Salted Egg Yolk Cream Puffs

I brought back a new ingredient when I went back to Singapore recently – salted egg yolks in powder form!

What is Salted Egg?

Salted egg is a preserved food product. It is made by soaking duck eggs in brine or packing them in damp, salted charcoal. The resulting egg will have a white that is salty and a yolk that is rich, fatty and slightly less salty. The entire egg is usually hard-boiled and served with congee. I have a special love for the yolk because it is a lot more delicious! The yolk can be steamed and use whole in Chinese mooncakes, or mashed and combined with other ingredients like butter, cream and/or milk to create a custard to fill in buns or a sauce that is incredibly yummy over fries, seafood, fried food etc.

As much as I love salted egg yolks, I seldom buy them because usually a salted egg yolk sauce recipe will require 3 or 4 egg yolks and it’s a pain to find ways to use up the leftover egg whites. Hence imagine my delight when I found this new product at the supermarket! It’s a little bit pricey, but I love the convenience (especially since we are living overseas). So the first thing I made with the salted egg yolk powder are these Salted Egg Yolk Cream Puffs!

Cream Puff Components

The Salted Egg Yolk Cream Puffs consist of 3 components – the croustillant, the choux and the salted egg yolk pastry cream. Croustillant means “crisp” in French, and in cream puffs (aka choux), it is the crunchy topping on top. Croustillant provides cream puffs with a crunch and makes them look pretty. It also helps the choux to puff up nice and round without cracking.

I use the same choux recipe that I’ve been using since a long time ago. I piped small mounds of 3.5-cm diameter as I don’t want the overall puff to feel too rich and heavy. The croustillant are cut into 3.5-cm rounds and placed on top before baking. It is important they are the same size so that the croustillant covers the top of the choux completely.

I got the idea on how to make the salted egg yolk pastry cream for Sumopocky. I first made a salted egg yolk paste with milk, butter and salted egg yolk powder. The paste is then incorporated into a plain pastry cream base. The powder is not as salty as the regular salted eggs, hence the resulting pastry cream will not be overly salty.

The Salted Egg Yolk Cream Puffs are very interesting because we have never had a cream puff with a savoury filling. Unfortunately X was not a fan of them because he doesn’t like his desserts savoury. However, my friend and her husband enjoyed this new choux flavour. As for me, I like them in moderation as they have a unique and interesting flavour. But because I’m a boring person, I still prefer my cream puffs filled with classic vanilla pastry cream or chocolate pastry cream.

Nevertheless, I think these Salted Egg Yolk Cream Puffs will be a special and one-of-a-kind dessert. If you love everything salted egg yolk, give these cream puffs a try! Here are the step-by-step photos and the recipe is at the end of the post!

Step-by-step Photos
Croustillant: 1) Combine softened butter, sugar and flour together into a dough.	Croustillant: 2) Roll it out between two sheets of silpat until 2-mm thick. Freeze until firm and cut 3.5-cm rounds with a cutter. Keep them frozen until required.
Salted Egg Yolk Paste: 1) Place milk and butter in a small pot and bring mixture to a boil.	Salted Egg Yolk Paste: 2) Remove from heat and whisk in the salted egg yolk powder until a thick paste is formed.
Salted Egg Yolk Pastry Cream: 1) Whisk egg yolks and sugar with a wire whisk in a small bowl.	Salted Egg Yolk Pastry Cream: 2) Whisk in the flour.
Salted Egg Yolk Pastry Cream: 3) Bring milk and salt to a simmer and whisk into the egg yolk mixture.	Salted Egg Yolk Pastry Cream: 4) Return mixture to a pot and cook, whisking constantly, until the pastry cream thickens and come to a boil.
Salted Egg Yolk Pastry Cream: 5) Remove the pot from heat and whisk in the Salted Egg Yolk Paste.	Salted Egg Yolk Pastry Cream: 6) Transfer to a clean bowl, cover with clingfilm or parchment and chill completely in the refrigerator.
Choux: 1) Combine milk, water, butter, sugar and salt in a pot and bring to a boil.	Choux: 2) Add the flour in all at one go and stir quickly and vigorously to mix in all the flour to form a dough. Cook the dough until a thin film of dough forms at the bottom of the pot. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
Choux: 3) Beat in the eggs in four parts.	Choux: 4) The choux batter is ready when it drops down to form a "V" shape. (Used an old photo to illustrate this.)
Choux: 5) Pipe 3.5-cm mounds of choux onto the baking sheet.	Choux: 6) Place 1 croustillant round on top of each choux, pressing it down slightly.
Choux: 7) Bake at 180C / 355F for 20 minutes, until the dough is well-risen. Reduce the heat down to 150C / 300F, open the oven door to release the steam and close the oven door. Bake for another 20 minutes until the choux is dry, crisp and golden brown.	Assembly: 1) Whip the cream into semi-stiff peaks and fold into the pastry cream. Transfer pastry cream into a piping bag and piped into the cooled choux.

