Recipe: Paris Brest

This recipe makes two small, or one large to serve 4 to 6 people. To learn how to make choux pastry, click here.

2 Tbsp	Icing sugar, up to 4 Tbsp
7	Strawberries, or 100g cherries
250 ml	Fresh cream, or mascarpone
2 Tbsp	Berry fruit coulis, see recipe below

Make the choux pastry following this recipe.
Preheat the oven to 200C and line a baking sheet with baking paper.
Place the choux in a piping bag with nozzle and pipe the choux into one large ring 10cm in diameter or two small rings of 5-6cm in diameter.
Pipe a second ring inside the first so that they are touching. Pipe a third ring on top of both so that they are “glued” together. If you have more paste, pipe a fourth ring adjacent to the third.
Or use two dessert spoons to make a ring of connected balls 10cm in diameter or two small rings of 5-6cm in diameter.
Bake in the oven at 200C for 30 minutes, until golden. Remove from the oven.
With a serrated knife, cut between the top and bottom rings. Lift off the top ring. If there is a lot of uncooked paste, you can scrape this out.
Return the two rings to the oven to crispen up for another 5 minutes, then cool.
To serve, place on a plate and spoon in the strawberry cream (recipe below) and drizzle with icing sugar. Serve with coulis (recipe below).

Hull the strawberries and cut into quarters or pit the cherries. Sprinkle with 1-2 Tbsp icing sugar
Add 1-2 Tbsp icing sugar to the cream and whip until soft.
Fold through the strawberries or cherries and 2 Tbsp berry fruit coulis for colour.

In a pan, heat the sugar, fruit and water until soft.
Allow to cool, then purée and sieve.
The coulis should be the consistency of a thin sauce. This can keep for several weeks in the refrigerator.