Cream Puff Gateau

Ingredients

• 0.5 cup butter plus more for buttering pans cut into pieces,
• 5 large eggs at room temperature
• 1 cup flour all-purpose
• 1.5 cups heavy whipping cream 
• 0.3 cup powdered sugar 
• 3 tablespoons raspberry preserves 
• 0.3 teaspoon salt 
• 1 tablespoon sugar 
• 1 cup coconut or unsweetened flaked (see Notes)

Equipment

• bowl
• frying pan
• baking sheet
• oven
• wooden spoon
• spatula
• serrated knife

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 40
2. Butter 3 large baking sheets and set aside.
3. In a medium pan over medium heat, melt 1/2 cup butter with 1 cup water; bring mixture to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and immediately add flour, sugar, and salt all at once. Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until the mixture forms a ball that pulls away from sides of pan, about 1 minute.
4. Remove from heat.
5. Add eggs one at a time, stirring vigorously to fully incorporate each egg before adding the next. The mixture will appear to separate at first; keep stirring until dough comes together into a smooth paste.
6. Divide dough evenly among the 3 prepared baking sheets. Using a spatula, spread dough into 8-in. circles.
7. Bake pastry layers 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 and bake until browned, 10 to 15 minutes. (Pastry may be baked in batches.)
8. Transfer layers to cooling racks and set aside. Meanwhile, spread coconut on a baking sheet and bake at 350 until lightly toasted, about 10 minutes.
9. In a large bowl, beat cream to soft peaks.
10. Add powdered sugar and beat to combine.
11. Spread each pastry layer with 1 tbsp. preserves, then top each with 1/3 of the whipped cream and 1/3 of the coconut. Stack the circles and slice with a serrated knife.