Chouquettes
Fancy 5 minutes in Paris? Bake some chouquettes. As your kitchen is filled with the smell of baking pastry, you might just find yourself in a little French patisserie. Surrounded by glazed apple tarts, elaborate chocolate gateaux and a tower of croissants. But you want something specific. A little brown paper bag, filled with little pillows of pastry that you can eat while wandering the streets of Paris. Dark golden brown clouds scattered with a crunch of pearl sugar. So light that you cannot help yourself but take another one. And another. And maybe a last, well second to last one.
Be warned. If you have flatmates (or roommates for those readers across the Atlantic) or family living with you, these won’t last long. In fact, you might be well advised to squirrel a few away before offering them up to others. They are highly addictive. Mainly because they are so simple, yet so delightful. A little like a Jane Austen novel. Great with a cup of tea or cup of coffee and some good conversation.
It is tradition that you decorate these with pearl sugar. You can order this on Amazon (I have yet to come across them in any supermarket in London). Or if you ever travel to France pick some up in the supermarket there. You could sprinkle them with normal sugar, but it won’t have the same satisfying crunch.
Choux Pastry may seem quite scary initially. It definitely did for me. Hot water, melted butter and then beating in flour with a wooden spoon? But don’t be scared. It is not difficult at all and its a nice pastry because it doesn’t contain as much butter as other types. At leas makes me feel like I’m not eating something super unhealthy! I’ve adapted a recipe from Leith’s School of Food and Wine here (where I trained to be a chef). It is pretty much foolproof. And once you’ve mastered your chouquettes you can easily make profiteroles (same thing, omit the pearl sugar and just fill) or eclairs.
Secrets to Success:
- It may seem a little excessive to sift flour 3 times. However, you don’t want lumpy pastry and the sifting creates air between the flour. The more air in your flour, the airier your choux will be.
- Make sure you melt the butter into the water on low heat. If you let the water boil before the butter melts you will evaporate some of the water and your quantities will not be correct.
- You want to make sure your panade (the mixture of water, butter and flour) is body temperature before you incorporate the egg. Too warm and you will add too much egg, too little and you can’t add enough egg. Either one will lead to your choux not being as puffy and puffy = great choux.
| Prep Time | 15 min |
| Cook Time | 25 min |
| Servings |
chouquettes
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- 220 ml eggs in 1 cm cubes
- 85 g flour unsalted
- 105 g French
- fresh yeast
- 3 garlic clove room temperature
- 100 g German
Ingredients
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