Chocolate Piggy Choux Pastries

We just said goodbye to the Year of the Pig but that doesn't stop me from making these cute piggy choux pastries!

"We have piggitude!" 

I had a request to make some simple pig choux pastries but they should sport different facial expressions. I have made and taught pig choux pastry a year ago but I decided to inject a bit more life to them by giving them a range of expressions and changing the design of the ears a little.

You may refer to this post for detailed recipe of the craquelin and choux pastry batter. I coloured the batter and craquelin with some white powder colouring, orange and pink gel food colouring to create the peach colour. There is a step that I do slightly differently from the past, which is to use metal guides for rolling out the craquelin. I find this method results in more evenly thick craquelin than using the softer silicone guides that came with the rolling pin. I bought these 2.38mm thick metal guides from an art supplies store (Art Friend in Singapore)

Rolling out craquelin with metal guides. 

As usual, I recommend using perforated mats for baking the main case. Craquelin: 3cm diameter, piped batter:2.5cm diameter

Piped ears and snout. These are baked at 170°C for about 12 to 15min.

I cut a hole at the base of the pastry case this way to thoroughly dry out the insides at a 140°C oven for 20 min. This ensures that the pastry cases remains crisp. Don't discard the small round cutout. You may cover back the hole after filling the pastry cases 

You may refer to this post for video tutorial on how you can assemble a choux pastry character.

You may refer to this post for the chocolate pastry cream recipe that is rich flavour, light in texture but not too sweet.

If you have not tried your hand at making deco choux pastries, do give it a try! I love choux pastries for it's lower sugar content but rich flavours and wonderful textures! Remember to fill the pastries only just before consuming so your pastry cases remain crisp!

With love,
Phay Shing