In short: Festive choux buns with craquelin, vanilla cream and a blackcurrant and banana filling. Full weights and assembly order below; the recipe can also be downloaded as a PDF.
Choux pastry
63 g milk, 63 g water, 55 g butter, 1 g salt, 4 g sugar, 75 g plain flour, 115–125 g eggs.
Put the milk, water, salt, sugar and cubed butter into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Cool the paste to 60 °C and add the eggs gradually, mixing with a paddle attachment.
Craquelin
Mix the butter with the sugar and flour until smooth, roll it between two sheets and chill. Cut discs and place one on each piped bun before baking.
Vanilla cream
Heat the milk; separately whisk the yolks with sugar and starch. Pour the hot milk in, return to the heat and cook to a custard. For the second component, heat cream with vanilla seeds and glucose, whisk yolks with sugar, and combine.
Blackcurrant and banana filling
Heat the blackcurrants in a saucepan, add diced banana and stir in the pectin. Cook briefly and cool completely before use.
Assembly
Pipe the buns onto a tray with generous spacing, allowing for how much they will grow. Once completely cool, cut off the tops, pipe in the vanilla cream and then the blackcurrant filling.
Decoration
Temper white chocolate and cut out stars or snowflakes with a stamp. Cover them with a weight while they set so they stay flat.
Frequently asked questions
Why does choux pastry fail to rise
The paste was too loose, or the oven was opened during the first twenty minutes. Steam is the only thing lifting choux.
Can the buns be made in advance
Yes — baked shells keep up to a month in the freezer. Dry them briefly in the oven before assembling.
When should choux be filled
Immediately before serving. Filled in advance they soften within a few hours.