Totoro Cream Puff

Finally updating the Totoro recipes many of you have been waiting for today. I actually received quite a few emails asking whether I can make some to sell after I shared a photo of these cream puffs on Instagram. Sorry, I don't sell them, but they are not difficult to make, so you can try them out yourself using the recipe I'll be sharing at the end of the post. On a side note, I've been getting emails regularly asking me whether I make charabens for sale as well. No, I don't, but maybe one day when I've too much time on hand and my boys refuse to eat my charabens, I might consider doing so, lol.



This is actually my first attempt at making cream puffs, there's still room for improvement, nonetheless I'm happy with how they turned out.


I filled the Totoro cream puffs with pastry cream or crème pâtissière. The leaf on Totoro's head was cut out from fondant using a leaf cutter.


These were the inspiration for my Totoro cream puffs. We had these at Shiro-Hige Cream Puff Factory. I missed that place and their cream puffs. For more photos of Shiro-Hige Cream Puff Factory, you can click HERE to check out my blog post last year.


Ah.....as I type out this post, I feel like making these cream puffs tomorrow but I'm busy this weekend, need to get our Teacher's Day gifts and cards done.


Please continue on for the detailed recipe for these Totoro cream puffs.

TOTORO CREAM PUFF RECIPE

Ingredients:
pâte à choux pastry:
150ml Water
100ml Milk
125g Unsalted butter
150g Plain Flour
4 medium sized eggs
1 tbsp sugar
pinch of salt

crème pâtissière:
500ml milk
4 egg yolks
120g caster sugar
4 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp butter
1 tsp vanilla extract


Method:
To make crème pâtissière:

1. In a mixing bowl, add egg yolks, 100ml milk, sugar, cornstarch and vanilla extract in a bowl.

2. Heat the remaining 400ml milk to a scald in a saucepan. Pour the milk into mixture in step 1, whisking continuously as you pour. Once incorporated, pour everything back into the saucepan.

3. Whisk mixture over medium-low heat, keep stirring till it thickens. Remove from heat and whisk in butter.

4. Remove from heat, transfer to a bowl. Once it reaches room temperature, fill into a pipping bag and refrigerate till ready to use. 

To make pâte à choux pastry:

1. Heat butter, milk, water, sugar and salt in a saucepan on low heat till butter has melted. Turn off heat when the mixture boils. 

2. Remove saucepan from heat, add in sieved flour and mix well. Stir quickly till a dough is formed and does not stick to the saucepan. If the dough is still liquid, continue cooking till it forms a dough.

3. Transfer the dough to another container, use a wooden spatula to mix and cool down the mixture a little.

4. Beat in the eggs one at a time using an electric mixer on low speed until the mixture is well combined and sticky.
5. Transfer the mixture into a pipping bag, snip off the end and pipe out the shape of Totoro on a baking sheet. I piped an oval for the body, followed by 2 ovals for the ears.

6. Bake at 180C for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 160C for another 25 minutes. Do modify the time according to how your oven heats up, once your puffs have rise to their maximum, you can turn down the temperature and continue baking till they are all golden brown.

7. Remove from oven and let the puffs cool down. Poke a hole at the bottom of the puffs and pipe the crème pâtissière into the puffs. This way, they will be able to stand upright.
8. Draw Totoro's features using melted chocolate.