Café Gramercy · Annette’s Recipe Box

Annette's Chocolate Religieuse

Fill both little choux before you stack them. The cream between the two holds the smaller one in place, like a hand on a shoulder.

Makes about 8 · Active 1 hour

Ingredients: choux (see the cream puffs), piped in one larger and one smaller round each · chocolate pastry cream (the éclair cream with 50 g melted dark chocolate stirred in) · chocolate glaze · a little buttercream for the collars

Method

Pipe and bake the choux in two sizes, a larger and a smaller for each religieuse. Cool them completely.
Fill both sizes with the chocolate pastry cream until they feel full and heavy.
Dip the tops of both in the chocolate glaze and let them set.
Set the small choux on the large one, a little cream between to seat it, and pipe a small collar of buttercream where they meet. She wears it like a little hat, and she is charming.