Choux Au Craquelin (Cream Puff)
Choux au craquelin is a dessert made with choux pastry (cream puff), and topped with a thin cookie disc called craquelin. The craquelin is made with a mix of butter, sugar and flour, just like a pie or shortcrust pastry. The baked cream puffs can be filled with various fillings such as pastry cream, diplomat cream, ganache, caramel, mousse etc.. High moisture of the choux pastry content is achieved by boiling the water and butter, then adding the flour and enough eggs (after cooled) to reach the desired consistency.
Prep Time: 1,5 hour
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Serving: 15-20 cream puffs
INGREDIENTS:
Craquelin;
85 gr butter (at room temperature)
95 gr granulated or light brown sugar
95 gr all-purpose flour
A pinch of salt
Choux Pastry;
140 ml water
100 ml milk
100 gr butter (at room temperature)
140 gr flour (all-purpose or bread flour)
4 eggs (apprx 220 gr) (at room temperature)
½ tsp granulated sugar
¼ tsp salt
Diplomat Cream;
480 ml milk
120 gr egg yolks (4 egg yolks) (at room temperature)
75 gr granulated sugar
40 gr cornstarch
35 gr butter (at room temperature)
3 tsp vanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean
200 gr heavy cream
INSTRUCTIONS:
Craquelin;
Place the butter, salt and sugar in a bowl and mix well with a spatula until creamy.
Sift the flour into the bowl. Using your hands, bring the dough together to form.
Transfer the dough on a sheet of baking paper and cover it with another sheet of baking paper. Roll the dough into a very thin sheet, about 2-3mm thickness. Place the dough in the freezer until it hardens.
Cut out the hardened dough using a cookie cutter with a diameter of 5cm and keep it cold in the fridge until needed.
Choux Pastry;
Combine the water, milk, butter, salt and sugar in a saucepan and place over medium heat.
Once the milk comes up to the boiling point, remove from the heat. Then sift the flour and add it all at once and quickly mix until the flour is well absorbed.
Place the saucepan back over medium heat and continue mixing all the time until a layer of dough remains on the bottom of the pan otherwise the choux will not swell well.
Remove from the heat and let it cool for 10-15 minutes.
Once it is cooled, transfer the dough into the mixer bowl and add the eggs one by one, mixing well after each addition. If the dough is too thick even after all eggs have been added, then it requires extra eggs.
The dough should form a smooth V shape as it falls off the spoon.
Put the dough in a piping bag and pipe it with a round nozzle about 2”(5cm) over a baking sheet/mat. Be careful not to make the dough larger than the craquelin.
Remove the craquelin from the fridge and put them on each choux pastry.
Bake for 15 minutes at 375F(190C) then reduce the heat to 338F(170C) and bake for another 15 minutes until brown. Do not open the oven door during baking.
Diplomat Cream;
Beat the egg yolks and sugar.
Sift the cornstarch into the mixture and mix well until no powder is visible.
Into a saucepan, pour the milk and put in the vanilla extract (or put in vanilla beans) and bring to a boil over medium heat.
Pour 1/3 of the milk into the eggs mixture and mix well.
Place the saucepan over the heat again and pour the eggs-milk mixture into and keep stirring to get desired consistency. The cream will become slightly thick.
When large air bubbles start to burst on the pan, turn the heat off and add the butter and mix.
Pass through a sieve. And bring it to room temperature and refrigerate to cool with cover.
Whip the cold heavy cream until it is thick and fold it into the custard cream until the cream becomes thin.
For Assembly;
Make a small hole in the bottom of the choux and fill the inside with the round nozzle.
Bon Appetit…
