Halloween Pumpkin Eye Ball Choux Recipe
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90 minutes prep time
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60 minutes cook time
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Intermediate
Shock and stun your guests by emerging from the kitchen with a plate full of gory, bloodshot pumpkin eye ball choux buns. The light, buttery choux pastry in this Halloween pumpkin eye ball choux bun recipe is filled with a spiced pumpkin pastry cream and topped with decorative fondant.
We've included a little recipe to make your own fondant. Fondant keeps for up to a year in the fridge so can be used for multiple recipes. If you're short on time though, just buy pre-made fondant and dilute it with the simple syrup in this recipe. Bite into the eye ball choux buns and the orange pumpkin oozes out - you couldn't get any more gory than that!
For the choux pastry Serves: 8
- 65ml water
- 65ml milk
- 50g butter, in cubes, plus a little extra for greasing
- 2g salt
- 4g sugar
- 75g plain flour, sifted
- 110g eggs, around 2 large eggs
- Disposable piping bag
- Round nozzle, 8 mm
- Small pâtisserie brush
For the pumpkin pastry cream
- 150g pumpkin purée
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground ginger
- 250ml whole milk
- 70g caster sugar
- 20g corn flour (or custard powder)
- 2 large egg yolks (around 40g yolk)
- 40g unsalted butter, in cubes
- Disposable piping bag
For the eyeball fondant icing
- 500g caster sugar
- 100g water
- Superfast thermapen thermometer
- Natural black food colour
- Green food colour
- Red food colour
- 100g caster sugar
- 100g water
To make the choux pastry
- Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Grease two baking trays with butter.
- Heat the water, milk, butter, salt and caster sugar in a pan until the butter has melted.
- Away from the heat immediately tip in the flour and, using a wooden spoon, beat to combine.
- Move the pan back on the hob over a low heat, and stir the mixture (known as a ‘panade’) until it comes away easily from the sides of the pan.
- Remove from the heat, tip into a bowl and stir for 2-3 minutes until the mixture cools enough to add the egg.
- Add half the eggs in one go and beat vigorously to combine. Then slowly add the remaining egg, little by little – you may not need to use all of it! Keep checking the consistency. The mixture is ready when it looks very silky, and will drop from a spoon held at an angle above the mixture – ‘dropping consistency’ . It shouldn’t be runny.
- Place the nozzle in the piping bag and fill with the mixture. Pipe 3cm diameter rounds on the baking parchment.
- Use a pastry brush dipped in any remaining egg to gently pat the surface of the choux pastry. Try to make the shape more regular without flattening it too much.
- Bake for 15 minutes at 200°C. Be sure not to open the oven for the first ten minutes as the choux buns may deflate.
- Note: The choux buns can be frozen raw directly on the baking trays, after they are piped. When the piped mixture is firm, feel free to bunch them in closer together or store in a box to make more room in the freezer. Simply add 2-3 minutes to the cooking time from frozen.
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To make the pumpkin cream
- In a bowl mix the pumpkin purée with the ground nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger.
- Next make the pastry cream. Place the milk and roughly half the sugar in a pan and bring to the boil.
- Meanwhile mix together the remaining sugar with the corn flour or custard powder. Add the egg yolk and mix with a whisk to make a thick paste.
- Pour a small amount of the boiling milk over the egg mixture, whisking constantly. Add it to the rest of the milk and return to the hob over a medium heat, whisking constantly. When it starts to boil reduce the heat whilst continuing to whisk for a minute in order to pasteurise the cream.
- Remove from the heat and add the cubes of butter along with the spiced pumpkin purée.
- Pour it onto a baking tray or plate covered in cling film. Cover with another layer of cling film and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
- Use the same round nozzle you used to pipe the pastry to make a small hole in the underside of each choux bun.
- Place the same nozzle in a piping bag and fill with the pumpkin pastry cream.
- Hold a choux bun in one hand and use your dominant hand to pipe the cream into it through the hole. Fill all the buns.
- Scrape away any excess that comes out of the holes and refrigerate whilst you prepare the fondant icing.
© Speciality Cooking Supplies Limited 2024
To make the fondant icing
- Begin by preparing a simple syrup using 100g water and 100g caster sugar. Bring the water and sugar to the boil in a pan. Set to one side and allow to cool.
- Place a bowl of cold tap water in the sink.
- For the fondant, bring the 500g caster sugar and 100g water to the boil in a pan.
- Using a thermapen thermometer, heat the syrup to 115°C.
- Cool the fondant syrup to 75°C by carefully placing the bottom of the pan in the bowl of cold water you have prepared in the sink. This will take a few minutes.
- Pour the fondant syrup into a stand mixer and, using the paddle attachment, beat hard for around 10 minutes until the fondant is white and solidified.
- Transfer ¾ of the fondant to a small pan.
- Using a spoon beat the fondant vigorously whilst heating it over a very low heat. The fondant should not exceed 35°C or it will not shine so it should not feel warm when you dip your finger in it.
- Add 1-2 teaspoons of the simple syrup and stir vigorously until the fondant is smooth and shiny. The fondant should not be too liquid or it will run everywhere when you try to ice the choux buns. Ice the buns by holding them upside down with the fingertips on one hand and lowering them into the fondant. Shake up and down to remove excess fondant and then set aside.
- Add black food colouring to a spoonful of the remaining white fondant until you have a smooth paste. Do the same with the green and red food colouring.
- Make three cornets out of baking parchment, fill with the black, green and red fondants respectively and decorate the buns with a pupil, iris and blood shot vessels.
- Refrigerate the choux buns until ready to serve, preferably the same day.
© Speciality Cooking Supplies Limited 2024
Note: Fondant will keep in the fridge for up to a year if wrapped tightly in cling film, so it can be reused again and again.
