Durian Puff!

It's durian season, and what more lovely way to eat it (apart from eating it fresh), is to feast on it in a Durian Puff?

The Puff or Choux Pastry is so simple to make - it took less than 15 minutes to gather the ingredients and ready, and then it's simply just a matter of piping and popping it into the oven to puff up, and then to cool it down, ready to be filled with a creamy durian filling.

In fact, you don't have to use a durian filling - any sweet or savoury filling would taste good in the puff pastry!  I've done tuna-mayo filling, custard filling, lemon custard filling and whipped cream filling... and they were all yums! ;)

Pastry
Ingredients:

1 cup hot water
1/2 cup butter
1 cup flour
4 eggs

Method:

1. Set your oven to 220degC.
2. Boil the water and butter in a saucepan.  When the mixture is boiling, turn off the heat and immediately pour the flour in and stir.  Be careful though - the mixture would boil up as the flour goes in, but once the flour gets in, the mixture would settle.  Stir the mix until all the flour is absorbed and the mixture doesn't stick to the sides of the saucepan.
3. If you have a mixer, pour this hot mixture carefully into the mixer, and while the mixer is on, put one egg at a time into the mix.  Make sure that the egg is incorporated into the mix before adding a new one. The mixture is hot, so to prevent the eggs from cooking/curdling, you'll have to mix each egg into the mix fast.  If you don't have a mixer (go buy one! ;P), you can mix each egg into the mix quickly, and you'll develop lovely toned arms for the efforts! ;)
4. Once the eggs go into the mix, and you get a lovely, smooth, shiny mix, just put the mix into a pipping bag and pipe the mix into the size and shape of the puff pastry you want.  Pipe them onto prepared baking sheets lined with baking parchments.  Remember to give lots of space between your mix because these puff pastry aren't called puff pastry for nothing! ;P
5. Into the oven they go, for at least 20 minutes (or until they turn golden brown).  Refrain from opening the oven early - all those lovely steam from the mix helps to cook the pastry and make it crisp and hold up the shape.
6. Once it's done, cool the pastry down before filling it up with your choice of yummy fillings. 

Because I add whipped cream and sugar to taste for my durian fillings, I don't usually need to buy the most expensive durians for making these pastries.  Essentially, I need the durian creaminess and fibres to give the Durian Puffs its features, and durian varieties are such that you get a gamut of sweet to bitter durians, so take my recipe and tweak it to your personal satisfaction. ;)

Durian Filling

Ingredients

600g Durian flesh

300g Whipping Cream

Icing Sugar to taste

Method:

1. Whip the whipping cream until its texture is thickened.
2. Add in the durian flesh and mix well.
3. Add icing sugar to taste.
4. Use a pair of scissors to cut any durian fibres that are too long or clumpy.  This helps achieve a smoother filling.  But don't cut the fibres too fine - you still want to have some satisfaction of having a durian mouth-feel. ;)
5. Chill filling in the refrigerator until needed.

I pipe the durian into the pastry from the thinnest part of the pastry.  Once done, I put it in the fridge to chill and set.

A light dusting of icing sugar to dress it up! ;)

Durian Puffs with Malteasers eyes! lol!

A Trio of Durian Puff Friends! ;)

Simple, quick and so yummy to feast on! ;)