RECIPES
Blueberry cheesecake choux buns
3 hours
Preparation time
40 minutes
Cooking time
40
INGREDIENTS
Sable
100 g unsalted butter
125 g caster sugar
125 g plain flour
Pinch of salt
Pate a choux
75 g full cream milk
75 ml water
1 ½ tsp caster sugar
60 g unsalted butter
¼ tsp salt
90 g plain flour, sieved
135 g whole eggs
Blueberry compote
65 g caster sugar
½ tsp yellow pectin or citrus pectin
250 g frozen blueberries
Cheesecake filling
65 g whole egg
50 g caster sugar (A)
25 g cornstarch
160 g full cream milk
160 g fresh cream 35% fat (A)
50 g caster sugar (B)
130 g cream cheese, room temperature
130 g fresh cream 35% fat (B), semi whipped
Graham cracker biscuit cubes
120 g unsalted butter
50 g brown sugar
40 g caster sugar
15 g honey
120 g plain flour
50 g rye or wholemeal flour
Pinch of salt
½ tsp bicarbonate soda
1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
Assembly
300 g fresh blueberries, sliced
METHOD
Sable
- Place all the ingredients into the bowl of a freestanding mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix to form a smooth dough.
- Between two baking mats or sheets of baking paper, roll the dough to approximately 2 mm in thickness.
- Place the rolled dough into the freezer.
- Once frozen, stamp out forty 35 mm discs and return them to the freezer until required.
Pate a choux
- Preheat the oven on Fan Plus at 180°C.
- Place the milk, water, sugar, butter, and salt in a saucepan over medium heat, induction setting 5, and bring to a rolling boil.
- Remove from the heat, add the sieved flour, and stir to form a smooth paste.
- Return to the cooktop over low heat, induction setting 3, and stir continuously until the dough forms a loose ball, develops an oily sheen, and a light skin is formed on the bottom of the saucepan.
- Transfer the mixture into a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat for approximately 1 minute.
- Gradually add the eggs, a small amount at a time, ensuring they have completely incorporated after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as required. You may not need to add the entire amount of egg, so test the mixture intermittently. To test the consistency, take a spoonful of the mixture and hold it on its side; it should slide off very slowly when ready.
- Transfer the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 10 mm plain piping tip and pipe 30 mm domes onto a baking tray lined with a baking mat or directly on Miele non-stick trays, leaving enough space between each for when they expand during baking.
- Place a prepared frozen sable disc on top of each choux, ensuring it is centered.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, then without opening the oven door, decrease the temperature to 150°C and bake for a further 10 minutes. Lastly, decrease the temperature to 130°C and bake for a final 5 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely at room temperature.
Blueberry compote
- Place the sugar and pectin in a bowl and mix to combine.
- Place the blueberries in a saucepan over medium heat, induction setting 5, and heat for 1 minute.
- Add the combined sugar and pectin while whisking.
- Continue to whisk while bringing the mixture to a boil and boil for approximately 2 minutes.
- Pour the blueberry compote into a bowl and cover the surface with cling wrap.
- Allow to cool completely in the fridge.
Cheesecake filling
- Place the eggs, sugar (A), and cornflour in a bowl and whisk by hand to combine, then set aside.
- In a saucepan over medium-high heat, induction setting 7, place the milk, cream (A), and sugar (B) and bring to a boil.
- Gradually pour the hot milk mixture into the egg mixture while whisking.
- Transfer the mixture back into the saucepan and whisk continuously over medium heat, induction setting 5, and bring back to a boil. Allow the mixture to boil for 20-30 seconds while whisking.
- Transfer into a bowl, add the cream cheese, and whisk by hand to incorporate.
- Cover the surface with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge.
- Prior to using the cheesecake filling, fold through the semi-whipped cream (B).
Graham cracker biscuit cubes
- Place the butter, brown sugar, and caster sugar into the bowl of a freestanding mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat until smooth.
- Add the honey and mix to incorporate.
- Sieve the remaining ingredients, add them to the butter mixture and mix until it just comes together as a dough.
- Press the dough into a square, approximately 10 mm in thickness, wrap in cling wrap and chill in the fridge.
- Preheat the oven on Fan Plus at 150°C.
- Once the dough is firm, press it through a wire cooling rack to create cubes.
- Scatter the dough cubes over a baking tray lined with a Silpat mat and bake in the pre-heated oven for approximately 15 minutes, or until dark golden-brown in colour.
Assembly
- Transfer the prepared cheesecake filling into a piping bag fitted with an 8 mm star piping tip.
- Cut a hole, up to 20 mm in diameter, out of the base of each choux bun. Set aside the discs of choux that you remove and remember which bun it belongs to.
- Pipe some cream cheese filling into the choux bun, followed by some of the blueberry compote.
- Add some graham cracker cubes, then seal the choux with the piece that was cut out of the base.
- Pipe some of the remaining cheesecake filling on top of the choux and garnish with sliced blueberries.
- Serve immediately.
Hints and tips
- Any remaining sable can be kept frozen and used for future batches of choux buns.
- The choux can be piped and frozen raw in an airtight container for up to 8 weeks. When ready to bake, arrange them over a baking tray lined with a baking mat and defrost. Then, place the frozen sable on top before baking.
- The choux buns can also be baked and then frozen, unfilled, in an airtight container for up to 8 weeks. This takes up more space in the freezer, and you may need to dry them out in the oven once defrosted to return their crisp texture.
- The choux pastry must be golden-brown in colour before the oven door is open or else they can collapse.
- This recipe makes more Graham cracker biscuit cubes than required for the choux buns but cannot be made with smaller quantities.
- The baked cubes can be frozen for up to 8 weeks.
- The choux buns are best eaten no more than 6 hours after they have been assembled.
- The choux buns can also be cooked using the choux Automatic Programme.
APPLIANCE / FUNCTION
Kirsten Tibballs
Kirsten Tibballs, proclaimed by MasterChef Australia as ‘the Queen of Chocolate’, is one of Australia’s most celebrated and internationally respected pastry chefs and chocolatiers.
With a desire to pass on her knowledge to other passionate food lovers and professional pastry chefs, Kirsten established Savour Chocolate & Patisserie School in 2002 in Brunswick, Melbourne. Savour creates an opportunity for students to learn from and work alongside their award-winning chefs. It boasts a state of the art kitchen and hosts a number of renowned international pastry chefs each year.
