CNY Recipe: Citrus Cream Puffs

Hello! With Chinese New Year coming up, there's always a need (yes, need) for sweet recipes that are golden and round to fit with traditional symbols for good luck. I decided to make these citrus cream puffs. They're supposed to mimic a tangerine (or mandarin?) fruits that are usually eaten around Chinese New Year, also symbolizing good luck as it is homonyms with "luck" in Chinese.

For those not celebrating Chinese New Year, it's a recipe for classy, citrus cream puffs. :-) For the filling, instead of the heavy pastry cream, it's a light, fluffy, tangy lemon marshmallow cream.

With that, here is...

The recipe (makes 50 mini puffs): 

Craquelin: 

25 g unsalted butter
32 g brown sugar
1 tangerine's zest
pinch salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract/paste
(opt) 4 g freeze-dried tangerine
32 g barley (or cake) flour

Choux pastry:

85 g orange juice
40 g unsalted butter
60 g bread flour
pinch salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs

Marshmallow cream:

1 egg white (~32 g, from large egg)
60 g lemon juice
55 g granulated sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract/paste
1 tbsp lemon zest

Brief instructions: 

Craquelin: mix all ingredients, one at a time, in order listed. Roll b/t two pieces cling wrap or in a plastic bag to 2 mm thickness. Freeze. Cut 2 cm rounds and freeze again for use later.

Puffs: Boil juice and butter. Add flour + salt off heat and return to heat for 1-2 min while stirring. Take off heat. Add vanilla and stir. Add eggs one at a time and stir like crazy after each until completely mixed. Pipe nickel-sized kisses on lined baking sheet, 2 cm apart. Place a craquelin round on each. Bake at 375F/190C x 15-20 min.

Filling: Beat egg white until firm peak and set aside. Boil juice and sugar to soft-ball stage. Drizzle into egg white while beating. Continue beating until stiff peaks. Stir in vanilla and zest. Poke a hole in each puff and fill generously.

Keep refrigerated if not serving within the next couple hours.