Saint-Honoré!

Ideally, you should make your puff pastry the day before, so it has time to rest in the fridge overnight. Start by melting 50g of butter and let it cool until it reaches room temperature. Then, mix the flour, the water, the melted butter and the salt, and knead your dough until it forms a homogeneous ball. Wrap it with plastic wrap, and let it rest in the fridge for 2 hours. In the meantime, form a 12cm x 12cm square with the rest of your butter. I suggest you use two baking sheets and a rolling pin!

After 2 hours, roll down your dough to form a cross shape, and use the edges to encase your butter. Make sure it is well sealed, so the butter does not leak during the layering process! On a floured work surface, roll down your dough into a rectangular shape, until its length is 3 times as long as its width. Mark the first and second thirds of your dough, and fold it like a wallet. Repeat the same operation, and let your dough rest in the fridge for one hour. Repeat three times the same loop of rolling and folding the dough twice, and do not forget to let the dough rest between each step! Finally, let it rest in the fridge overnight. Congratulations, you just made your first puff pastry!

For the choux pastry, start by preheating your oven to at 200°C. Bring the water and the butter to a boil, and then add the salt, the sugar and the flour. Work this dough-to-be until it's dry (it should not stick to the edges of the saucepan), remove your saucepan from the heat, and add the eggs one by one while mixing. You should now get a sticky and shiny choux pastry! You did the hardest part already!

Now, put your choux pastry in a piping bag, and make small choux (ideally, they should have a 4cm diameter) on a baking sheet. Bake your choux at 200°C for 20 minutes, and you're done! Then, roll down your puff pastry until it is 4mm thick, and bake it for 30 minutes at 200°C or until it gets a nice golden brown color.

For the custard, bring the milk to a simmer, and, while it's heating, mix the eggs and the cornstarch. Then, poor half of the hot milk on the eggs, whisk well and poor your mixture back in your saucepan. Keep on mixing until you get a thick consistency. Turn off the heat, add the butter, and whisk to get an aerial texture.

Then, let's make the crème Chantilly . You'll see, it's very easy and it's a hundred times better than the one you'll find at your local grocery store. Make sure that your cream is very cold, add your icing sugar and use a stand mixer (or a whisk and some courage) to whip cream until it gets the consistency you want. Poor it in a piping bag and put it in the fridge so it stays cold.

You did the hardest part. Now, let's plate up your Saint-Honoré . First, use a piping bag to fill your choux with the custard. Then, make your caramel by heating your sugar in a saucepan until it starts to melt down. You can now carefully coat your choux with the caramel. (Don't burn yourself, please). Make circles in your puff pastry, and plate some custard in the middle. Add your caramel-coated choux , some Chantilly , and you're done! Congratulations, and bon appétit !