Vomiting Buns For Halloween!

Want a fun Halloween treat for kids or adults? These choux buns are easy to make and you can have loads of fun surprising your friends. Watch them "vomit" when you press down on them - out spurts a delicious cheese and bacon custard!

The Halloween week was a particularly busy time for me. I actually grounded myself in Sydney for the whole month in preparation for Halloween and the week before my Halloween party I found myself frantic with work - not just Halloween but there were two chef events that I wanted to cover too. And so I was working double time like I was on a hamster wheel.

Sometimes I have meetings at our apartment. I don't do it normally because our apartment is tiny and messy. Mr NQN's unruliness is a constant challenge and when I asked him to put away his socks before a guest came over he simply popped them on the pile of his clothes by the lounge!

I'm afraid I didn't leave a great impression because I was so busy and when my guest came in I neglected to offer her a drink (a hot beverage ;) straight away. Then I realised I hadn't made anything for her and so I offered her two things that I did have. "Would you like a vomiting choux bun or a Jack Skellington pie?". She knows my love of Halloween well so she didn't blink an eyelid at it but a voice inside me said, "Lorraine, why can't you just be normal and offer people normal things?"

Edited to add at 8:12pm a little video I made of our Halloween party!

I'm really not sure why I can't but here you go, some vomiting buns if you will. But please feel safe serving these because even if they are a little odd, they taste absolutely delicious. What's not to love about choux pastry filled with bacon and cheese custard?

So tell me Dear Reader, are you going to celebrate Halloween tomorrow? Do you have one of those perfect homes too where people can drop in and you don't have to move stray socks?

Squirty Vomiting Buns

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 45 minutes

Cooking time: 40 minutes

For Choux Buns - makes approximately 10 large choux buns

• 66g milk
• 53g water
• 3g sugar
• 3g salt
• 50g butter
• 65g flour
• 2 eggs, at room temperature

For Custard

• 100g bacon, very finely diced*
• 375ml milk
• 85g egg yolks
• 25g cornflour
• 30g butter
• 100g cheese
• 1 inch piece of carrot, very finely diced*
• 3 tablespoons chives, very finely diced*

I used a food processor to dice these because they need to be chopped up very fine to get through the piping tip.

Step 1 - Preheat oven to 200C/400F milk, water, sugar, salt and butter until almost boiling on medium high heat. Remove from heat and using a wooden spoon stir in the flour. Return to a low heat and use the spoon to mix and stir until it starts to dry out and pulls away from the edges of the saucepan. Cool for 1 minute.

Step 2 - Place in a mixer fitted with a beater attachment. Start beating and add in the eggs, one at time making sure that they are well incorporated before adding the next one. Beat until glossy.

Step 3 - Scoop the mixture into a large piping bag fitted with a large plain tip. Pipe large chouxs around 4cms in diameter around 2 cms space around each one for spreading. Wet hands a little and smooth down any sharp tips. Bake for 20-25 minutes, in batches, or until firm and hollow when tapped. Take a chopstick and estimate where the eyes and mouth would be and poke a hole where the mouth would be.

Step 4 - Make the custard. Finely dice the bacon (we want teeny tiny pieces) and fry in a frypan for a few minutes until cooked through. Heat the milk on medium heat. Whisk the egg yolks and cornflour and add these in once the milk starts almost boiling. Add in the cheese, bacon and parsley.

Step 5 - Pipe the warm custard into the choux buns until quite full (but not bursting out). Paint eyes on the side and serve immediately (or you can heat them just before serving) and encourage guests to press down on the choux!

Want to make these ahead of time? No problem! You can make the unfilled choux buns 3-4 weeks ahead of time and just freeze them once cooled. Then defrost and fill with the custard and decorate. You can also fill these the day before and then put them in the oven at 180C/350F for 6-7 minutes.