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Salted Egg Yolk Cream Puffs

Prep Time1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr

Total Time2 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

0.511.523

EQUIPMENT

• 3.5-cm round cookie cutter
• Electric Mixer
• Oven
• Piping bag
• Pots and mixing bowls
• Rolling Pin
• Silpat / Parchment paper
• Spatula
• Whisk

INGREDIENTS

 

MetricImperial

Croustillant (Crunchy Topping)

• ▢ 50 grams unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
• ▢ 50 grams caster sugar
• ▢ 50 grams all-purpose flour

Salted Egg Yolk Paste

• ▢ 60 grams milk
• ▢ 60 grams unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
• ▢ 60 grams salted egg yolk powder

Salted Egg Yolk Pastry Cream

• ▢ 2 egg yolks
• ▢ 50 grams caster sugar
• ▢ 20 grams all-purpose flour
• ▢ 250 grams milk
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon salt
• ▢ Salted Egg Yolk Paste, as above

Choux

• ▢ 50 grams milk
• ▢ 50 grams water
• ▢ 40 grams unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
• ▢ 1 teaspoon caster sugar
• ▢ 1/4 teaspoon salt
• ▢ 70 grams all-purpose flour, sifted onto a large parchment paper
• ▢ 100 grams egg

Assembly

• ▢ 100 grams cream, minimum 30% fat content

INSTRUCTIONS

Croustillant (Crunchy Topping)

• Combine softened butter, sugar and flour together in a mixing bowl with a wooden spoon or stiff spatula until a soft dough is formed.
• Roll out the dough with a rolling pin between two sheets of silpat or parchment paper until the dough is very thin, about 2-mm thick. (Note that you may need to divide the dough into 2 portions if your silpat is half sheet pan size 46x33-cm).
• Gently peel off the top layer of the silpat / parchment paper and use a 3.5-cm round cutter to cut as many rounds as possible. Freeze the croustillant in the freezer until needed. (See Note 1.)

Salted Egg Yolk Paste

• Place milk and butter in a small pot. Cook over low heat, stirring frequently with a spatula, until the butter has melted. Turn up the heat and bring the mixture to a boil.
• Remove from heat and use a wire whisk to whisk in the salted egg yolk powder until a thick paste is formed. Set aside.

Salted Egg Yolk Pastry Cream

• Whisk egg yolks and sugar with a wire whisk in a small bowl. Whisk in the flour. Set aside.
• Heat milk and salt in a pot over high heat until it starts to simmer. Pour the hot milk in a thin stream into the egg-yolk mixture while whisking continuously until all the hot milk is added, making sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl to mix everything thoroughly.
• Pour the milk and egg yolk mixture back into the pot and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly. The mixture will be thin and frothy with lots of bubbles on the surface but it will soon thicken. When the mixture starts to thicken, remove the pot from heat and whisk rigorously until the mixture is homogenous. Return the pot back to the heat and whisk constantly until the pastry cream boils - big bubbles will start popping out of the pastry cream.
• Remove the pot from heat and whisk in the Salted Egg Yolk Paste. Scrape the mixture into a clean, dry bowl (the larger the better, so it cools down faster.) If there are lumps, strain the pastry cream through a sieve. Press a piece of parchment paper or plastic wrap onto the surface of the pastry cream and chill completely in the refrigerator, about 1 hour.

Choux

• Preheat oven to 180C / 355F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat. Dip the 3.5-cm round cutter (the one used to cut the croustillant) into flour and make markings on the baking sheet. Have all the ingredients measured and ready.
• Combine milk, water, butter, sugar and salt in a pot. Heat the mixture over low heat until all the butter has melted. Turn up the heat to high and bring the mixture to a rolling boil, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon. Immediately remove the pot from heat, add in the flour in one go and stir quickly and vigorously with a wooden spoon to mix in all the flour to form a dough.
• Once all the flour has mixed in, return to medium-low heat and continue cooking the choux, mixing with the wooden spoon to dry out the dough a little bit. The dough is ready when a thin film of dough forms at the bottom of the pot. Do not scrape the film of dough formed at the bottom of the pot up. Remove the pot from heat and transfer the dough into a clean mixing bowl and let cool for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Using an electric mixer on low speed or with the wooden spoon, add in the beaten eggs in 4 parts, mixing well after adding each part of egg. The choux batter is ready when it will drop down from the beaters or the wooden spoon and form a "V" shape. If the choux batter is still too stiff, beat in milk, tablespoon by tablespoon until the right consistency is obtained.
• Transfer the choux into a piping bag fitted with a round tip (maximum 1.5-cm big). Pipe 3.5-cm mounds of choux onto the baking sheet.
• Remove the frozen croustillant from the freezer and working quickly, use an offset spatula to loosen the croustillant rounds and place one on each piped choux, pressing it down slightly.
• Bake at 180C / 355F for 20 minutes, until the dough is well-risen - do not open the oven door at all during this period to check on the choux. Reduce the heat down to 150C / 300F, open the oven door to release the steam and close the oven door quickly. (Do this quickly so that the oven temperature don't drop too much.) Bake for another 20 minutes until the choux is dry, crisp and golden brown.
• Remove the choux from the oven. Turn the choux over and use a piping tip to poke holes to release excess steam. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely before filling with pastry cream.

Assembly

• Whip the cream (either with a hand mixer or manually with a wire whisk) until semi-stiff peaks are formed.
• Remove the pastry cream from the refrigerator - it will be quite firm at this point so use a wire whisk and whisk gently to make it smooth. Don't whisk too much as the pastry cream will become watery. Gently fold in the whipped cream.
• Transfer the pastry cream into a piping bag and fill the choux with pastry cream.

NOTES

1. If you can't peel off the silpat / parchment paper without the croustillant sticking to the top side, freeze the croustillant briefly for 15 minutes and try again.
2. To ensure the croustillant stays crunchy, the cream puffs are best eaten as soon as possible after they are filled, so try to fill them only at the last minute. Both the choux and salted egg yolk pastry cream (without the whipped cream) can be made a day ahead. Store the choux in an airtight container at room temperature and the pastry cream in the refrigerator. If the choux is soft the next day, they can be re-crisped in a 175C / 350F oven for 5 to 10 minutes. Fold in the whipped cream into the pastry cream just before filling.
3. Salted egg yolk filling inspired by Sumopocky

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