The only times I ever really pull out the green food coloring are Christmas and St. Patrick’s Day…and even then it’s with a modicum of restraint–so no green velvet cake (just picture for a moment the inside of one’s mouth after a eating a slice of that), no green bagels (we’re talking about an unnatural, non-vegetal shade of green), nor green beer (why?).
I’m okay with green Creme de Menthe liqueur, but only because it imparts a nice minty flavor and just enough color to curtail the need for additional food dye. A chef instructor in culinary school once proclaimed, “If the color doesn’t exist in nature, then it does’t belong in food.” Mind you, this was the same guy who had us pipe out swirly mounds of beet-dyed pink mashed potatoes (I swear it looked like soft-serve fro-yo) next to slabs of chicken paillard because he thought the “blue-haired tourists” coming through the dining room would get a kick out of it. My personal view is that food coloring is fine so long as it enhances the overall sensory experience and doesn’t detract from one’s enjoyment of the food itself. And you should know by now, I’m all about the feast.
This year’s St. Paddy’s-themed bake sale was about a celebration of Irish flavors–Guinness Beef and Vegetable Pasty, Mocha Choux Puff with Bailey’s Creme, Leek and Mushroom Quiche—with a few pops of green here and there in the form of Grasshopper Cheesecake-Swirled Brownies and green-tinted white chocolate Iced Shamrock Sugar Cookies.
The star of the show, hands down, were my Irish Beer Cheese Stuffed Pretzel Buns, an Irish spin on a popular Octoberfest-themed specialty, featuring Kerrygold Dubliner Cheese and Irish lager. Nothing embodies the festive pub spirit of St. Paddy’s like the confluence of beer, cheese and pretzels.
Take a soft-baked pretzel bun flecked with sea salt, split it open, then pipe in liquid (Kerry)gold–what’s not to like?
If you want to take it up a notch, make it into more of a meal, sandwich in a pan-fried Irish banger…and add a side of green beans. You’re welcome.
To celebrate St. Paddy’s this year, embrace the flavors of Ireland and leave the green food coloring on the shelf. You may not be gathering with a raucous crowd of revelers in a pub this year but you can always raise a glass and settle in for a binge fest of Derry Girls on Netflix.
For my Irish Beer Cheese Stuffed Pretzel Buns, I made a couple of adjustments to my previous recipe, like using Irish lager and a higher proportion of Kerrygold Dubliner Cheese to Dutch Gouda. I still like using some Dutch Gouda for its creamy texture. Instead of creating a tunnel in the middle of the pretzel bun to pipe in the beer cheese, which was a somewhat messy endeavor, I found splitting the bun along the side allowed for maximum cheese filling…and who doesn’t want more cheese?
If you’re not stuffed enough after the beer cheese, bangers, and pretzels, try making my Mocha Choux Puffs with Bailey’s Creme. The process of making the choux with craqueline is similar to the one I detailed in my previous post about pate a choux. I altered the recipe slightly because I was baking larger sized flavored puffs which took a bit longer to bake.
Mocha Chour Puffs with Bailey’s Creme
Yield: 12 large puffs
Craqueline
- 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/3 c. sugar
- 2 T. brown sugar
- 3/4 c. + 2 T. all-purpose flour
- 2 T. cocoa
- 1/2 t. instant coffee
- pinch of sea salt
- Beat together butter and sugars until creamy and smooth.
- Sift together dry ingredients and mix into the butter/sugar to form a smooth dough.
- Wrap the dough in plastic and chill for at least 1 hour.
Choux Batter
- 1/2 c. brewed coffee
- 1/2 c. whole milk
- 4 T. unsalted butter
- 1/4 t. sea salt
- 1/2 t. sugar
- 1 1/3 c. + 1 T. bread flour
- 1 T. cocoa powder
- 1/4 t. baking powder
- 4 large eggs, slightly beaten + 1-2 egg whites*
- egg wash (1 egg beaten w/ 1 T. water)
- Combine coffee, milk, butter, salt, and sugar in a medium size heavy bottom pot and bring to a simmer.
- Sift together flour, cocoa, and baking powder. When the liquid comes to a full boil, dump all the dry ingredients into the pot at once, then stir vigorously with a wooden spoon to form a shaggy mass. Continue stirring and cooking the dough on low heat until a dry film develops on the bottom on the pot.
- Remove pot from the heat. Beat in the the egg mixture either by hand with wooden spoon or with an electric hand mixer a little at a time, stopping periodically to scrape down the sides of the pan. *Alternatively, you can transfer the hot dough into a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat until the batter is velvety smooth, adding in the extra egg white as needed to achieved the right consistency. Batter should hang in a “V” shape when paddle or spoon is lifted vertically.
- Fill a pastry bag fitted with a 3/4″ round tip about 2/3 full. Holding the tip perpendicular to the surface, pipe 2 1/2″ rounds onto a parchment-lined baking sheet (tacked down at the corners with a litter batter).
- Lightly brush the surface of each mound with a little eggwash.
- Preheat the oven to 375F degrees.
- Roll the chilled craqueline dough out to just shy of 1/4″ thickness between two sheets of parchment paper. Punch out 12 circles approximately the same diameter at the piped choux rounds.
- Place the disks on top of the choux.
- Bake the choux for 35-40 mins., until they are puffed and tops are crisp and crackled. Remove the puffs from the oven and make a slit with the tip of a paring knife along the sides to help the steam escape.
Bailey’s Creme
- 5 T. cornstarch
- 1/3 c. sugar
- 1/8 t. sea salt
- 4 large yolks
- 2 c. whole milk
- 1 t. vanilla extract or vanilla paste
- 1/2 t. instant coffee or espresso powder
- 1/4 c. Bailey’s Irish Creme
- 2 T. unsalted butter
- 1 c. heavy cream
- Combine 2 T. sugar with milk in a medium heavy bottom sauce pan and bring to a boil.
- Meanwhile, whisk together cornstarch, yolks, salt, instant coffee, and remaining sugar until smooth and pale yellow.
- Gradually temper some of the hot milk into the egg mixture, then return everything into the pan.
- Cook custard on medium low heat, whisk constantly, until very thick and it begins to slowly bubble. Continue cooking for another 30 seconds.
- Remove from the heat, then whisk in vanilla, Bailey’s, and butter. Transfer custard into a bowl and press a layer of plastic wrap onto the surface to prevent skin from forming. Chill in the refrigerator for at least one hour.
- Whip cream to medium firm peaks. Fold into chilled custard.
- Split the cooled choux puffs in half horizontally. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2″ star tip with the creme and pipe 1″ tall rosettes into the bottom half of each puff, cover the piped filling with the top half. Finish puffs with a dusting of powdered sugar.