Nigel Slater’s kitchen diary: choux buns filled with peaches and cream

Photographs by Jonathan Lovekin

Choux is probably the easiest of all pastry to make, involving nothing more complicated than beating eggs into a paste of butter, water and flour. Occasionally capricious, the buns can rise or fall as they wish; it is the pastry to make mountains of chocolate-capped profiteroles or soldierly rows of éclairs. With cheese stirred in, they become the moreish morsels known as gougères au fromage, which will bring any other canapé into submission.

I usually make small buns, filling them with lemon cream, crème pâtissière or herb-flecked cream cheese. This time, on one of the truly wet days of the summer, I went bold, with buns that rose to the size of tennis balls, then were stuffed with fruit. You need just one per person, but everyone ate at least two.

The dough needs a good long beating as you introduce the eggs, and you really shouldn’t stop until the mixture is glossy. If your puffs are to keep their shape in the oven, it is best to use a strong white flour, the sort used for bread. Some people split them after baking, then return the upturned halves to the oven to crisp the inside as well. It isn’t necessary but does give your buns a lovely crispness.

The occasional rainy days this week have also had me making soup. Mostly light, seasonal offerings like green minestrone. To a base of spring onions and young, lavender-flushed garlic I added spring carrots, green tomatoes, climbing beans and peas.

To bring some intensity to the vegetable stock, I did a last-minute stirring-in of basil pesto, a thicker than usual mash-up of basil leaves, pine kernels, grated pecorino and olive oil. It floated on the surface in verdant pools.

The next day I reheated it with an introduction of white haricot beans from a jar and ate it with thick slices of toasted baguette and a spoonful of the pesto.

Cob nuts are a short, seasonal treat. If you are lucky enough to come across them (farmers’ markets are your best bet) with their frilly ruff of green leaves, then use them quickly while they are white inside. Crack open the shells, slice the sweet, milky nuts in half and toss them with a young farmhouse cheese such as a caerphilly. Mix in a few shredded, butter-soft lettuce leaves, a sliced pear or new-season apple and a mild dressing of hazelnut or olive oil and lemon juice.

The same dough you use for éclairs, this will puff up into buns that you can then cool, split and fill with cream and fruit. This makes 8 large buns, but you could make them half the size if you wanted something more delicate, in which case you should cut the baking time to about 25-30 minutes. The buns do not store well, so you do want to eat them the day they are made.

Serves 8. Ready in 2 hours.

water 250ml

butter 100g

strong white flour 150g

salt a generous pinch

eggs 4

icing sugar to finish

For the filling:

double cream 500ml

orange or lemon curd 300g

ripe peaches 4

Heat the oven to 200C/gas 6. Line a baking sheet with a piece of baking parchment. Place a second baking sheet on the oven.

Pour the water into a small, deep saucepan, add the butter then leave it to melt over a moderate heat. Stir in the flour and a generous pinch of salt. Using a wooden spoon, stir until you have a thick, beige paste.

Transfer the paste to the bowl of a food mixer fitted with a flat beater attachment. Break the eggs in a small jug, beat lightly with a fork to mix, then, with the beater turning, introduce them slowly to the paste. Keep beating, increasing the speed, until thick and glossy.

When you have a thick, creamy dough, place 8 large spoonfuls on to the lined baking sheet, allowing enough space between them to rise and spread. Place the sheet of buns on top of the hot baking sheet in the oven and cook for about 30-35 minutes, until golden, crisp and puffed up.

Place the puffs on a cooling rack and leave till thoroughly cool.

(If you would like very crisp shells, then slice each bun across the horizon, place cut side up on the baking sheet and return to the oven for 5-10 minutes, then cool on a wire cooling rack and fill as below.)

To make the filling, pour the cream into a chilled mixing bowl then whisk until it is thick enough to stand in soft peaks. Gently stir in the fruit curd. I like to do this only until the cream is lightly marbled, so you have visible ribbons of curd.

Using a small knife, slice the top half off each bun. Divide the fruit cream between the bottom buns. Halve, stone and slice the peaches, then tuck the slices into the cream. Gently replace the top of buns and dust heavily with icing sugar to finish.

• Make sure to use a strong white flour. This will help the buns rise and give them a crisper texture, less likely to collapse.

• You can use other fillings, such as crème pâtissière.

• It’s also easy to flavour the filling with very finely chopped pistachios or chopped dark chocolate.

• You could gild the lily by icing the tops with a little glacé icing, made with lemon juice and icing sugar.