Black Sesame Cream Puffs

This past week was a bit rough for recipe-making. Normally when I’m making something new I end up doing so much research that it turns out quite well if not the first time, then the second. This week I was planning on making a black sesame version of my favorite Japanese cheesecake but that didn’t turn out too well and I realized I really only like plain Japanese cheesecakes, they taste the best. So I switched my plan to cream puffs, but after following my chosen recipe to a T (or so I thought…) I ended up with over-salted, flat puffs. So I returned to a trusty recipe from the past and tweaked it to create these babies. I’m very happy with how they turned out, and feel they’re finally worthy of posting on the blog. Between hubby and myself we’ve eaten 10 already, whoops 🙁

I made this recipe as part of a Chinese New Year recipe roundup with a group of other bloggers. These obvi aren’t a traditional recipe, but I wanted to make something new with one of my favorite Asian flavors. Check out all the other delicious #SweetLunarNewYear recipes below. Do you celebrate Chinese New Year?? Are any of your favorite recipes on the list?

Snow Fungus Soup by Vermilion Roots
Indonesian Honeycomb Cake (Bingka Ambon) by What To Cook Today
Chinese Peanut Cookies by Wok & Skillet
Vietnamese Steamed Rice Cakes by A Taste of Joy and Love
Gluten-Free Chinese Almond Cookies by Grits & Chopsticks
Black Sesame Shortbread Cookies by Little Sweet Baker
Ice Cream Mooncakes by Brunch-n-Bites
Coconut Red Bean Pudding by The Missing Lokness
Korean Caramelized Sweet Potatoes (Goguma Mattang) by What Great Grandma Ate
Cashew Nut Cookies by Anncoo Journal
One Bite Pine Nut Cookies by Yummy Workshop
Baked Coconut Walnut Sticky Rice Cake by Jeanette’s Healthy Living
Black Sesame Cream Puffs by Pink Wings
Cashew Nut Cookies by Roti n Rice
Mini Peanut Puffs (Kok Chai) by Malaysian Chinese Kitchen
Thousand Layer Cake (Lapis Legit) by Daily Cooking Quest
Pineapple Cookies (Nastar) by V for Veggy
Almond Orange Spiral Cookies by Butter & Type
Three Color Dessert (Che Ba Mau) by The Viet Vegan
Year of the Rooster Mochi by Thirsty for Tea
Korean Tea Cookies (Dasik) by Kimchimari
Sweet Sticky Nian Gao (Kuih Bakul) by Lisa’s Lemony Kitchen
Sweet Rice Balls with Peanut Butter (Tang Yuan) by Omnivore’s Cookbook
Candied Ginger (Mut Gung) by Plant Crush
Chick Egg Tarts by Dessert Girl
Red Bean Soup with Black Glutinous Rice by Nut Free Wok
Orange Scented Sweet Red Bean by Lime and Cilantro

Black Sesame Cream Puffs
Makes about 24

Pastry Cream:

• 4 egg yolks
• 1-3/4 cups milk
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
• 2 Tbsp corn starch
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Black Sesame Cream:

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
•  about 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 Tbsp black sesame powder

Craquelin:

• 3 oz unsalted butter, room temp.
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, sifted 
• 1/2 Tbsp black sesame powder
• black food coloring

Cream Puffs:

• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour, sifted
• 2 eggs 
• black sesame seeds (opt.)

Directions:

For the pastry cream: With a whisk, cream together the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy. Continue to whisk in the flour and cornstarch. Set aside. In a small saucepan, combine the milk and vanilla extract, and heat until just simmering. Gradually pour into the eggs, whisking the entire time. Pour the batter back into the pan and place over low heat. Stir continuously until thickened. Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes on the counter top before covering and refrigerating.

For the black sesame cream: With a large clean bowl and beaters, pour in the heavy cream and begin beating. Once it starts to set up, gradually add sugar one tablespoon at a time until you reach your desired sweetness (don’t under-sweeten, you still have to fold in the black sesame). Stop beating when you reach stiff peaks. Fold in the black sesame powder. Cover and refrigerate.

For the craquelin: Beat together the butter and sugar. Then beat in the flour and black sesame powder until crumbly. Add black food coloring and mix until combined. Continue adding until you reach your desired color. Form the dough into a ball with your hands and sandwich it between two pieces of parchment paper. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough to about a 13 inch circle. Slide onto a pan and place in the freezer.

For the cream puffs: Combine the butter, water, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan. Place over med-high heat and bring to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, remove immediately from heat and add the flour. Mix with a wooden spoon until smooth. Place back over medium heat and continue to stir the dough until it forms a ball and a thin layer forms on the bottom of the pan, 1-2 minutes. Let the dough cool on your counter top for 5 minutes. In a separate bowl, whisk your eggs together well. Add a little at a time to the cream puff dough, combining well after each addition.

Heat oven to 400F. Prep two pans with silpats. Remove the craquelin from the freezer.

Pipe cream puff dough onto your pans in about 1.5 inch rounds. Cut circles from your craquelin similar to the diameter of your cream puffs and place one gently on top of each cream puff. Sprinkle with a pinch of black sesame seeds. Bake like so for 20 minutes until browned. Remove to a rack to cool.

To Assemble: Slice the cream puffs in half horizontally. Spoon a dollop of pastry cream into the bottom of each, pipe the black sesame cream on top, and place the cream puff top back on. Best enjoyed immediately.

Cream puff recipe from Eugenie. Pastry cream recipe from here. Craquelin recipe from David.