Coffee Choux Pastries with Poppy Seed Craquelin Layer

INSTRUCTIONS FOR CHOUX PASTRY

• 1
  In a pot, mix 135 g of water, milk, butter, sugar, and salt and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in the flour. Return to the stove and stir on low to medium heat (it requires strength and persistence) for about 2-3 minutes until the dough is smooth and compact and a film is attached to the bottom of the pot (but not burnt). The dough should look like a dense smooth mashed potato.
• 2
  Transfer to a mixing bowl and with a flat beater, mix on low speed for a few minutes until slightly cooled (it should not be hot, but still warm).
• 3
  Then mix in the eggs one by one. The resulting dough should have a creamy consistency. We need it to hold its shape on the baking sheet – so be careful with the last egg, observe how the dough looks after the 4th egg and if necessary, add only part of the beaten 5th egg. Conversely, if the dough is too thick, feel free to thin it with a little water (if you don't have any unused cracked egg on hand).
• 4
  Cover the dough with plastic wrap to prevent it from drying out (it must touch the surface) and let it cool.
• 5
  Quickly mix the ingredients for the poppy seed layer in a bowl with your hands and place in the fridge for 10 minutes. Then roll out a sheet 2-3 mm thick between two sheets of baking paper and place back in the fridge.
• 6
  Put the choux pastry into a piping bag with a round tip (0.8-1 cm). Pipe shapes of biscuits with a diameter of 4 cm onto baking paper (use pre-drawn circles with sufficient spacing, at least 3 cm apart).
• 7
  Remove the poppy seed dough and cut out 4 cm circles, which you place on top of the choux pastries (you can put the dough back in the freezer as needed, it makes it easier to work with).
• 8
  Place in an oven preheated to 230˚C (top and bottom heat) and immediately reduce the temperature to 190 degrees. Bake for about 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 170 degrees and bake until golden brown (about 15-18 minutes). Do not open the oven during baking. It is really important to let the moisture escape from the choux pastries, so watch the color of the pastries and leave them in long enough (they must be golden brown, not too light). It's better to let the pastries dry in the open oven after opening. If you take them out too soon, they will collapse.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR COFFEE CHOCOLATE CREAM

• 1
  Bring the cream with espresso to a boil. Stir in the rum if you are adding it to the cream, and pour over the chopped chocolate in a bowl. Let it sit for about 1 minute and then stir until smooth. Let it cool (feel free to put it in a piping bag or cover it in a bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge).

INSTRUCTIONS FOR DIPLOMAT CREAM

• 1
  Mix the pudding powder, sugar, and egg yolk with the egg in a stainless steel bowl with a whisk until smooth. Bring the milk to a boil over medium heat and remove from heat. Stir about half of the milk into the pudding mixture and pour back into the remaining milk. Return to the stove and bring to a boil over low heat, stirring constantly, and stir intensively for about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the butter with an immersion blender. Cover with plastic wrap so it touches the surface and place in the fridge to cool to room temperature.
• 2
  Brew espresso and dissolve instant coffee in it (the more instant coffee you add, the more intense the coffee flavor of the cream will be). Let it cool to room temperature and then whisk it into the vanilla cream.
• 3
  Whip the cream with powdered sugar until stiff and fold it into the coffee base with a spatula.
• 4
  Place in a piping bag with a star tip and refrigerate (if you don't have a star tip or don't want to decorate that way, feel free to scoop the cream with an ice cream scoop or spoon).

INSTRUCTIONS FOR ASSEMBLING THE CHOUX PASTRIES

• 1
  Trim the tops of the choux pastry shells. Place the coffee chocolate cream at the bottom and pipe the coffee diplomat cream on top with a piping bag with a star tip. Cover with the top of the choux pastry and it's done.