Soesjes
Oh, soesjes.... This was the first week since we started the blog where I had no idea what I would make. Sometimes Pia comes up with a theme, sometimes we join a fun foodies collaboration, but this week I was free to do whatever I wanted.... I asked my eldest son Luca what I should make and his answer was wholeheartedly : SOESJES (Choux -pastry/profiteroles as they are also known)
Soesjes are basically a type of pastry which is baked to form hollow puffs. They are said to have been invented by the head chef to the court of Caterina de' Medici, who had come to France from her native Florence to marry Henry II in the sixteenth century. (There is a series on netflix feating Caterina, called Reign, I loved it - click here)
The pastry is baked and then filled with something sweet or savoury. My son loves soesjes filled with whipped cream - so I looked for my grandmother's old recipe book and found the recipe I was looking for. The book is almost falling apart but so precious to me. So today's recipe is dedicated to my oma, and my parents who always help me with my recipes, and inspire me every day! I have not seen my parents in almost 1,5 years (they live in Chile) but this is definitely something I will make for them when they get here. We will serve the soesjes with a HUGE bottle of champagne to celebrate being together again...
Basic Recipe Soesjes
(from the "Margriet Kookboek")
100 grams of flour
85 grams of butter
200 ML water
3 eggs
pinch of salt
Put butter, salt and water in a saucepan and heat gently until the butter has melted. Turn up the heat and quickly bring the water to a boil. As soon as the water boils, add the flour in one go. Stir the mixture with a wooden spoon into a dough ball, let it cook through and through while stirring and then remove the pan from the heat. Keep stirring for a while so that the pan and the dough can cool.
Add the eggs and stir until fully incorporated and the dough is smooth again. The batter is perfectif it has a nice shine and falls off the spoon in thick pieces.
Put the dough in a piping bag and pipe heaps of dough on a greased or Teflon foil-lined baking tray. Instead of spraying dough heaps, you can of course also use two spoons to form dough heaps. The puffs will rise during baking, so don't place the dough heaps too close together.
Place the puffs in the middle of a conventional oven preheated to 180ºC for about 30 minutes. Leave to cool in the oven for at least 5-10 minutes. You can then cut them open with regular scissors and fill with whipped cream, and perhaps some fresh raspberries or other summer fruit.
Bon Appetit,
Caroline
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