Published November 1, 2011. From Cook's Illustrated.
Paris-Brest is a showstopper dessert that consists of a large ring of pâte à choux—the same pastry used to make éclairs and cream puffs—that is filled with hazelnut praline pastry cream and then sprinkled with chopped almonds and powdered sugar. To make this elegant dessert foolproof, we started with our pâte à choux recipe, which created a tender, but strong “case” for the cream filling. For a light cream filling that was firm and sturdy, we started with a flour-thickened pastry cream (which was more stable than the normal cornstarch-thickened version), added pulverized caramel-coated hazelnuts, and then folded in whipped cream that had been enriched with gelatin.
An equal amount of slivered almonds can be substituted for hazelnuts. To skin the hazelnuts, simply place them in a clean kitchen towel after toasting, while they are still warm, and rub gently. Use a serrated knife to cut the dessert. See related how-to-cook for instructions on how to pipe the dough and filling using a zipper-lock bag.
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