Preheat the oven at 375°F.
In a saucepan combine water, butter, sugar, and salt. Bring to a boil. Then turn off the heat.
Add flour and whisk quickly until well combined.
Turn on the heat again and cook for one-two minutes more.
Place it in a bowl and let it cool.
Add the eggs one at a time and stir vigorously with wooden spoon until uniform and shiny.
Scoop choux dough into a pastry bag with 1-inch plain tip.
Make an 8-inch circle on the baking paper.
Sprinkle almond flakes on top of the dough.
Bake at 375°F for 25 minutes.
After 25 minutes, open the oven and prick at 2 points on the choux ring to let the steam escape, then continue bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes.
When the choux ring is golden brown, remove from the oven. Let the choux ring cool completely.
Add sugar and milk 1 to the pot with medium heat, don't boil over.
In a bowl mix cornstarch, egg yolks, milk 2, vanilla extract.
Add to the pot and whisk continuously until the pastry cream has thickened.
Turn off the heat and add cold butter and whisk until combined. Cover it with plastic wrap and pressing it directly onto the surface of the vanilla pastry cream to prevent it from forming a skin on the surface. Let it cool completely in a refrigerator.
Place cold heavy cream in the bowl and whisk until soft peaks.
Whisk the cooled vanilla pastry cream a little bit so the texture will be softer. Then add whipping cream. Then fold it gently until everything is well combined.
Transfer the vanilla pastry cream into a piping bag with ½ inch star tip.
Cut the choux ring pastry in a half lengthwise then pipe the vanilla pastry cream.
Top with half of the choux pastry.
Refrigerate the almond choux pastry ring 1 hour before serving.
Just before serving, dust almond choux pastry ring with powdered sugar. Enjoy!