Strawberry Puffs
·Make the choux pastry
Put the milk, water and butter into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the flour, sugar and salt, stirring well until the mixture forms a ball that starts pulling away from the bottom and sides of the pan. That's how you know it's ready.
Beat in the eggs
Transfer the dough to a bowl, let it cool slightly, then beat in the eggs one at a time until the dough is smooth and glossy.
Pipe the shapes
Fill a piping bag fitted with a round tip (about 2.5 cm) and pipe "finger" shapes roughly 8 cm long onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Leave plenty of space between them, as the pastry puffs up quite a bit while baking.
Sprinkle with almonds
Sprinkle the tops with chopped almonds.
Bake
Bake in an oven preheated to 180 °C until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before filling.
Make the crème pâtissière
Pour the milk into a saucepan. Split the vanilla pod lengthwise, scrape the seeds into the milk, and bring to a boil. Whisk together the egg yolks and sugar, then add the cornstarch and beat until the mixture is pale yellow and thickened.
Stir in the butter
Slowly pour the hot milk into the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Pour everything back into the saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring all the while. Cook until thickened, then whisk in the butter. Cover with plastic wrap and let cool.
Whip the cream and fill
Whip the cream and fold it into the cooled custard. Slice the baked puffs in half and fill them with the custard and strawberries.