Say hello to tiramichoux from Bury St Edmunds MasterChef quarter-finalist Hannah Gregory
What’s that? A play on words AND a delicious dessert? You are welcome!
Christmas is coming: time to hoard a multitude of decadent recipes and steadily work your way through them until you pop. For this recipe I decided to take the elements of one of my favourite desserts and reshape them into my partner’s favourite dessert and voila, Tiramichoux was born.
Towers of profiteroles always hold a certain element of Christmas nostalgia for me. There was always a box (shop-bought, never made) in the fridge over the festive season for those moments when friends or neighbours popped over for a mulled wine, which inevitably turned into supper, which inevitably turned into the three Ps – port, pudding and Pictionary.
A decadent, adults-only affair, laced with liquor and giving a hit of caffeine, this recipe switches things up. Pile the buns on a cake stand and finish with edible glitter for the perfect centrepiece.
TIRAMICHOUX
(Serves 6)
Ingredients:
For the choux:
115g unsalted butter
125ml water
125ml whole milk
¼ teaspoon fine salt
2 teaspoons sugar
125g plain flour
4 eggs
For the filling:
250g mascarpone
250ml double cream
70g icing sugar
2 teaspoons espresso
1 tablespoon marsala
1 tablespoon Tia Maria or other coffee liqueur
For the chocolate sauce:
100g dark chocolate
50g butter
50ml espresso
1 tablespoon Tia Maria or other coffee liqueur
Method:
First off, make your choux. Combine the butter, water, milk, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan over a medium heat and bring to a simmer, stirring to combine and making sure the butter is fully melted.
Reduce the heat to low, add the flour and continue to stir to cook out the flour for a minute.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool for a couple of minutes before adding to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or if using a handheld mixer, a large bowl.
When the mixture has cooled slightly, set the mixer to a low speed. Whisk the eggs and add slowly in increments.
You may not use all the egg mixture which is why it is important to add in stages. You are looking for a thick, shiny, smooth and pipeable dough that naturally falls into a ‘v’when the paddle is lifted out of the bowl.
Preheat the oven to 200C. Line two baking sheets with parchment.
Fit a piping bag with a round piping tip (or use a freezer bag with corner cut off) and fill with choux mix.
Pipe 2-inch blobs with a couple of cm in between until all the mixture is used.
Using a wet teaspoon, smooth the tops of the blobs.
Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, reduce the temperature to 170C and bake for a further 10. The choux is done when they have puffed up and are golden brown.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before filling.
To make the filling, whisk the mascarpone until loose and smooth.
In a separate bowl, whisk the cream with the icing sugar until thick, glossy and just holding peaks – you don’t want to whip it all the way to firm peaks as when you mix it with the other ingredients it will over whip and could split.
Gently combine the mascarpone and cream.
Add the espresso and liqueur and gently mix.
Fit a piping bag with a small round nozzle and fill with the mascarpone cream.
Pierce a hole in the bottom of the choux buns using the piping bag nozzle, then fill with the cream.
To make the chocolate sauce, set up a Pyrex bowl over a small saucepan of simmering water. Add the chocolate and butter and melt gently.
Once melted and combined, add the espresso and liqueur and combine.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly – you don’t want the sauce to be hot or it’ll melt the cream and turn into a puddle.
Once cool but still pourable, pour over the filled choux and enjoy.
A former BBC MasterChef quarter finalist, Hannah hosts WanderSups supper clubs, “serving meals created with love, inspired by journeys around the world, dished up on home turf”. Her ethos is simple – have fun, enjoy it, make it an occasion. To find out more follow @WanderSups
