Hummingbird Cream Puffs

Make the Choux

1. Arrange the racks in the top and bottom third of the oven; preheat to 375F. In a large saucepan, combine the water, butter, sugar, and salt. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring often, until the butter melts. Turn off the heat and add your flour to your pot all at once, stirring aggressively with a wooden spatula and scooping and scraping until no flour clumps remain. Return the saucepan to medium-low heat and cook, stirring forcefully, until a film forms at the bottom of the pot and the dough shiny and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 2 minutes.

2. Transfer the dough to a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, and beat at medium-low speed until the bowl is cool to the touch, about 6 minutes. Increase the speed to medium and add the eggs one at a time, beating to thoroughly incorporate before adding the next egg. The dough should be ribbony, shiny and smooth. Set dough aside.

Make the Choux Cookie Topping

1. In a separate mixing bowl using an electric mixer on low speed, cream the butter and sugar until pale, about 4 minutes. Add the flour and blend until incorporated; add the food coloring and mix to evenly disperse, 2 minutes more. Roll out roll out the dough to a 1/4-inch thickness between two sheets of parchment paper. Peel off the top sheet, and use a 2 1/2-inch cookie or biscuit cutter to cut out rounds of cookie dough. Reroll as needed to cut out 16 cookies.

2. Place 2 sheets of parchment paper on a work surface. Using the 2 1/2-inch cookie cutter as a guide, use a pencil to create 8 circles on each sheet. Fit a piping bag with a 1/2-inch round tip and fold down the bag several times. Fill the bag with the choux dough and unfold the piping bag; lightly twist the top of the bag. Pipe a small dot of dough on each of the four corners of the parchment; place one sheet of parchment, pencil side down, on each of 2 large sheet pans, pressing on the corners to adhere.

3. Pipe 2 1/2-inch rounds of choux dough onto the prepared baking sheet, using the stencils as a guide. Top each choux with a round of cookie dough. Bake until the choux are golden and cookie tops are cracked and deeply browned, 30 to 40 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

While the choux bakes, make the fillings

1. In a medium saucepan, combine the pineapple, sugar, lime zest, and a pinch of salt; cook over medium heat until the pineapple softens, is translucent, but still holds its shape and has a bit of bite, about 12 minutes. Set aside to cool.

2. In a large mixing bowl, use an immersion blender to whip the cream, bananas, and a pinch of salt until stiff peaks form, about 3 minutes.

3. Once the choux pastries have cooled, use a serrated knife to cut off the top third of each pastry; reserve the tops. Add a spoonful of the pineapple into each cream puff, then top with some toasted pecans. Spoon in enough banana whip to slightly overfill each choux pastry. Top with toasted coconut and the reserved tops. Enjoy!