Courtesan au Chocolat

Directions

Choux

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Bring the coconut milk and coconut oil to a boil in a pot.
3. Take the pot off the heat and quickly whisk in the arrowroot starch with a fork until well-incorporated. The mixture should look oily and gooey. Not to fret!
4. Place the blob-like mixture into a ceramic bowl along with one egg and blend with a hand blender. 
5. Add the second egg and blend until a creamy yet slightly sticky texture is achieved.
6. Scoop the mixture out into a piping bag. 
7. Pipe out three different sizes as outlined in the video above.
8. Place the baking sheets with piped choux in the oven. Bake for fifteen minutes then turn the oven off and allow them to sit inside for another fifteen minutes. Watch out, however, for the smaller chouxs as they bake more quickly!

Chocolate Ganache

1. Mix the ingredients until a creamy, ganache-like consistency is reached with sweetener to taste.
2. Scoop it into a piping bag.
3. Once the choux is done, make incisions like the ones outlined in the video above the pipe the ganache into them.

Coloured Icing

1. Mix the ingredients until they reach the liquid consistency of icing. If it's dry, add more coconut milk.
2. Add the powders in separate bowls for the respective coloured versions.
3. Drizzle the icing over the first choux, pipe more ganache under the second smaller choux to "glue" it onto the first one, pour the second coloured icing, pipe more ganache onto the third choux again and top it off with the icing.
4. If you'd like the pearl decoration, slowly mix arrowroot flour into a spoonful of coconut butter until a slightly oily dough forms. Roll little pieces into balls and place them around the chouxs.

 I'm leaving you with two forkfuls of this recipe to not throw a bunny wrench into the long weekend I'll be taking off. I'll be hopping back on over to the regular swing of blogging next week pronto pronto! 

This pastry is a choux au chocolat in traditional French cuisine. A tower of it in the pastel-hued likes of Wes Anderson is referred to as a courtesan au chocolat in his Grand Budapest Hotel and despite its charm, is untouchable in its lacing of gluten, sugar, and dairy. Here is my adapted paleo, refined sugar-free, dairy-free, and grain-free version for you to nosh on . . .

Ingredients

Choux

2 fl oz. BPA-free Coconut Milk
4 fl oz. coconut oil
3 oz. arrowroot starch

2 large eggs

A dash of Pink Salt*

Stevia to taste, optional

Chocolate Ganache

1/4 cup Coconut Butter/Manna

1 tablespoon  BPA-free Coconut Milk
1 tablespoon Cacao Powder*
Stevia to taste

 

Coloured Icing

2 tablespoons Coconut Butter/Manna

1 tablespoon BPA-free Coconut Milk

Stevia to taste

Pink: 2 tablespoons Pomegranate Powder

Green:  1/4 teaspoon Chlorella
Purple: 1/2 teaspoon Maqui Berry Powder or 2 fresh blackberries