Messina Lulù with cream and chocolate
Traditional and Bimby recipe.
These delicious “mushrooms” of Choux pastry filled with cream or chocolate custard.
They are the Messina response to Neapolitan baked zeppole. They are made in baba cup molds or alternatively in cupcake molds.
They are then dusted with powdered sugar for the white filling, and with bitter cocoa for the chocolate filling.
I will give you the quantities to make 3 Lulùs with cream and 3 Lulùs with chocolate, so if you want to double the quantities, adjust accordingly.
We will cook our Lulùs in the oven and also in the air fryer.
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- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 1 Hour
- Portions: 6
- Cooking methods: Oven, Air frying
- Cuisine: Regional Italian
- Region: Sicily
- Seasonality: All seasons
- Energy 422.78 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 40.97 (g) of which sugars 27.79 (g)
- Proteins 8.55 (g)
- Fat 27.32 (g) of which saturated 7.56 (g)of which unsaturated 4.93 (g)
- Fibers 3.34 (g)
- Sodium 151.11 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 150 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
Messina Lulù with cream and chocolate
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 eggs (medium at room temperature)
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 1/4 cups chocolate custard (see recipe)
- 1 cup whipping cream, 35% fat
- 1/3 cup vanilla powdered sugar
- as needed powdered sugar
- as needed unsweetened cocoa powder
Messina Lulù with cream and chocolate
Tools
What we need to make
- 2 Pots
- 2 Piping bags
- 6 Cups baba cups
- 1 Electric whisk or Bimby
- 2 Bowls
Steps
Messina Lulù with cream and chocolate
Let’s start by preparing the choux pastry: in a saucepan put the water, butter, and salt and bring to a boil,
add all the flour, lower the heat and
stir vigorously
You will get a smooth and creamy dough. Let it cool.
At this point, it is important that you add the eggs one at a time. Do not add another egg if the first one is not well mixed and blended. Mix the dough well until it becomes a smooth cream.
Meanwhile, spray some butter spray inside the cups, or cupcake molds. Fill them with the obtained mixture up to 3/4 of their capacity.
It is important not to overfill them because during baking the mixture will puff up like a mushroom, and if there is too much, it may overflow and burn.
Bake in a preheated oven at 390°F for 25 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350°F for another 5 minutes. Remove and let cool.
For air fryer cooking
Place the basket in the air fryer and cook in two stages: first at 356°F for 10 minutes, then at 392°F for another 10 minutes.
Put the water, butter, salt, and sugar in the bowl, cook with the basket instead of the measuring cup: 5 min./100°C/speed 1.
Add the all-purpose flour and mix: 20 sec./speed 4. Remove the bowl from its housing and let its contents cool for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200°C and spray the molds you will use with butter spray, and set aside.
Place the bowl and, with blades running at speed 5, add the eggs one at a time through the lid hole.
After adding the last egg, mix again: 30 sec./speed 5.
Put the obtained mixture into baba or cupcake molds filling them up to 3/4 of their capacity.
It is important not to overfill them because during baking the mixture will puff up like a mushroom, and if there is too much, it may overflow and burn.
Bake in a preheated oven at 200°C for 25 minutes, then lower the temperature to 180°C for another 5 minutes. Remove and let cool
for air fryer cooking
Place the basket in the air fryer and cook in two stages: first at 356°F for 10 minutes, then at 392°F for another 10 minutes
For whipped cream, put it in the freezer 20 minutes before together with the bowl you will use to whip it.
Once it’s nice and cold, if you’re using a whisk, combine the cream, sugar, and vanilla and whip to firm peaks.
If you’re using the Bimby instead, insert the butterfly and whip at speed 3.5, watching through the hole until it’s sufficiently whipped. Be careful not to overwhip, or it will turn into butter.
Now that we have all the preparations ready, you need 2 piping bags with a wide, smooth nozzle; put the cream in one and the chocolate cream in the other.
With the help of a small knife, poke a hole in the base of the Lulù and insert the nozzle of the piping bag, filling the Lulùs completely.
Now dust the cream-filled ones with powdered sugar and the chocolate-filled ones with cocoa.
Serve and enjoy.
Messina Lulù with cream and chocolate. They can be stored in the fridge for a maximum of 2 days. I don’t recommend the freezer because the shells would soften.

