Milktart Filled Profiteroles with White Chocolate Ganache

This was a recipe I created for World Baking Day last year - it needed to be a recipe that could be easily translated across the world, but yet still have a truly South African twist. Milk tart was the first dish that came to mind - the standard treat of almost every tea time, bringing back so many memories - simple to make and yet so distinctive in taste.
To 'up the ante' a little, I decided to use it as the filling for profiteroles - instead of the normal whipped cream or creme patisserie. Choux pastry can be a little tricky, but so easy (and more than a little impressive) once you get the knack of it. Drizzled with a simple white chocolate ganache, it's the perfect not-too-sweet, uniquely South African tea time treat.

Milktart filled Profiteroles with White Chocolate Ganache

Makes approximately 12 

For the choux pastry
Ingredients:
200ml cold water
4 tsp caster sugar
85g  butter or margarine
115g plain flour
pinch salt
3 medium free-range eggs, beaten


Method:
Preheat the oven to 200C. Place the water, margarine, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan over a high heat and bring the mixture to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat and quickly add all the flour at once, beating with a wooden spoon until smooth.

Slowly add in the eggs – beating thoroughly after each one -  until you have a smooth batter, that just falls of the spoon (you may not need to add all the egg). 

Fill a large piping bag (with a 1.5cm round nozzle) with as much mixture as it can take. Allow the pastry mix to cool in the piping bag for five minutes. 

Line a large baking tray with greaseproof paper and pipe on dessert-spoon sized rounds, leaving at least 3cm between them. Use a wet fingertip to pat down any “spikes” that may remain from your piping nozzle.  Bake the choux buns in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until a very pale golden brown – switch off your oven. 

Remove from the oven, and pierce a 1cm hole in the base of each profiterole, and return to the off oven for 10 minutes – this will help them dry out, and not collapse when removed from the oven.

Once they have dried out for 10 minutes, allow to cool on a wire rack on the counter top. 

For the milktart filling:

Ingredients:
500 ml full cream milk
80ml caster sugar
2 medium free-range eggs
3 tbsp Cornflour
3 tbsp cake flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp butter or margarine
50ml cream
½  tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground nutmeg

Method:
In a medium sized saucepan, heat the milk to just under boiling point.  In a medium sized bowl, lightly beat the eggs with the sugar, then add the cornflour and flour. Slowly pour the hot milk onto this mixture, stirring quickly. Pour your mixture into the same medium sized saucepan, and place on a medium heat to cook, stirring until the mixture becomes very thick. Be sure to stir thoroughly, otherwise the mixture will catch on the bottom of the saucepan, form lumps and stick.

Remove from the heat, add the vanilla extract, Stork, cinnamon and nutmeg. Allow to cool to room temperature, then beat in the cream with a wooden spoon, to loosen the mixture and make it easier to pipe.

For the white chocolate ganache:
Ingredients:
100g white chocolate
50ml cream
3tbsp icing sugar, sieved 

Method:
Break the chocolate into very small pieces and place in a small bowl. Heat the cream until starting to boil, then pour over the white chocolate. Allow to sit for 30 seconds, then gently stir to completely melt the chocolate. Allow to cool and thicken slightly, then add the icing sugar, stirring until no lumps remain (can pass through a sieve if there are still lumps). Keep at room temperature until serving

Assembly:
Slightly widen the holes at the bottom of your profiteroles, until big enough to fit in your piping nozzle. Fit a round nozzle to your piping bag, and fill it with your milktart mixture. Holding each profiterole upside down, pipe in as much milktart mixture as you can, repeating until all the profiteroles are filled. 


Dip the tops of the profiteroles in the white chocolate ganache, allow to “set” slightly before serving.