- Hi, I'm Rie.
I've always loved eating dessert, making dessert.
I'm known as @dessertsnob on the Instagram.
Today I'm making a giant cat-shape cream puff.
Cream puffs are made with a choux pastry,
which is light and delicate.
My cream puff will be filled with
a sweet pastry cream and berries.
This dessert is a hard exterior,
sweet center, and a splash of tartness.
It's perfect for the guest today, for it's my friend Niki.
- Hello.
- [Rie] Niki is a BuzzFeed producer
who also appears on the tasty show Eating Your Feed with me.
- Hi Rie. - Hey!
Do you like my sweater? - I love your sweater.
- I chose it for you. - It's very nice.
I've never seen you wear it before.
- I bought this 10 years ago, and I only worn once.
- So this dessert is me as a dessert?
- Yeah, we've been friend for two years now?
- Yeah. - I know you like berries.
You have a cat. - I do have a cat.
- You also have a cat-like personality, in my opinion.
- Okay.
- It takes a little time to
become really good friend with you.
- Okay.
- But once you like that person,
you will never leave that person.
- That's so nice! - So, Niki.
- [Niki] Yeah.
- First I'm going to make custard.
- [Niki] Delicious.
- So I'm going to add a cup of milk,
and I want to use real vanilla bean.
Tastes much better.
- Really, it's like a notable difference?
- It's a notable difference.
You're going to split vanilla in half
and scrape vanilla beans inside of the pod.
I don't know, I just love a good vanilla.
Combine with milk and bring it to a almost boil.
Meanwhile, I'm going to separate egg.
- Is pastry cream used in any other desserts?
I feel like I've only really had it in an eclair.
Cream puffs are like eclair. - Yeah, eclair.
In Japan we have bread filled with pastry cream.
- Mmm. - It's really good.
- Like sweet bread? - Yeah.
- [Niki] That sounds really nice.
- The sugar, and the yolk, and mix
until it become pale white color.
I just wanted to show of my sweater,
but I'm gonna wear apron now.
- Oh the little eyes peep out the top, I like that.
- Is it creepy? - No, it's very cat-like.
- [Rie] Okay.
- Did you ever have cats growing up?
- Yeah, I always had a cat growing up.
- Why don't you have one now?
- I'm allergic to cat.
So when I was living with my parents house,
I always sneeze or my nose are always runny.
And when I start living myself it stopped.
- It was the cat.
- I'm adding cornstarch and flour.
That makes pastry cream thicker.
Milk is boiling, so I'm going to add first a little bit,
because egg yolk in there if you pour everything
it's gonna scramble. - Oh, scrambled eggs.
- And also through the mesh sleeve,
so it catches vanilla beans pod.
- Great. - Yeah.
- I feel like desserts fall into two main categories,
chocolaty or like fluffy and fruity.
- Yeah.
- And I've always been the fluffy and fruity train.
- I feel like I'm with you. - Yeah?
- I like chocolate, but if I have to choose one thing,
I like custard, I like cream.
- Fluffy cakes, white cake. - Mm hm.
So I'm combining everything and bring back to pot,
and I'm going to cook custard until it's thickened.
- Oh, you're gonna cook it again.
- Mm hm, there is a leftover vanilla pod
and you can wash it and also you can put in a sugar pot
and it makes really good vanilla sugar.
- Oh, that's great. - Yeah
- I always thought you just throw 'em away.
- It's expensive, so.
- They are very expensive. - Yeah.
Now I'm going to heat it up, and cook until it's thickened.
- Okay.
I feel like the few times I've tried to make pastry cream,
this is where I lose it.
- Oh, like when-- - It never comes together.
- Yeah, so the good thing to know, use rubber spatula
instead of whisk. - Okay.
- 'Cause it has more surface, so you don't burn.
Mistake people makes is either burned or become lumpy.
Cooking custard, once it start seeing the bubble,
you are going to cook another two or three minutes,
and it's done.
- Pastry creams are like one of those
staple things in culinary school, right?
- Oh yeah, it was one of our exam.
- Exams? - Like cooking exam.
Yeah, and also Niki, you wanted to be a chef
when you were young, right? - I did, yeah!
I thought going to the Culinary Institute of America
would be a really cool thing. - Yeah.
Isn't it kind of funny that you came around
doing cooking show? - I know, I ended up doing
cooking things anyways. - Yeah.
- So is it done now, is it thick?
- Yeah, it's done. - Can I taste it?
- Yeah. - Thank you.
- Why you eat it like that? - Ooh, hot.
I didn't want to burn myself, but that's delicious.
- Yay, so custard is done, so I'm going to put plastic wrap,
but you have to press it down so the skin
doesn't form on the surface when it's cooled down.
And I'm going to put it in the refrigerator,
cool it for like 30 minutes. - Okay, see ya later.
- [Rie] I'm going to make choux pastry.
