Paris-Brest with Nutella Filling Recipe

Hi, I made Paris-Brest today. There are many choux (puff) based pastry in French pastry: choux buns, Paris-Brest, religieuses, éclairs, St-Honorés, etc. All of them are major items at pastry shops and major tea rooms in Paris.

Paris-Brest is normally made with praliné which has strong hazelnut flavor. So today I tried to make Paris-Brest with Nutella flavored whipped cream. It’s faster to make this way and the whipped cream is lighter than traditional praliné filling.

Yield 6 to 8 rings
Level: Intermediate
Prep time: 30 min
Cooking time: 25-35 min, depending on the size of each ring

Ingredients

For choux dough:

• ¼ cup unsalted butter (1/2 stick; 57 g)
• ½ cup water (120 ml)
• ½ teaspoon salt (2.5 g)
• 3/5 cup cake flour (75 g) (or all-purpose flour)
• 2 eggs, medium-size

For filling:

• 1 cup whipping cream (240ml)
• 1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar
• 1 tablespoon Nutella
• 1 tablespoon  Peanut Butter

Directions

Pate a choux (Choux pastry)

In a pan, add in butter, salt, and water. On medium heat, melt the butter completely and bring it to a boil. In the meantime, in a mixing bowl, sift flour and set aside.

As soon as it starts to a boil, get the pan out of heat. Add flour all at once and with a wooden spoon, stir until combined.

Back to the heat, cook until it starts to form a ball. By now there should a thin layer on the bottom. So I use regular pans like these, not a non-stick pan. Out of heat, let cool for 5 minutes. (Never pour in egg mixture immediately out of heat. It will be cooked when it touches the bottom of the pan, which is the least wanted here.) Beat the eggs for one minute and add eggs little by little, blending well after each addition.

Keep beating until thick and shiny. The batter should drop off the spoon when shaken.

How to pipe in the dough

Put the choux dough into pastry bag fitted with about 0.4 inch (1cm) pastry tip and pipe out on a parchment paper. Follow the illustrated photos below.

Bake Bake at 390 degrees F (200 C) for 25 to 35 minutes, or until puffed and golden brown. Out of oven, let cool on a wire rack.

Make fillings In a mixing bowl, add in whipping cream and confectioners’ sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Divide the cream half and half. Add Nutella in one half. And add peanut butter in the other half. And whisk until combined. Peanut butter cream should hold itself well but Nutella might become a little liquidy after mixing.

Assemble With a serrated knife cut the choux in half horizontally. Then pipe in the filling between two disks. Don’t forget to insert a few small pieces of choux between two disks.

Serve Dust with confectioners’ sugar on top and serve.

 

 

 

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