by Abby Morrison
April 13, 2021
Hello everyone! Today we're back in the kitchen with a tasty trifecta of kitchen classics: Chai, Bavarian cream, and profiteroles.
Chai tea is a tea made from black tea and spices like cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger. It's most often made with milk and sugar, a la the perennial favorite chai latte, or, as is the case with our
Chocolate Chai.
Bavarian cream is a custard-like dessert that can come either in a molded shape or as a filling for treats like donuts, cakes, pies, or trifles.
Profiteroles are pastry puffs made from choux dough, which rises and hollows out while baking. They are often cut in half to make cream puffs, though they can also be filled with jams, mousses, chocolates, or custards.
Let's get started.
Since it takes the longest to make, we suggest starting with the Bavarian cream. We adapted our recipe from this one on
Happy Money Saver. Our full recipe is available below and
here on TeaChef.
To get started, mix all of your dry ingredients together in your saucepan. Once those are well-mixed, you can start slowly adding your milk, followed by your whisked egg yolks. Bring everything up to medium-high heat, stirring constantly until you have a pudding-like consistency.
Pro tip: When we say to stir constantly here, we really mean constantly. It may be tempting to multitask while this is cooking, but if you leave the pudding for too long, a layer of the pudding will form along the bottom of the pot. This can result not only in having burned pudding pieces in your final product but also in preventing the mixture on top from cooking properly. Not that we're speaking from experience or anything.
Once your pudding is done, add the butter and vanilla, mixing until the butter is fully melted. Put the mixture in the fridge to cool.
In a smaller saucepan, scald your whipping cream. Once it's hot, add your Chocolate Chai tea and (optionally) a few chocolate chips, making sure to stir the cream until the chocolate chips are melted. You can add a little extra tea if you want, but be careful not to overdo it, as too much, burned, or over-steeped tea will result in a bitter flavor. Steep for three minutes and then strain out the tea leaves. Put the mixture in the fridge to cool.
While you wait for your Bavarian cream elements to cool, make your profiteroles. For those, you can follow any recipe you like, though we liked
this one from Sally's Baking Addiction, which also had a nice video to show what the dough should look like at any given stage. If your dough gets too runny, just add flour.
Once your Bavarian cream elements are cool, use a hand mixer to whip the chai whipping cream into soft peaks. Fold the whipped cream into the pudding mixture and then either pipe or spoon your Bavarian cream into your profiteroles. You can enjoy them as is, or topped with whipped cream, chocolate chips, and chocolate sauce. Bon appetit!
Chocolate Chai Bavarian Cream Profiteroles
Bavarian cream is a common filling for anything from cakes to pies, cupcakes, donuts, cream puffs, and more. In this recipe, we pair classic Bavarian cream flavors with a subtle chocolate chai finish.
Recipe Info
Makes: Filling for 40-50 profiteroles
Time to make: ~1 hour, plus time for ingredients to cool
Ingredients
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt
3 cups milk
3 egg yolks
2 tbs butter
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup whipping cream
4 tsp of
Chocolate Chai
Chocolate chips (optional)
Instructions
Mix all dry ingredients in a saucepan. Slowly add the milk.
Whisk the egg yolks and stir into the pudding mix. Boil at medium high, mixing constantly until mixture has a pudding like texture.
Mix in the butter and vanilla until butter is melted.
Put the pudding in the fridge to cool.
In another saucepan, scald the whipping cream before removing from the heat.
Add 4 tsp of chocolate chai directly into the whipping cream. If you want to amp up the chocolate flavor, you can also add some chocolate chips, being careful to stir until they've melted. Let steep for three minutes, being careful not to over steep the tea.
Strain out the tea leaves
Put the whipping cream in the fridge to cool.
Once both the pudding and the whipping cream are completely cool, whip the whipping cream into soft peaks.
Fold the whipping cream into the pudding mixture.
Once complete, the Bavarian cream can be added to cream puffs, profiteroles, pancakes, and more. It is also a nice treat on its own or topped with fruit, chocolate chips, chocolate sauce, or whipped cream.
Note: If you want a stronger flavor, you can use more chai tea, but don't go overboard, as too much, over-steeped, or burned chai will make the whipping cream bitter.
Note: Be careful to stir the pudding mixture continuously to avoid burned pudding on the bottom of the pan.
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