- Yum. - Have you made that before?
- My family likes to make cream puffs
together at the holidays. - Oh, that's nice.
- And then we don't make pastry cream
'cause it's too hard. - Sorry.
- We put Nutella and whipped cream.
- So I'm adding water, and butter, and pinch of salt.
You are going to boil butter and water and add flour.
You have to evaporate all the water
so when you add egg in there the dough absorb all the egg.
That makes puff pastry puff.
- Oh. - Yeah.
- That's interesting. I didn't know that.
- I'm pretty sure that's what that--
(both laughing) - Great.
- So fun fact, you can pipe this choux pastry dough
into hot oil and fry it.
- Oh. - It's become churro.
- Oh, churros. - Yeah.
If you master this dough, you can make
bunch of different dessert.
You gonna melt all the butter, bring it to a boil.
Turn off the heat and add the flour at once.
- All at once? - Mm hm.
- Oh wow. - You want to shift the flour
so it doesn't get lumpy, and you're
just like mix (beep) out of it.
- Mix the (beep) out of it? - Yes.
- That felt very uncharacteristic, but I love it.
- [Rie] And it kind of form into a ball.
- [Niki] Yeah, oh wow, that came together really fast.
- It happens really fast, and even you turned of the heat
it's still hot. - It's still warm, yeah.
- So you have to take off the heat
in order not to burn or it's gonna burn it.
Once it's kind of formed into a ball
and it look like shiny, you gonna wait until
the dough is cool to touch because you want to add egg next,
you don't want to scramble egg.
- It's a very delicate dough.
- I feel like it's not too delicate to compare macaron.
- Macarons to me seem very snooty,
and high caliber, and perfect.
- Small, expensive.
- I mean, who would you think is a macaron though?
- Myself.
- Yeah I was gonna say, you probably it.
- So dough is cool to touch, I'm going to add egg.
Supposed to be three eggs, but egg comes in different
shape and size. - Oh.
- So I'm gonna just have to see the texture.
- [Niki] Okay.
- When you're cracking egg, crack on a flat surface
so shell doesn't get in. - Yeah, smart.
- Also have to add egg one by one.
- Slowly. - Mm hm.
- Okay.
There's no sugar in this dough.
- No, that's because we add some--
- Filling in. - Yeah, filling.
Are you a cat person or dog person?
- I'm both. - Me too.
- I like them both. - I cannot choose.
- Did you know, cats don't meow to each other
because it's not a way that they communicate
with each other? - Communicate?
- It's a way they communicate with humans.
- Weird, yeah. - Manipulative, like me.
(both laughing)
- The dog toy, make a squeaky noise.
- Yeah?
- That's the sound of small animal dying.
- Ugh, I didn't know that. - You didn't know that?
The dough looks good so I'm going to put it in a piping bag.
I'm going to draw a cat shape on the parchment paper.
- So cute.
- Small tape for piping.
This one is fine 'cause the dough is very thick,
but when you're piping something really runny
like whip cream or custard, you twist here,
and put inside and bend it so it doesn't--
- Come running out? - Yeah.
- I've done that before.
- I know this, that you didn't know.
- You've seen it happen.
- Yeah, I watch your macaron video.
- [Niki] Ah, it's coming out!
- Okay, let's pipe.
Put dough on the four corners,
so that paper doesn't fly away.
So I'm going to pipe it into cat shape,
because it holds really good shape.
- Oh okay. - So whatever you pipe it,
it will stay almost like it.
It's become a little bit puffy.
I'm gonna do twice, and then ear.
- [Niki] Cute.
- Cute. - Yay, a cat.
- Yeah, I'm brushing some water
so choux pastry puffs up in the oven.
- Does it have to do with steam?
- Yeah, exactly. - Oh, okay.
How long is it gonna bake for?
- 375 for 20 minutes, lower the heat to 350 for 15 minutes.
- Oh okay.
- So you wanna bake high heat first so it puffs up,
and lower heat to make sure everything cooks.
After you turn off the oven, leave in oven for 10 minutes.
Temperature suddenly change, puff pastry might deflate.
- Oh.
- So that's why you wanna leave in the oven.
- Great.
- Right, so this has been chilling in the refrigerator.
It's hard, so I'm gonna make it soft again.
(sniffing) Don't put your snot in it.
- I didn't, I did the opposite.
I inhaled. - Well you're gonna eat it so.
- That's true. - Do whatever you want to do.
- Oh, it seems gelatinous.
- This is good custard. - Oh yeah?
- If it's kind of cleanly peeling off from the bowl
that means the flour you put in the pan is fully cooked.
- Oh.
- So this is good sign. - Wow.
That's very satisfying.
- I like put a little bit alcohol.
- Yes. - In my dessert,
but I know that you don't. - Yeah.
- So I'm not gonna do that to you.
- What would you do?
- I would add brandy, just a little bit,
so it kind of have a nice adult flavor.
