Little Miss Bento

Please note that while the preparation of the pâte à choux pastry dough is fairly straightforward, but you will need to ensure ample baking time as it will take time to bake the puffs (especially if you are working with a smaller oven (like me :P). 

To make the pâte à choux pastry puffs
1. Heat the butter, milk , water , sugar and salt in a saucepan, ensure that all the butter has melted before bring the mixture to boiling. Turn off the heat. 
2. Remove the pot from heat and add in the sieved flour and mix well. The dough should be fairly smooth and free of lumps, and it will come clean of the sides of the saucepan. 
3. Before adding in the egg, transfer the mixture from step 2 into another bowl. Use the wooden paddle or spatula to mix a little to release the steam and heat first. 
4. Add in the egg mixture (divided over 3 portions) and mix well. I used a handheld mixer with dough hook. 
5. The end result should be a smooth mixture. (do not over-mix). 
6. Transfer the pastry dough mixture into two piping bag/pastry bag fitted with two sizes of round plain tips. If you are using the coupler, then it will be easier as you can change the tips when you need. 
7. Pipe oval shapes for Tororo’s body using the larger piping tip, and pipe two small roundish triangles at the top for Totoro’s ears using the smaller piping tip. 
TIP: The ears are better to be roundish at the tip instead of being very pointy (a mistake I made myself for the first tray). The rounder ears looked better when baked and were less likely to burn. 

8. Bake at 200-210C for 15-18mins until the puffs have risen to their maximum, lower the heat to 160C and continue to bake for about 25-30mins. Then turn the heat of the oven off and let the puffs continue to bake using the remaining heat for another 10mins – this final steps will help to create a golden brown puff. In addition, it also helps to dry the insides of the puff. 
TIP: Do NOT attempt to open the door of the oven at all during the baking process, it will cause your choux puffs to deflate. 
In addition, if the puffs have not risen to their maximuma and you lower the temperature, the puffs will also deflate
Don’t worry, after the first tray, you will get a better sense of your oven’s heat and your 2nd tray will be easier :D

9. Set the puffs aside on a rack to cool completely. Using something sharp, poke 2 holes of the choux puffs at the back. Be careful not to poke through to the front as well. 

To complete and make the Totoro cream puffs
1. Pipe the matcha green tea filling into the choux puffs using a piping bag/pastry bag fitted with a small plain round tip. 
2. Draw the features of Totoro using the white and chocolate pen (Sorry, forgot to take photo). If you do not have chocolate pens, you will have to use melted chocolate. 

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