Choux au Craquelin | Cream Puffs

Today I present to you a classic pastry, the choux au craquelin! It's similar to the well known cream puff (aka Profiterole) but it's topped with a crunchy cookie crust. It sounds fancy but it's actually very simple to make! This recipe uses a diplomat filling but it can be made even easier (and faster) by filling the inside with whipped cream.
some notes:
- this recipe makes 17 choux au craquelin
- in this video, I start off making the choux but I recommend making the diplomat cream first since it requires chill time
- a template isn't required but it is very helpful in piping out evenly sized choux pastry
- for best results, use parchment paper instead of a silicon mat
COOKIE CRUST :
1. Mix butter with the brown sugar and granulated sugar until it's smooth (yet somewhat grainy)
2. Add flour and salt. Mix until it forms a dough
3. Transfer the dough onto a flat surface and roll out to 0.3cm thick
4. Cover the dough and chill for 1 hr.
5. Once an hour has passed, cut out circles using a 5cm ring. Work fast since the dough becomes harder to handle once it becomes soft. If it becomes too soft, place the dough in the fridge or freezer to harden then continue to cut circles. This recipe makes 17 choux. Cut out 17 circles.
6. Place the cookies back in the fridge until it's ready to be used.
CHOUX:
1. Preheat the oven to 375F (190C)
2. Add butter and water in a pot. Heat it over the stovetop until it simmers then remove it from the heat.
3. Immediately add in flour and salt then mix until it is smooth. (fun fact: this is called the panade)
4. Bring the pot back to the stove and heat it for 2 mins on medium heat to dry it out. You should also see a slight film form on the bottom of your pot at this stage. Don't skip this step as it'll help the eggs absorb later.
5. It will be hot at this point. Let it cool for about 10 mins before adding the eggs so they don't get cooked.
6. Add the eggs in 1 by 1, mixing until the egg is incorporated before adding the second egg. note: once the egg is added, it will look like it has separated/curdled but don't worry! that's how it looks. Keep mixing and it'll come together.
7. Once the second egg has been added, continue to mix until you can lift the batter and have it drop down in a V shape on the spatula.
8. Transfer the batter to a piping bag
9. Pipe out 4cm large mounds on the baking sheet. Space each one at least 4cm apart to give it room to grow. They puff up a lot when baked!
10. Once all the batter is piped, bring out the cookies. Place one cookie on top of each ball of dough.
11. Transfer the tray to the oven and bake at 375F (190C) for 26 minutes. They should be a nice golden colour. Don't open the oven door while they're baking.
12. Transfer the choux au craquelin to a wire rack to cool
13. Once cooled, poke a hole in the bottom of each using a knife then fill with the diplomat cream.
DIPLOMAT CREAM:
diplomat cream is made from a combination of pastry cream and whipped cream
Pastry cream:
1. Mix egg yolks with sugar
2. Add in corn starch and mix. Set the bowl aside for now.
3. Add milk and vanilla extract to a pot. Heat up the milk until it bubbles. Once it bubbles remove it from the heat
4. Slowly pour half the milk in the egg yolk mixture while whisking. There will be a bit of resistance from the corn starch at first but it'll go away. Add in the rest of the milk and whisk until it's well combined.
5. Pour everything back into the pot then cook on medium heat until it thickens into a smooth paste, stirring often.
6. Transfer the pastry cream into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place the plastic wrap directly on the surface on the cream to prevent a film from forming.
7. Refrigerate the cream for 2-3 hours
Whipped cream:
1. In a large bowl, combine cream, powdered sugar and vanilla extract.
2. Mix until soft peaks form
Putting it all together:
1. Take the pastry cream out of the fridge. It will have firmed up. Mix the cream with a hand mixer to break it apart and then continue to mix until it becomes a smooth cream.
2. Add the whipped cream to the pastry cream and mix until it's combined.
3. Refrigerate for 1 hr then it's ready to be used.
products used:
KitchenAid hand mixer: amzn.to/42fzOVC
Nordic Ware baking sheet: amzn.to/3LOHIQh
Piping bags: amzn.to/3vr8IzV
I hope you enjoyed this video :)
Thanks a lot for watching!
0:00 Intro
0:14 Cookie Crust
1:34 Optional: Template creation
2:16 Cutting the cookie crust
3:00 Choux pastry
5:55 Piping
6:40 Time to Bake
7:17 Diplomat cream - The pastry cream
9:12 Diplomat cream- The whipped cream
9:32 Diplomat cream - Putting it all together
10:10 Filling the choux
music attribution:
Chillpeach - Once more • [no copyright music] '...
Chillpeach - Jelly Bun • [no copyright music] '...
#pastry #chouxpastry #chouxaucraquelin #creampuff #desserts #baking #choux #pastrycream

[@steamedbakes]

Looks so good! 😋😋😋

[@butteredflour]

Thanks! It was! I'm so sad there's no more 😭