Tonkatsu is hubby's favourite because he has such a cute and sad back story, and looks really cute too. And of course I had to include Tonkatsu's favourite pal, Ebi.
I have to admit that this set wasn't entirely the easiest to work with due to the shape. It would have been easier if everyone was just a round choux bun lol. Creating them oval shaped requires me to make my own template for cutting out the cookie dough for craquelin instead of using regular round cookie cutters. Piping the choux pastry batter and baking was also a challenge as I had to balance between retaining the colour while at the same time not have the pastry case collapse in the oven. It helps to keep the size of the piped batter less than 3.5cm to fulfil both criteria.
Please refer to this post for the detailed recipe for the craquelin and choux pastry batter, and guide for baking conditions. I didn't take many photos while working on this project. But here is the photo for the craquelin I cut out using homemade templates. As a rule of thumb, I usually cut the craquelin about 5 to 6mm larger than the area of piped batter.
I used my default chocolate pastry cream recipe as it is not too sweet, not too cloying but nice and chocolatey. I lighten the pastry cream with whipped cream to lighten the texture.
Top picture shows the rich chocolate pastry cream and whipped cream. Bottom picture shows the two combined
Hubby loved his present and savoured the pastries over a few days 😊.
With lots of love,
Phay Shing
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