I pulled a Peabody this week and tweaked the TWD recipe. (Not as much or as creatively as she usually does, I admit.) Caroline chose Peppermint Cream Puff Ring as this week’s recipe, but peppermint screams Christmas to me, and I’m loving summer too much to think about Christmas right now.
In the original recipe, the filling is made from cream that’s been steeped in mint leaves. I didn’t want the mint, but I did like the steeping. I considered a tea-flavored cream filling, but ultimately decided on a cappuccino-flavored dessert with coffee cream filling. Generally, coffee flavor is incorporated into desserts using instant espresso, but since even one slice of tiramisu will keep me up for hours, I wanted my cream puff to be decaf. I heated decaf coffee and cream until it boiled, then strained out the coffee and chilled the cream. When it was cold, I whipped it and folded in sour cream. I was a little unsure about the sour cream addition, but I surprised myself by really liking the tang that it added.
I also made individual serving sized rings, instead of one large ring, taking inspiration and tips from Eliza. I wish they were a little more robust; I should have used a larger piping tip or made three rings, with one stacked on the other two, like Dorie instructs for the larger ring. Because a few other members had had problems with the pastry collapsing, I was exceedingly careful when making mine. I beat the cooked flour-butter-liquid mixture for a few seconds before adding the eggs to make sure the eggs wouldn’t get too hot, and I pricked each ring with a paring knife after baking and before putting them back into the just-turned-off oven with the door propped open for half an hour.
I topped my rings with chocolate ganache and sprinkled them with cinnamon. (Not that I ever put either chocolate or cinnamon in my cappuccino, but the flavors did end up working here.) They look a little more like donuts than I prefer, but overall, I was surprised by how much I liked these. To be honest, I made them in the evening on a night when Dave was away for dinner, and I basically ate cream puffs for dinner. And dessert.
The original recipe has been published on epicurious.
Those look heavenly! You’re so creative 🙂
These look yummy, chocolate and cappucino is a great combo! Like a mocha! One of these days I am going to join TWD!
That sounds divine, cappucino and chocolate!
Ulrike from Küchenlatein
Great, great flavor choices. And I love your parchment circles with the pies in them.
Those look delicious! I love the flavor combination.
Once again – Amazing! These look spectacular!
Yours look great!!!
wonderful variation! sigh.. wish i could work on mine. You’re making me regret sitting this one ou real bad!!!
Oh yum!!! These look like doughnuts almost!! And that pastry cream in the middle looks like HEAVEN!! I bet they tasted amazing!
Hey, they’re kind of like mini Paris-Brests or doughnuts! Too cute! I’m actually not a fan of mint in desserts so your variation would suit me just fine 🙂
I read cappuccino in the title and I swear, drool started coming out the corners of my mouth! They look fabulous! Love that you “pulled a Peabody”! I guess that’s what I did too. 🙂
What a great idea! I almost went with coffee-infused cream myself, now I want to make it that way too…with chocolate & cinnamon, how wonderful.
How cute are those rings? Lovely!
So beautiful! And cappuccino cream puffs sound delicious.
Those look so pretty! I support you eating them for dinner 🙂 I love coffee flavors in dessert.
Oh my goodness what a fantastic looking dessert!! Wish I could have some right now. I didn’t end up making the cream puff but I thought about doing a tea flavoured custard as well.
These look so good!
Cappuccino! Nom nom nom.
Oh my…me wants!
oh, they’re cute!! and cappuccino–yum! i also thought christmas with the peppermint flavor, but since it’s winter where i am, it felt quite appropriate.
these look lovely…and what a flavor! yum…very innovative!
They look great – love the cute little rings!
I love it when the recipe gets “tweaked”…it makes it your own! Great job!
Great job. They turned out really pretty.
Cream puffs for dinner, yum! Way to make it your own- great job!
Gorgeous, as usual. At first glance they looked like doughnuts so, of course, I now want a midnight snack of cream puffs and doughnuts.
These look wonderful. Chocolate and coffee is one of my favorite combinations, so I’m sure it was delicious!
Love the coffee idea!!! Pictures look great!
Wow, those look incredible! I love your variation with the coffee flavor!
Those look absolutely perfect! The cappuccino cream sounds delicious!
Shari@Whisk: a food blog
These look delicious! I like it that you tried the cappuccino flavor and those neat cream rosettes are just too cute.
Great job! They all look delicious! Love the flavor!
Wow – cappucino cream puffs sound delicious. They look gorgeous – like gourmet pastries.
Great job!!
Love the idea of coffee cream, and I agree with you peppermint and chocolate screamed Christmas to me too!
I love your “Peabody”… your coffee/cinnamon/chocolate flavors both intrigue and inspire. And the mini donut-like rings are adorable. Great job!
coffee….mmmm! they look so professional. and trust me, you are not the only one who has had dessert for dinner in the past 😉