- Nice adult, it tastes like adult.
- It came off really funny,
but I'm just translating Japanese word literally.
- Right, right, okay.
- In Japanese it's otona no aji,
it means like adult flavor.
(both laughing)
- Okay.
Okay. - I'm gonna reset.
I'm gonna just add heavy cream,
a little bit to loosen it up.
- [Niki] And the title is?
- [Rie] If it's too--
- [Niki] Wow, giggly custard.
- Nice and smooth, and I'm going to whip heavy cream.
- Yes.
- Some people use, I feel like most people maybe,
use hand mixer.
- You're not going to?
- I'm gonna use hand, very rustic.
- So rustic, also wont that take a long time?
- It takes longer time, but you can control the thickness.
You wanna go--
- [Niki} What did you just put in There?
- It's powdered sugar, instead of using granulated sugar,
I add powdered sugar because it dissolve well.
- Wow, I can't believe you're hand mixing cream for me.
You are a dessert snob.
- So when I was working at the restaurant,
everyday at 5:00 PM I have to whip cream,
maybe like 10 cups, for throughout the service,
and I had to do by hand.
- Why, they wouldn't let you do it with a mixer?
- The thing is, I never see
hand mixer in a professional kitchen.
- Never?
- Like places I've been, I've never seen hand mixer.
So I usually go to walk-in refrigerator and whip it,
because the temperature. - Just stand in the fridge.
- You will find me refrigerator around 5:00 PM.
- That's funny.
- If you over mix it, it's become butter,
or it's become supper grainy.
Nice, so I'm gonna stop right here.
So I have strawberries, black berries,
blueberries, and your favorite, raspberries.
- I love berries and cream.
Have you seen that Berries and Cream Starburst commercial?
- [Rie] No.
- [Commercial] Berries and cream.
I'm a little lad who loves berries and cream.
- There's that.
- Sometimes we have very different sense of humor.
- What's that?
- It's gooseberry.
- Gooseberries?
- Mm hm, so it's kind of like a sweat tomato to me.
- Does it have anything to do with the animal the goose?
- Yeah, goose give us berries.
- Shut up.
- Doesn't it kind of taste sweeter tomato?
- Biting into it is like biting into a cherry tomato.
- Yeah.
- But it's not a tomatoey taste, I don't know.
- Okay, you don't like it, I'm not gonna--
- [Niki] Wait, give me another one.
It's pretty. - Well, think about it.
- It looks like a snitch from Harry Potter.
And then Harry is like--
- I'm gonna go check oven.
- Okay.
- Here.
- Wow.
- So I'm going to cut in half and fill with cream.
This is gonna be a little bit tricky.
- [Niki] Yeah.
- So I'm gonna stop talking. - Mm hm, okay.
I'll stop talking.
- Did you just gasp?
- No, no I didn't, did you?
- [Rie] Did you, why did somebody just gasp?
Like, what did I do? - I was completely silent.
Wow! - Wow.
- Yes. - I'm going to fill cream.
Wanna lick it?
- Yeah I do.
- [Rie] Okay.
- [Niki] Oh my God, it's so beautiful.
- [Rie] Thank you.
- Do you feel like you like making desserts
because they're more beautiful?
- [Rie] I like making dessert because
like gift to that person, like you are not
making dessert for yourself.
To do that I want to make it really pretty.
- Berries time. - Berries time.
I want to put everything in balance,
first with strawberry, then raspberry.
- [Niki] This is so pretty, I love it.
Oh! - It's okay.
There.
- Yay! (clapping)
- So, final touch, I'm going to sprinkle sugar
'cause Riceball is a white cat.
(upbeat music)
So it's all done, this is my dessert for you.
What do you think? - Thank you, I love it.
I think you really nailed it.
It's like when you watch tasty videos,
and all you want to do is eat the thing.
I get to eat the thing.
- Yeah, and I always love eating dessert
with tea or coffee.
- I love that.
- [Rie] So I'm going to make tea.
Pinky up. - Pinky out.
- Is it too small?
- No, beautiful, ah, yes.
- (speaking foreign language).
- Thank you so much.
- You're welcome, I hope you like it.
How do you eat it?
(both laughing)
- Should we just pick it up and take a bite?
- Yeah, I think so. - Like a burger.
- Yeah. - Cream sandwich.
- Mmmmm!
- Oh yeah, it's good.
Your choux pastry is so fluffy and delicious,
but it's also just really tasty.
And both creams, mmm! - Right?
- Yeah, it makes a difference.
- Yeah, the custard and heavy cream.
- And the berries, I love everything about this.
- Good, thank you.
- This is me as a dessert, I feel it.
- Thank you for watching.
I hope you enjoyed learning about cream puffs
and my friend Niki.
Until next time, cheers!
- Cheers.
(slurping)
- [Rie] It's not ramen, don't slurp!
(laughter) - Oh, yes!