Ingredients: (this will make abt 12 good size choux, feel free to multiply the amounts to make more choux!)
The Dough:
The Crème pâtissière:
Chose your favorite flavor!!
More flavors are coming soon!
The Craquelin: (adds a delicious crispiness to your choux!)
50 grams of flour
43 grams of sugar
40 grams of butter
Tools:
Pastry bags (1 for the choux + 1 for each flavor of cream)
Pastry tubes (1 1-2cm (.5 inch) wide round one for the choux + 1 thin round one for the crème)
A biscuit cutter (about 3 cm wide ~ 1 1/5 inches)
The rest can work perfectly fine with basic kitchen utensils (even part of this can be optional, you'll see!)!
Here is a sample schedule you can follow so that making choux fits in your schedule!
Day 1: (20 min of work)
Make the pâte à choux, place it in a pastry bag in the fridge - use the recipe linked in the ingredients list
Day 2: (1h10 of work)
Start by making your chosen crème pâtissière(s) - use the recipes linked in the ingredients list
Place them in the pastry bag and in the fridge
Preheat your oven to 165°C or 330°F
Make your craquelin dough and place it in the fridge
Shape your choux and add the craqulin
Cook your choux
Take the crème pâtissière out of the fridge and whisk it
Fill them with your crème pâtissière
Let's jump to the recipe!
The Video:
The Step by Step Guide:
1. Making the Craquelin:
This is incredibly easy to make!
Place the flour, sugar, and butter (cut in small pieces) in a bowl and combine them using the tip of your fingers. You will end up with a shortbread-like dough. Add 5 grams of butter if it does not easily combine to form a single bowl!
Place your craquelin in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.
2. Cooking the Choux:
If it was in the fridge, take your pâte à choux out of the fridge about 1 hour before starting the process!
Preheat your oven to 165°C or 330°F
Lay a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper (tip here: to avoid having the deal with the parchment paper rolling back on itself, just lay it against the rolling motion (so that the bottom of the tray blocks its rolling motion)!)
Your pâte à choux should be in a pastry bag with a large, round, pastry tube. Watch the pâte à choux video for an explanation of how to prepare your pastry bag. If you don't have any, you will follow the exact same process, but you'll have to use a spoon to shape your choux!
Just form bowls of pâte à choux (abt 1 inch or 2.5 cm wide) on the parchment paper
Keep a spacing equivalent to about 2 bowls between each bowl because the choux will expand in the oven!(try to find a big enough tray or two trays that can fit on the same oven rack because you can not cook two trays of choux at different racks in your oven!)
To form your bowls, just start by putting the end of your pastry bag close to the tray, press on it, and slowly take it up while pressing. At the end of the movement, quickly pull the bag towards the bag so that it cuts of the dough.
Once all of the choux are shaped, you are going to cover them with your craquelin.
Roll out your craquelin dough between two sheets of parchment paper until it is about 2mm thick. Use your bookie cutter to cut out circles of craquelin. Place a circle on top of each bowl of choux dough (they are very fragile, use a spatula or a wide knife)
Place your craquelin-topped choux in the oven (at 165°C or 330°F) for 20-30 minutes. It is quite vague, aim for 25 minutes, but make sure to check your choux at 20 minutes. They should be golden brown under the craquelin (if you can, don't open your oven, just turn the light on to check on your choux!)
Once golden brown, tun the oven down to 140°C or 280°F and cook for another 25 minutes (this will dry out the choux while not changing their coloration!)
Your choux are cooked!
Just leave them on the tray until they are completely cooled down (don't put them in the fridge! give them time, just leave them there.)
3. Filling your Choux:
Once cooled down, your choux are ready to be filled!
Place the crème pâtissière of your choice in a pastry bag with a thin, round, pastry tube.
Here is the process to repeat for each choux:
Cut a cross in the middle of their base
Place the tip of the pastry tube in the whole formed by the cross
Press on the pastry bag to feel your choux
You want to be generous here, fill them until they are full of crème pâtissière!
... and the solution for those of you who don't have a pastry bag or tube:
Cut your choux at about 2/3 of their height (see picture)
Use a spoon to fill them with the crème pâtissière of your choice
Place the "hat" back on top of your choux
You now have wonderful choux!
Bon appétit!
(yes, yes, these are filled!)
Well Chef, you are now one step closer to being a real French pâtissier!
I hope these choux will put a smile on the faces of those you love!
Passionately yours,
Anton
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