Cream Puffs Vanilla Chouquettes

Dec 11

Today, I’m sharing my recipe for chouquettes, these delicious puffs sprinkled with pearl sugar.

A delight that combines softness and crunchiness.

Ideal for a snack or with a coffee, chouquettes are incredibly simple and a pure fruit of French tradition.

Here, I suggest you garnish them with whipped cream mascarpone, or chocolate pastry cream, two gourmet and comforting versions.

· Pearl sugar chouquettes and a garnish of vanilla whipped mascarpone

· Pearl sugar chouquettes and chocolate pastry cream

· Pearl sugar chouquettes and chocolate chips

For: 4 to 5 | Preparation time: 100 minutes | Cooking time: 40 to 45 minutes | Cooling time: 2 hours

Equipment:

· 2 large piping bags and a plain nozzle of 10 or 12 mm (US size: 804 or 805)

· Plastic scraper/dough cutter

· 1 or 2 baking sheets (18 in x 26 in) lined with parchment paper

· 1 large bowl, 1 saucepan, 1 spatula

· A stand mixer

· Film

Choux pastry for 45 chouquettes:

· Water: 250 grams (1 cup + 1 tablespoon) (or half semi-skimmed milk + half water)

· Sea salt: 5 grams (1/2 teaspoon)

· Unsalted European butter 82% minimum fat: 100 grams (1/4 cup + 3 tablespoons)

· All-purpose flour: 150 grams (1 1/4 cup)

· Eggs: 200 to 250 grams (4 to 5 eggs) + 1 egg for the glaze

Vanilla whipped cream to garnish about 20 chouquettes:

· 400 grams (1+2/3 cup) of heavy cream (30% minimum fat)

· 100 grams (3/4 cup) of powdered sugar

· 40 grams (3 tablespoons) of mascarpone

· 1 vanilla pod

Chocolate pastry cream to garnish about 20 chouquettes:

· Milk: 500 grams (16 oz)

· Egg yolks: 80 grams (4 egg yolks)

· Granulated sugar: 100 grams (1/2 cup)

· Cornstarch: 45 grams (1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon)

· Dark cooking chocolate 65% minimum: 150 grams (3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon)

Decoration:

· Pearl sugar: 50 grams (1/4 cup)

· 100 grams of chocolate chips (2/3 cups)

Preheat your oven in convection mode to 350 degrees Fahrenheit/180 degrees Celsius.

The panade:

Pour the water, salt, and chopped butter into the saucepan and cook over medium heat until a gentle boil. It is imperative that the butter is completely melted before the mixture boils. Stir.

Off the heat, pour the flour all at once onto the liquid mixture and stir with a spatula.

Put the saucepan back on medium heat and stir for 20 seconds to a minute until the dough pulls away from the pan. Pour into a large bowl and stir with a spatula to remove steam and cool the dough.

The “choux pastry”:

Roughly whisk the eggs in a bowl and add them one at a time to the dough. Stir the dough between each egg with your spatula to equalize the dough. The choux pastry is ready when you get a breaking ribbon, and the dough is smooth and shiny. You may not use all 5 eggs and 4 eggs will suffice. You will use the remaining eggs for the glaze.

Shaping:

Place the choux on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, spacing them apart. The diameter of the chouquettes is about 3 cm = 1 ³/₁₆ inches, it seems small, but the choux puff up when baking. To help you, you can draw your templates on the back of your parchment paper with a pencil.

You can pipe about 25 chouquettes per baking sheet. If you have a second baking sheet, pipe all the chouquettes, otherwise you will have to bake your chouquettes in 2 times.

Glaze

Whisk one whole egg and glaze your choux with a brush.

Finishing

Cover your chouquettes with pearl sugar. For even more delicious chouquettes, add chocolate chips!

Baking

Bake in the oven at 350 degrees convection for about 40 minutes (depending on your oven 35 to 50 mn. Do not open the oven door for any reason, as this would immediately drop your choux!

The chocolate pastry cream

· Heat your milk in a saucepan over medium heat without boiling it.

· Whisk together the yolks and sugar until the mixture whitens.

· Add the cornstarch and whisk again.

· Dilute this mixture with 1/3 of the hot milk.

· Put the mixture back in the saucepan with the milk and stir until the mixture thickens, whisking constantly.

· When small bubbles appear, continue stirring for 1 minute (pasteurization)

· Remove from heat and pour in the chocolate, mix well.

· Pour your cream into an oven-safe dish or plate covered with plastic wrap and cover it with plastic wrap to eliminate air.

· Cool quickly with refrigerant blocks, then place in the refrigerator for 3 hours or freeze. Don’t forget to check the cream regularly if you put it in the freezer! It keeps for 24 hours in the refrigerator.

· Mix the cold pastry cream in the bowl of your food processor or with your electric mixer.

· Pierce 1 hole in the base of each chouquette.

· Fill the chouquette with the cream.

· Keep them in the refrigerator.

· Eat them within 24 hours!

The whipped mascarpone cream

· Cut your vanilla pod and put the pods in the heavy cream.

· Whip the cream and mascarpone with your stand mixer.

· When the cream starts to thicken, add the icing sugar until you get a beautiful bird’s beak.

· Pour the vanilla cream into a large piping bag fitted with a nozzle

· Pierce 1 hole in the base of each chouquette.

· Fill with the cream.