considerably, but Lapin’s cream puff was the one I’d been searching for for some twenty-plus years.  So from that day forward, every Friday on my way home from work (Lapin is closed on Tuesdays, which, in retrospect, was probably a good thing), I’d stop in to pick up one (or more) of the best and biggest desserts ¥220 can buy.  After the first month, the person behind the counter was already taking my cream puff out of the case as soon as I walked in the door.  If only they had a buy 10 get 1 free loyalty card…I would’ve gotten a lot of free cream puffs.

So what makes Lapin’s cream puff so outstandingly delicious?  In my opinion, everything. The choux shell, just the right thickness and lightly crisp, serves as the perfect capsule for the filling, which is so rich and creamy that its light, pillowy texture shocks you. Up until that first day at Lapin, most of the cream fillings I’d had always felt too thick and heavy on my tongue.  Lapin’s cream was soft and light and I was desperate to know the secret.

And I’ve found it (I think). It’s crème légère, or pastry cream “lightened” with Chantilly cream.  Makes perfect sense, right?  In fact, most of the big “secrets” I’ve learned so far have been quite logical.  By adding Chantilly, the pastry cream is not only given a much lighter, fluffier texture, but the amount of cream increases exponentially…hence, deliciousness.

In pratique we made cream puffs (banzai!) and swans, the latter calls for the exact same ingredients as the former, except instead of folding Chantilly into the pastry cream to make crème légère, we first piped a layer of pastry cream and then a decorative layer of Chantilly.  When I got home, I mixed the two layers together to make my now beloved crème légère. The swans, which are really just for show, gave us the opportunity to practice our piping techniques…and Chef D knows I need as much practice as I can get.

Yikes, I’ve practically written a tome…hopefully you were able to follow the dislike-turned-love story behind my anticipation for Day 12.  I was curious to see how the cream puffs of Le Cordon Bleu would measure up to my favorite little pâtisserie in the boonies of Chiba Prefecture. Considering I ate nearly half of the loot I made within the first 24 hours…I’d say the LCB recipe was pretty successful (and I’ve got the belly to prove it :-))

everyone taking pictures of Chef D's handiwork

Chouquettes (pâte a choux baked in pearl sugar)

the best part: eating the day's lesson

cream puffs...get in my belly!

Cygnes