Go to the Recipe: Choux au Craquelin
Hello! I plan to make these choux this weekend and have company coming over. Would I be able to bake them in the morning and then fill them in the evening? I want to make what I can in advance without compromising quality and flavor. Thanks again for this wonderful recipe!
Thanks for this question. The answer is YES, you can! Hope your guests love them.
I have failed my first attempt at the choux au craquelin purely from my own errors
1. My choux may have only been brought to the lower temperature range and I took it off for fear of overheating
I think this lead to a more moist choux than I would like which made it more likely to collapse
2. My craquelin was too thick and large for the size of my choux which also turned it into a cookie pancake mess lol
The crème patissiere and crème legere was a success for me and it tasted delicious ! For my own taste I would prefer to add less sugar to the thickened cream at the end as the crème patissiere as quite sweet already. What a wonderful recipe.
Can I also ask about the oven temperature - is it 190 degrees C fan forced or without?
I am keen to reattempt this recipe
Hi Kimberley,
I'm sorry it didn't work out for you. I'll do my best to help troubleshoot:
1. Your suspicion may well be correct. I would try to cook the choux a bit longer next time until the internal temperature reaches 79, even 80 degrees C. This will ensure adequate starch gelatinzation, which will help the batter trap more moisture and retain its shape through baking. Think of it like a stretchy balloon: The gelatinized starch gives the choux extensibility, allowing the structure to stretch like rubber as gases form (from water to steam) and things expand under heat.
2. The craquelin topping is standardized to a specific diameter (2.25 inches/5.7 cm) for a piped choux puff sized around 1.75 inches/4.45 cm. Assuming you followed those specs, then you may have under-piped each puff (say, less than 25g). Doing so, paired with an insufficiently gelatinized dough, might give you a flatter shape.
3. For baking, 190 C would be with forced convection. Otherwise, I'd bump up to 204/205 C with no fan.
Good luck!
Thanks for the input Brit! The choux au craquelin was a HIT!
I baked the puffs in the morning, filled them after they were cooled, and then let them sit in the fridge for at least 6 hours before I served them to my guests. Not only did the crispy cookie coating stay intact, letting the filling set in the fridge made it a more pleasurable eating experience for everyone. IMO eating it just after is no less delicious but is definitely messier.
Take note that I found that this amount of choux dough made waaaay more than 12 choux au craquelin! I was able to bake at least 24, plus there was enough leftover that I made one massive one for kicks and giggles. If you're new to baking, this recipe would be a challenge due to all of the pieces that need assembling, but Tim breaks down everything in sections that makes it easy to understand. Thank you soooo much for this recipe! Now I don't need to drive to the city to eat these
Same dough 2 versions. On the right the recipe above, the left one made without craquelin is Chouquettes with pearl sugar. Wonderful recipe never thought of using the robot coupe to make pate à choux before so thank you. Just a couple of tips:
1: sift the flour and use a whisk to incorporate it then switch to a spatula.
2: for the craquelin I roll into 2mm thickness.
Worked super well for me. First time I had confidence in a pâte à choux recipe. I tried many times to bake choux but sometimes it worked and sometimes not, and I didn’t know why. Now I understand better the parameters behind success with pâte à choux. Thanks!
Those guys were filled with corn and golden white chocolate, with a center of haskap compote.
Beauties! Well done!
I made this! Worked like a dream. Changed nothing (other than dying the craquelin.) Big hit for the kid's birthday!
Does the protein content of the AP flour matter? Can you substitutes cocoa powder for some of the flour for a chocolate flavored version?
Hi, How tall should each craquelin disc be?
Hi! I found the optimal thickness between 3 and 4 mm, with slight preference for 4mm.
