The Coffee Paris Brest is a delicious dessert, a choux pastry ring filled with delicate coffee diplomatic cream. Since it greatly resembles the Zeppole di San Giuseppe, this dessert is also known as zeppolone, but originally it is a French dessert consisting of a choux pastry crust filled with a delicate buttercream. Naturally, from the basic recipe, countless variations have emerged, so we can fill the Paris Brest in many ways, for example with custard and strawberries or other seasonal fruit, or with cream and lemon, or with coffee as shown in this recipe.

Here’s how to prepare the coffee Paris Brest: first, prepare the choux pastry by melting butter, water, and salt. When it comes to a boil, add the flour and stir until a homogeneous mixture forms that detaches from the sides of the pot. Off the heat, add one egg at a time to the mixture and mix well. Place the choux pastry in a piping bag with a nozzle and form circles on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for the first 15 minutes at 428°F and then lower to 356°F, continuing to bake for another 20-25 minutes. Let cool in the semi-open oven. Prepare the coffee cream by mixing eggs, sugar, flour, hot milk with vanilla extract, and coffee and cook until thick. Once cold, fold in the whipped cream. Cut the choux pastry ring in half, fill the lower part with the coffee diplomatic cream, and cover with the upper part. Decorate with powdered sugar.

This delicious and scenic dessert may seem complicated, but in reality, preparing it is quite within everyone’s reach by following some simple rules. First, the eggs: depending on the size of the eggs we use, we may need more or fewer eggs to achieve the right dough consistency. Generally, if you use medium-sized eggs, about 4 will be needed, while if they are small, 5 will suffice. To be sure, you can weigh the eggs!

Also, the cooking and cooling time of the choux pastry is very important: in fact, we bake it first at a high temperature. In this way, the Paris Brest will become beautifully puffed and golden. Then we lower the temperature and continue for another 25 minutes or so, or until the zeppolone is perfectly cooked both externally and internally without deflating. We let it cool well in the oven with the door slightly open to allow the steam to completely escape, and only when it is completely cold can we cut it in half and proceed with assembling the dessert. Finally, for the coffee diplomatic cream, it is important to use ingredients at room temperature, and once the cream is ready, let it cool completely before combining it with the whipped cream, so as to obtain a nice frothy diplomatic cream. And if we have time, we can also let it rest in the fridge, so it will be even easier to use.

A perfect dessert for festive days, not only for Father’s Day but in general for any occasion when we want to make a spectacular and delicious dessert! Try it!

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Difficulty: Very Easy
Cost: Very Inexpensive
Preparation time: 30 Minutes
Portions: 8
Cooking methods: Oven, Stove
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: All Seasons, Father's Day

Ingredients for Preparing the Coffee Paris Brest

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup water
8.8 oz eggs (5 small or 4 medium)
1/3 cup butter
3/4 tsp salt
1 3/4 cups milk
1/4 cup coffee
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream
powdered sugar (for decoration)

Tools for Preparing the Coffee Paris Brest

1 Pot
1 Wooden Spoon
Piping Bag
1 Star Nozzle
1 Baking Sheet
Parchment Paper
1 Hand Whisk
1 Oven

Steps for Preparing the Coffee Paris Brest

Start preparing the coffee Paris Brest or zeppolone by preparing the choux pastry: pour the water, butter, and salt into a pot with a thick bottom and high sides.
Melt the butter, and when it reaches a boil, remove from heat, pour in the flour all at once, and mix with a spoon so the flour blends with the other ingredients and detaches from the sides of the pot. Let it cool slightly.
Incorporate the eggs one at a time, adding each egg only when the previous one is perfectly blended into the dough. In the end, you should get a homogeneous, creamy, and not too liquid mixture. You can also use a stand mixer with a paddle attachment to make this operation easier.
Insert the choux pastry into a piping bag with a star nozzle.
Draw a 20 cm (about 8 inches) diameter circle on a sheet of parchment paper to measure your Paris Brest, turn it over, and place it on a baking sheet.
Make a ring on the outer side, then another on the inner side, another still on the inner side, and two or three more rings on top of the rings made previously. Bake the Paris Brest in the preheated oven at 428°F for the first 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 356°F and continue for another 20-25 minutes or so. At the end of baking, it should be golden and puffed. Turn off the oven, slightly open the door by placing a wooden spoon in between to allow the steam to escape. Let it cool for ten minutes, then you can take it out of the oven, and once it’s well-cooled, cut it in half.
Prepare the coffee cream by first mixing the eggs and sugar with a hand whisk.
When they are perfectly blended, add the flour and mix.
In a separate saucepan, heat the milk with vanilla extract or the seeds of a vanilla pod, and when it is about to boil, pour it over the egg, sugar, and flour mixture. Mix quickly with the whisk and add the coffee.
Transfer the saucepan to the heat and cook the cream, stirring constantly with the whisk until it becomes thick. Cool the cream by covering it with plastic wrap.
While the coffee cream cools, whip the cold cream to stiff peaks.
When the cream is completely cool, combine the whipped cream, mixing with a spatula from bottom to top to obtain a fluffy, perfectly blended cream.
When all the preparations are completely cooled, we are ready to assemble the dessert: insert the coffee diplomatic cream into a piping bag with a star nozzle and fill the base of the Paris Brest. Cover with the top part and decorate with powdered sugar and a few coffee beans.