When my grandchildren visit, they always head for the kitchen. Not only do they know from experience that there will be plenty of good food on the go, but they love to help and get involved.
It’s a good trick to get a favourite recipe and work with a child to perfect it…not only do they learn skills, they learn the art of thinking while you cook so that a recipe becomes a guide, and your experience and confidence becomes the key to great results.
Alfie and I tried these Pixie’s Burps twice. Now it’s his recipe and he makes them with pride whenever he comes.
They are actually chocolate profiteroles, quite a skilled recipe, but, with a bit of re-branding and guided experimenting, they’re “Easy Peasy”.
Ingredients: makes 8
75g plain flour
1 teaspoon caster sugar
125ml cold water
50g cold butter, cut into cubes
2 free range eggs, beaten
Method:
Lay out all the ingredients.
Prepare a greased baking tray.Turn oven on 220˚C/gas 7. Sift the flour into a bowl.
Put the butter and sugar and water into a small saucepan and bring to a simmer.
Tip the flour into the simmering water, take the saucepan off the heat, and using a wooden spoon, beat the mixture together to form a ball. Now, add the eggs, a little at a time, continuing beating until all the eggs are incorporated.
If the mixture splits, don’t worry, just keep beating!
To create the effect of baking in a steam oven, splash the baking tray with some cold water.
Use two teaspoons to measure out walnut-sized blobs of paste and evenly space on the baking tray. Bake on the highest shelf of the oven for 10 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 190˚C/gas 5 and bake for a further 15 minutes until the Pixie’s Burps are golden brown and puffed up.
Remove from the oven and check that the pastry is crisp. Use a skewer to pierce a hole in each to reduce any steam. This keeps them crisp. If they are soft at all, bake for a further 5 minutes.
Remove to cool on a wire rack.
These can be stored in a sealed container for 3-4 days.
When ready to fill, cut through the sides and fill with whipped double cream. Drizzle with icing made with two tablespoons each cocoa powder and icing sugar, sifted together and mixed with just enough cold water to make an icing.
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