Chou a la Créme

Chou a la créme has to be one of most people's all time favourite. It's great for tea time and even supper!
We all know, Japanese make the greatest ( to me so far) cream puffs, as they have their high quality of diary products, as well as their excellent skills of making chou pastries. I remember my very first time tasting Japanese chou créme was in Tokyo, at the Narita village, where nearby the train station there stood a small little bakery shop that were forever packed with customers and not to say, it's for their famous cottony soft cream puffs! The texture of the chou pastry were simply awesome and cottony soft and light. Custard and whipped cream fillings were their best seller. I could never forget the taste and texture till today, and the sad thing is the owner no longer run the bakery due to old age. Heard from some of my ex Japanese colleague, the chef were looking for new owner to take over the business, and he was willing to pass on his skills!!!! How could I not heard about that while I was still working, I would definitely want to be his student, and carry on with the good  things which he had been sharing with us?! What a regret, and missing the cream puffs every now and then.

 This is a recipe from a Japanese cook book, that is all about cream puffs, and of course this is no where close to that cottony chou pastry like the little shop at Narita. But, I made it up with the whipping cream  from Japan and home cooked custard sauce. Other than the cottony chou pastry, I think it's quite a delicious cream puff though.

Made the custard cream with vanilla pod, that gives the natural taste and love the tiny black seeds of the vanilla! :)