Copycat Liliha Bakery Coco Puffs

I'm not an excellent baker. Nor am I a natural cook. I'm a pretty good cook, if I do say so myself. But everything is self-taught. I know I shouldn't be saying this as I blog about food and recipes all the time but it's hard to take myself seriously blogging about recipes and elaborate meals I make when I clearly remember in 2004 almost catching the house on fire because my then-boyfriend liked his portuguese sausage "crispy." Crispy or charcoal? Yikes. Don't get me wrong, my recipes are good and my husband and many other would attest to that, but when you almost have a few "charcoal" incidents floating around in the back of your mind, it's hard to take yourself seriously at times.

Charcoal aside, I'm not an excellent baker. I've always wanted to be the mom who could bake yummy yumminess. But let's face it, some nights, I can barely get dinner on the table. And I'm ashamed to admit it, but if you've ever had chocolate chip cookies from me, they're the packaged kind. You know, the ones precut into little squares. I know, the AUDACITY! Unfollow me now!

But I want that to change. Especially since I have a sweet tooth something fierce. This sweet tooth has a mind of it's own. And sometimes, what I want, is what I want. NOW.

Photo courtesy of www.aroundhawaii.com

So when I got a craving for a Liliha Bakery Coco Puff, I knew I was in trouble. 1) I live 2500 miles away from the little Liliha bakery in Honolulu, how the hell was I going to get one? And 2) where was I EVER going to find the recipe for it? This was a setting up to be a major fail.

Until one night a couple weeks ago I was browsing through my many cookbooks looking for new recipes to try. And I came across the recipe: "Coco Puffs" Could it be? Could it really, really be? I looked and read further and indeed it was. A copycat of Liliha Bakery's coco puffs. Fantastic and good enough for me, seeing as how Liliha Bakery won't part with the actual recipe. Bastards. 

So I marked down the page in my trust "What Hawaii Likes to Eat" Cookbook and made note to try it ASAP, which ended up being the very next evening. Because, it's face it, patience isn't my strongest suit. 

And though it wasn't the EXACT yumminess of Liliha, my goodness it was 95% there. It was pure heaven in my mouth.

AND. I didn't even get to put the yummy dollop of butter frosting on top. So I can only imagine how delicious it would have been with it on. Dear Lord, help me. 

Photo courtesy of ma'ona

So without ado, here's the recipe I am deeply in love with. Please know that it is not the exact same thing but a great substitute for someone like me who just cannot wait 14 more days to get to the islands to get me one. And trust me. This may be one of the first stops we make the night we get there. :)

Liliha Bakery Coco Puffs

Puff

Ingredients:

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup unsalted butter cut into pieces

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup flour, sifted

4 large eggs

Combine water, milk, butter and salt in large saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil. Add flour all at once and stir vigorously w/a wooden spoon until it begins to pull away from the sides of the pan. Continue cooking for about a minute, stirring constantly. Transfer to a bowl and let cool for five minutes, stirring occasionally. Beat in eggs one at a time until paste is smooth before adding next egg. Beat dough until it is smooth, shiny and very thick.

Drop by the tablespoonful onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet, leaving about 1 1/2-2 in between each. Bake at 400F degrees for 10-12 minutes; reduce temp to 350F degrees and bake additional 10-15 minutes or until golden brown and very firm to the touch. Turn off oven let it dry in the oven for about 10 minutes. Remove to rack and let cool to room temp before filling.

To fill, you cut a small hole in the puff. Remove any uncooked paste if there is any (there was never any with mine) and fill with Chocolate Cream and drizzle with Butter Frosting

Chocolate Cream

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sugar

2 tbsp flour

2 tbsp cornstarch

4 large egg yolks

1 1/4 cups milk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup finely chopped semi sweet chocolate

In medium bowl of mixer, combine sugar, flour, cornstarch and egg yolk. Beat on high speed until thick and lemon colored. Pour milk into medium saucepan and bring to a simmer. Gradually pour 1/4 into the egg mixture stirring to combine well. Pour egg mixture back into saucepan and cook over low to medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture begins to bubble and is thickened. Whisk and scrap custard into a clean bowl. Add vanilla and chocolate bits; stir gently until chocolate melts and is well blended. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let it cool in refrigerator until ready to fill.

*This chocolate cream recipe can be used for eclairs, cakes, cream pies, cream puffs, etc. Another variation is to eliminate the chocolate and make it vanilla custard. :)

Butter Frosting

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups evaporated milk, undiluted

1 1/2 cup sugar

4 egg yolks

3/4 cup butter or margarine

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Combine milk, sugar, egg yolks, butter and vanilla in saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for approx 10-12 mins or until mixture thickens enough to spread or drizzle over dessert.

Notes: As I said previously, I didn't make the butter frosting. So I can't vouch for that. I thought the coco puffs were pretty darn good without it and so did M, though he did say that it wasn't complete without the frosting. The chocolate cream I could probably eat like pudding and altogether, it curbed the craving. I can't wait to eat the real thing in a couple weeks. :)

photo courtesy of Lilila Bakery