Cream puffs with cookie tops

First, make the vanilla custard. Soak gelatin in cold water.

Whisk sugar and cornflour together. Then, whisk in the egg yolks, the contents of the vanilla pod, and salt.

Warm up the milk with the empty vanilla pod to just below the boiling point. "Do not let it start to boil," Clara says.

Remove the milk from the heat, take out the vanilla pod, and pour half of the milk in the egg mix while whisking heavily. Pour it all back in the pot, and put it back on the stove. Whisk until the custard is thickening well. Remove the pot from the heat, and add butter and gelatine. Mix, until gelatine and butter are completely melted. Leave the mix for approx. 10 minutes and whisk again. Strain the custard into a bowl. Cover the custard with clingfilm and make sure the clingfilm is laying directly on the custard so it does not form skin, and let it cool off completely until it you need it again.

Whisk the cream to a light whipped cream. Stir the cooled off custard a bit, and fold the whipped cream and custard together to an airy, uniform mix. Pour the custard in a piping bag with a round nozzle, and leave it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or until it will be used.

Blend the jam to a uniform consistensy and pour it in a piping bag.

Now, make the dough for the cookie tops. Crumble butter in to the flour and sugar, and knead it together to a uniform dough. Roll out the dough between two pieces of baking paper to a thickness of approx. 3 mm. Place the rolled-out dough in the fridge.

Now make the choux pastry. Turn the oven to 180 degrees.

Pour water, milk, and butter in a pot and heat it to just below boiling. Remove the pot from the heat and add flour. Mix it all together to a smooth dough, and put the pot back on the heat. "Toast" the dough for approx. 2 minutes while stirring. Then, move the dough to a bowl, and let it cool off for approx. 10-20 minutes.

Whisk the eggs together and pour them slowly into the dough while whisking vigorously with a hand mixer. The dough should be elastic and keep its shape when pulling a spoon through it. It might not require all the eggs to achieve this. Now, pour the dough in to a piping bag with a big, round nozzle.

Take out the rolled-out cookie top dough from the fridge, and cut out circles with a diameter of approx. 5 cm.

Pipe out little cream puff tops with a diameter of approx. 5 cm on a baking tray lined with baking paper. There is enough dough for five or six puffs. Place a cookie top on each puff.

Bake the pastries in the oven for approx. 35 minutes. Do not open the oven for the first 30 minutes. The pastries should be golden-brown on the outside when they are done. Leave the finished pastries to cool off completely on a griddle.

Whisk the cream to whipped cream. Blend 5 tbsp. of jam to a uniform consistency, and mix the whipped cream and jam. Pour the mix in a piping bag with a star nozzle.

Now, assemble the cream puffs. Make a small hole in the top of the pastry. Add approx. 1 tsp. of the pure jam to the bottom with the piping bag. Then, fill the pastry completely with vanilla custard. Make a circle with the jam whipped cream, and fill the hole in the middle of the circle with pure jam. Serve immidiately.