'Huff and Puffs'!

Ready to bake puffs and eclairs


Stirring custards


An aromatherapy treatment; filling eclairs with luscious lavender custard



I named this Vanilla cream puff and Lavender éclair workshop ‘Huff and Puff’ because it reminds me of my intern days in Grand Hyatt’s pastry kitchen.

As a newbie, i was given ‘simple tasks’. One of my main duties for a couple of months was to make cream puffs & éclairs. Making hundreds and sometimes thousands of cream puffs/éclairs is a daily affair and i was soon weary of my ‘mundane task’. I huffed and puffed my way through the first few months of my internship... I was made a ‘puff expert’ through these training, I’m an one-women cream puff n éclair machine!

To get a perfect puff, the piping technique is crucial. A good puff has gotta to be hollow, crisp on the outside and moist inside It’s amazing how a thick gluey butter, flour and egg paste can puff up in less than 15 minutes in the oven.

The ‘proof’ here is also in the custard. Nowadays it’s hard to find good puffs with decent fresh custard. Many establishments use cheap instant custard, a pre-mix powder that requires a bit of mixing and some water... Instant custards often taste flat and have either too watery or hard texture. Making your own custard is a breeze. All u need is a few pantry items such as milk, sugar, custard powder and a natural favouring. In this workshop, i used vanilla pods and lavender flowers to impart flavour to my custards. Simply infuse the vanilla pod/ lavender flowers by boiling it with milk for a couple of minutes, let it stand and use this aromatic milk to make the custard. Try other flavours such as camomile, coffee or earl grey, the options are endless!

Oh one more important point, I've made healthier puffs and eclairs by using low-fat high calcium milk. Just so that we dont have to "Huff and Puff' in the gym the morning after! ;)
Enjoy!