Jeni's - Cream Puff

Cream Puff - Vanilla Custard with Toasted Pastry Flakes

We move on to the fourth pint in my six-pint Black Friday shipment from the Columbus-based Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams.  Today's flavor is a non-holiday flavor from their regular line called Cream Puff.  I did a bit of quick googling and there are lots of different ways to make cream puffs.  Lots of names for cream puffs as well -- profiteroles, chou à la crème, and probably more.  The common theme is the use of a choux pastry which does not include rising agents.  A high moisture content causes the pastry dough to "puff" when cooked.  In this pint, a vanilla custard is used to simulate the cream and toasted pastry flakes represent the puffed pastry.  Looks interesting!

Removing the lid, the vanilla custard base is a light color and there are a lot of pastry flakes!  These flakes are small enough to be considered shredded and are densely mixed into the custard.  Every single spoonful is going to contain a lot of pastry.  Digging in the vanilla flavor is quite sweet and strong.  The link above describes the custard as "bright" and "candy-like" and I agree.  It is quite delicious and the vanilla flavor is quite strong.  I think this is actually the strongest vanilla flavor that I have had in a pint.  The pastry flakes have an interesting effect on the pint.  When I focus in on a single flake, it does taste like a toasted pastry.  But, en masse, the flakes create an emulsion which changes the texture of the custard.  I guess it is not exactly like the pastry in a creme puff, but the biggest part of the 'puff' is air, and you wouldn't want too much of that in an ice cream.  This is as if the pastry is shredded and then suspended in the creme.  It makes it thick and perhaps even a bit gelatinous.  It's a rather cool effect.

I enjoyed this pint quite a bit.  The vanilla custard alone makes it a winner.  If you like vanilla, you should check this out.  The pastry flakes added a little bit of flavor, but mainly had the effect of creating an interesting texture.  A fun flavor.