eggboy and i spend a lot of nights watching movies. between our big smushy couch/90s tv setup at home, and a town movie theater that makes you feel like you're in someone's log cabin, complete with clean bathrooms that smell of cinnamon, watching or seeing a movie always feels like a good option.

the only problem is, we don't get all those cute independent limited release movies that at one point in my life only required traveling two stops on the d train. and when we do get something that doesn't star a super hero or hungry games, it plays for like one week. at least that was the case with the grand budapest hotel.

so despite my girl crush on saoirse úna ronan and ooglie eyes over wes anderson colors, i have not seen the grand budapest hotel. yet i am still drawn to this courtesan au chocolat that apparently plays a huge role. it's a tower of chocolate-filled choux pastry puffs with pretty colored glazes and white filigree (!!!!!). so renee and lyndsay and i are all posting about these little guys today because how fun is that?!?!?1!!

until recently i had never done made choux pastry before. it was sort of grouped in my mind in the same category as the soufflé: fussy sensitive things that i should block out an entire day for. to my surprise, my first batch of puffs came out swimmingly, and so did the second batch, etc., etc. they were that easy. one day i am going to fill some with pimiento cheese but today they're filled with dark chocolate and topped with matcha, ube, and raspberry glazes.

courtesan au chocolate with matcha, ube, and raspberry glazes

first: study this cute video, it will explain a lot!

the choux: this recipe is the one i like. it's very similar to the one in the video. be sure to pipe out three different sizes, as shown in the video.

the chocolate filling: the recipe from the video, except i like using dark chocolate.

the glazes: gradually mix milk into powdered sugar until you get your desired consistency. (mine were super thick. like, thicker than honey!) divide into three bowls and add a few teaspoons of matcha green tea powder, a few drops of ube extract, and a few spoonfuls raspberry jam, until you get your desired color and flavor. i like to pass the raspberry jam through a sieve to get rid of the seeds so that the glaze is very smooth.

assembly: fill the large and medium sized choux puffs with chocolate, dip them in the glazes, let the glazes dry, and then pipe on your filigree. you can use melted white chocolate or an extra thick powdered sugar/milk glaze, piped out of a small piping bag or ziploc bag. stack them all up and eat immediately! and also make renee's and lyndsay's :)

-yeh!