Lemon-Basil - gooseberrie Petits-Choux

I use Basil wherever it is possible as I like its "perfume", the taste and I am fascinated about the different varieties that exist. Today I´ve bought one pot of greek Basil (thats the one with the small leaves), one normal (with the bigger leaves) and a Lemon - Basil that really smells like a combination of Basil and Lemon. From my dinner with my friends there were some remaining gooseberries, that I had used as decoration for my aperitif. So why not combine them with the Lemon - Basil..... 

For the puffs (= Petits Choux) you need: 

200 g all purpose flour

250g water

100 g soft butter

1/4 tsp. salt

4 medium sized eggs

8 g baking powder
Directions to prepare the puffs:

1. In a large saucepan, bring water, salt and butter to boil.

2. Add flour and baking powder, stirring until the mixture forms a smooth ball. Remove from the heat; let stand for about 10  minutes.

3. Add eggs, one at a time, beat well after each addition and continue beating until mixture is smooth.

4. Fill the dough in a piping bag and pipe small amounts of the dough (in a round or bone like shape) on a oven tray (armed with parchement paper)

5. Bake for about 25 minutes in the preheated oven (200 C). Do not open your oven during the baking time, otherwise your puffs will not rise!

6. Let cool down on a wire rack before fillig your puffs.

For the Lemon - Basil cream you need (makes about 14 Petits Choux):

- 200 g Heavy cream

- 200g Mascarpone

- 4 Tbsp. sugar

- one scraped vanilla bean (or 2 dash of a vanilla paste)

- one Hand full of Lemon - Basil leaves

- 100 g Gooseberries

How to prepare the Lemon-Basil Cream:

1. Mix heavy cream and basil leaves until you obtain a smooth cream

2. In a bowl put the mascarpone, sugar, vanilla, add the basilmixture and mix until everything is well combined

To assemble your Petits Choux:

1. Cut in halves the prepared puffs

2. Put some Basil cream on the base and a little bit on the upper part

3. Top the base with the halved gooseberries and put the upper part of your puff on the so prepared base.

Well thats it! Now enjoy them!