Earl Grey/Chai Cream Puff

This is not an original recipe. The actual recipe is mostly inspired by the video from honeykki that I linked below. The choux pastry recipe I used the one from Everyday food as it follows American measuring system. I've always found it really hard to read recipes in the description box on YouTube. So I copied the recipe here, formatted it, and cleaned up the instructions slightly (mainly changing the unit) and adjusted the correct baking time after making it. For my future reference. I plan on doing the same with many other great recipes that I come across on the internet, mainly YouTube, so I have a centralized place for all my favorite recipes.

I made the Earl Grey flavor before and loved it. Today I made it again at a friend's housewarming, and in addition to Earl Grey, I experimented with using Chai. It turned out very much like a Chai Latte flavored cream. The first batch wasn't successful. The original recipe from honeykki called for baking at 350F for 20-25 min. It wasn't long enough and the choux was undercooked and sinks right after taking out of the oven. So I used the Everyday Food recipe for baking at 375F. It took a bit more than 30 min for mine to cook through. I'd go for even longer next time as some are undercooked still. Maybe my oven is busted...

Ingredients

Craquelin

• 1 stick of unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour

* Optional: To differentiate Chai from Earl Grey, I made half portion with the original and half with brown sugar instead of the regular sugar and added the following spices to go with the flavor:

• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp ground allspice

Earl grey pasrty cream 

* Note: This is half the portion as I made one with earl grey and one with chai.

• 2 Earl Grey/Chai bags
• 1 cup milk
• 3 egg yolks
• 1/3 cups of sugar
• 1 1/2 tbs of all-purpose flour
• 200ml heavy cream
• 2tbs sugar

Choux pasrty (~28)

• 1 cup of water
• 1 stick of unsalted butter
• 1 cup of all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp corse salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 4 eggs

Instructions

Craquelin

1. Soften the butter kept at room temperature, add and mix the sugar and flour.
2. Make the dough into a ball, put in a bag and roll it to 1/8 inch thickness and freeze.

Earl Grey cream

1. Mix the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl. add the flour and mix well. 
2. Simmer milk and add Earl Grey/Chai tea bags to infuse them in the heat. This is our Earl Grey/Chai milk.
3. Slowly add Earl Grey/Chai milk to (1) and mix well. Earl Grey/Chai milk shouldn’t be too hot or it’ll cook the yolks.
4. Quickly cook mixture (3) in a pot. constantly stir and continue until thick (cream consistency). Cover and let cool. Stir quickly so it doesn’t stick to the pan. Be careful not to overcook.
5. Transfer the Earl Grey/Chai cream into a bowl and wrap with plastic wrap touching the surface of the mixture to prevent film from forming. Chill in the fridge until completely cooled.
6. Whip the heavy cream and mix with Earl Grey/Chai cream

Choux pastry

1. Boil water, cubed butter and salt in a pot. Turn off the heat once butter is melted. add flour and mix with a spatula.
2. Once flour is completely incorporated, turn on the heat again until a thin coat forms on the bottom of the pot.
3. Place the dough in a bowl. Leave out for 5 minutes so it's cooled down a bit. Beat the egg yolks and slowly add in thirds and mix well.
4. Transfer the pastry into a piping bag and pipe into 1 - 1.5 inch sized balls. Take out the craquelin from the freezer and cut them into circles and place on the pastry.
5. Preheat oven at 375F and bake for 30-35min. Temperature and baking time may vary due to type of the oven and be careful not to open the oven while it's baking, or the choux will sink.
6. Completely chill the choux and stuff the Earl Grey/Chai cream to finish.

The original video recipe from honeykki 꿀키

Recipe for choux pastry from Everyday Food