“Courtesan Au Chocholat" from “The Grand Budapest Hotel"

Last Saturday, we had the pleasure of demonstrating techniques on making the "Courtesans au Chocolat" at Williams-Sonoma in NY city.  

A "Courtesan Au Chocolat" is the famed pastry featured in 2015 Oscar award winning, "The Grand Budapest Hotel".  The “Courtesan" is a colorful play on the well loved "Religieuse" pastry of France. The pastries are comprised of choux buns filled with sweet cream, then dipped in colorful glazes, then finally assembled one on top of the other for a beautiful effect, resembling quite a bit, like a little doll.

Below is our adaption of the pastry, as demonstrated at Williams-Sonoma. Have a look,   give it a try and tell us what you think!

Choux Pastry Ganache Filling Sugar Glaze

Ingredients

Butter (cubed, unsalted) 100 g (3.5 oz)

Flour (sifted) 150 g (5.3 oz)

Eggs (room temperature, lightly whisked) 4

Water 250 ml (8.5 oz)

Salt 1 teaspoon

Sugar 1 teaspoon

Instructions

1.

Combine water, butter, salt, and sugar in a saucepan. Heat until just boiling.

2.

Take off heat, mix flour in until all the water is absorbed.

3.

Return to heat and cook for a couple of minutes until the mixture comes together really well and there's a light residue at the bottom of the pan (usually around 3 minutes or until mixture reaches 80°C)

4.

Remove from heat, continue stirring to let mixture cool a little.

5.

Add eggs one at a time, mixing, fully incorporating each before adding the next. The choux mixture is at the right consistency when it is smooth, glossy and drops from the spoon slowly leaving an elongated V.

6.

Fill piping bag with the mixture and pipe round balls of two sizes - 4 cm (1.5") and 3 cm (1")

7.

Sprinkle with icing sugar

8.

Bake in oven at approximately 380°C

9.

Take out of oven after 40 minutes

Ingredients

Milk Chocolate (buttons) 150 g (5.3 oz)

Cream 120 g (3.5 oz)

Vanilla Extract 1 teaspoon

Instructions

1.

Warm chocolate in a bowl until half melted

2.

Bring cream with extract to a boil

3.

Pour boiling cream over the chocolate. Let sit for a minute.

4.

Stir the cream into the chocolate slowly until well mixed. Place plastic wrap tightly over ganache, sealing well. Let sit for a few hours.

5.

Warm slightly to soft consistency, when ready to fill choux pastry.

Sugar Glaze

Confectioners Sugar (sifted) 250g (8oz)

Milk 80 gms (2oz)

Vanilla Extract 1 teaspoon

Food Coloring of choice

1.

Warm Milk with Vanilla extract in saucepan.

2.

Add Confectioners Sugar to milk slowly whisking to incorporate well.

3.

Separate into bowls and food coloring to each.

4.

Warm glaze over a bain-marie when ready to dip choux pastries.