Conitos de Crema Yucatecos

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Metal cream-horn molds or sturdy parchment-and-cardboard cones
• •Heavy-bottomed 2-quart saucepan for the choux
• •Stand mixer with paddle attachment, or a strong arm and a wide bowl
• •Piping bag with 1/2-inch plain tip for the dough
• •Piping bag with small star or plain tip for filling
• •Fine-mesh sieve for straining the cream and dusting sugar

Instructions

1. 1

   Build the cream cones

   Cut 18 to 20 squares of parchment, about 5 inches on each side. Roll each square into a cone around a metal cream-horn mold, or shape your own cones from heavy cardboard wrapped in parchment. Secure the seam with a staple or a small piece of tape on the outside. Brush the outside of each parchment cone lightly with butter. These are your forms. Without them, you have eclairs.

   In Mérida the pastry shops use tin cones passed down for decades. If you do not have metal molds, the parchment-around-cardboard method works and that is how home cooks have always done it.
2. 2

   Start the crema pastelera

   Pour the 2 cups of milk into a heavy saucepan. Add the split vanilla bean with its scrapings, the strip of lime zest, and the cinnamon stick. Warm over medium-low heat until the milk shows the first wisps of movement at the edges, about five minutes. Do not let it boil. Pull it off the heat and let it sit covered for fifteen minutes. The milk needs to take on the vanilla, the lime, and the canela. This infusion is what makes the cream Yucatecan and not a generic French pastry cream.

3. 3

   Make the pâte à choux

   Combine the 1 cup of milk, the butter, the tablespoon of sugar, and the half teaspoon of salt in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a full boil over medium heat. The butter must be completely melted before the milk boils, so do not rush the heat. The moment it boils, dump in all the sifted flour at once and stir hard with a wooden spoon. The mixture will look ragged for ten seconds and then come together into a smooth ball that pulls away from the sides of the pan.

4. 4

   Dry the panade

   Keep the dough over medium heat and stir constantly for two to three more minutes. A thin film will form on the bottom of the pan. That film is what you want. You are cooking out the water so the dough can take more egg, and more egg is what gives the conitos their puff. Transfer the hot dough to a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, or to a wide bowl if working by hand. Beat for one minute to let it cool slightly.

5. 5

   Add the eggs one at a time

   Add the four eggs one at a time, beating until each is fully absorbed before adding the next. After the first egg the dough will look slick and broken. Keep going. By the fourth egg it should be glossy, smooth, and fall from the paddle in a thick V-shaped ribbon. If it falls in clumps, the dough is too dry. Beat in another egg yolk loosened with a teaspoon of water. The texture is the recipe, not the egg count.

   Choux is forgiving in some ways and merciless in others. Underbeaten dough will not rise. Overhydrated dough will collapse. The V-ribbon test is more reliable than any measurement.
6. 6

   Pipe and bake the cones

   Heat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Stand the parchment cones, point down, in a sheet pan lined with a wire rack so they hold upright, or lay them on their sides on a parchment-lined sheet. Transfer the dough to a piping bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain tip. Pipe the dough in a spiral around each cone, starting at the point and working up, until the form is fully covered in a smooth, even layer about 1/4 inch thick. Brush the outside lightly with the egg wash. Bake for 25 minutes, then lower the heat to 350°F (175°C) and bake 10 minutes more, until deep golden brown and hollow-sounding when tapped. Do not open the oven in the first 20 minutes. The puff will collapse.

7. 7

   Finish the crema pastelera

   While the conitos bake, finish the cream. Fish out the cinnamon stick, the lime zest, and the vanilla pod from the infused milk. Bring the milk back to a bare simmer. In a separate bowl, whisk the 5 egg yolks with the 2/3 cup sugar, the cornstarch, and the salt until pale and smooth. Pour the hot milk into the yolks in a thin stream, whisking constantly. Return the whole mixture to the saucepan.

8. 8

   Cook the cream to a pudding

   Cook over medium heat, whisking without stopping, until the cream thickens and the first big bubble breaks the surface, about three minutes. Let it bubble for one full minute more, whisking the whole time. This cooks out the cornstarch. Pull off the heat and whisk in the butter until it disappears. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean bowl. Press plastic wrap directly onto the surface and chill for at least one hour, until cold and set.

9. 9

   Unmold the conitos

   When the choux cones are completely cool, gently twist the parchment forms out from inside. The shells should slide off clean and feel light, almost hollow. If a shell feels damp inside, slit it with a paring knife and return it to a 325°F oven for five minutes to dry. A wet shell will turn soggy the moment it meets the cream. Así se hace y punto.

10. 10

    Fill and dust

    Whisk the chilled crema pastelera smooth and transfer it to a piping bag fitted with a small star or plain tip. Pipe the cream into each conito from the open end, filling all the way to the rim so the cream peaks slightly at the opening. Dust the tops generously with powdered sugar through a fine-mesh sieve. Eat them the day they are filled. A conito that sits overnight loses its crisp and there is no fixing it. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Use canela de Ceylán, the soft pale cinnamon sold in Mexican grocers as canela verdadera. Cassia bark, the hard dark stuff most American supermarkets sell as cinnamon, is a different spice and will turn the cream harsh. Cada estado, su propia cocina, and Yucatán uses the real one.
• •Papantla vanilla bean from Veracruz is non-negotiable if you can find it. Mexican vanilla has a deeper, almost smoky note that extract cannot reproduce. If you must substitute, use a tablespoon of good Mexican vanilla extract and accept the compromise.
• •The cream must be completely cold before it touches the shells. Warm cream steams the inside of the choux and turns the crisp into a sponge. Make the cream the night before if you have to.
• •Conitos do not keep. They are a same-day pastry. If you need to make ahead, bake the shells in the morning, hold them in an airtight container, and fill them within an hour of serving. No me vengas con atajos.

Advance Preparation

• •The crema pastelera can be made one day ahead, pressed with plastic wrap directly on the surface, and held in the refrigerator. Whisk it smooth before filling.
• •The baked choux shells can be made the morning of serving and held in an airtight container at room temperature. Do not refrigerate the shells; they will turn soggy.
• •Fill the conitos within one hour of serving. Filled conitos do not survive overnight, and a Yucatecan baker would never sell you a yesterday's conito.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 78g)