Chausson aux pommes
A Paris bakery classic, alongside the croissant and pain au chocolat, eaten for breakfast or an afternoon snack. It is puff pastry folded into a half moon, filled with thick compote with chunks of apple, with a signature leaf pattern on top. Legend says it was invented in 1630 in Saint-Calais, when an epidemic struck the town and the lady of the local castle handed out flour and apples to the poor. The secret is a thick, cold compote — warm or runny, it will soak and burst the pastry.
Your own work in that: 20 min.
- Apple compote 20 min
- Cooling the compote 40 min
- Shaping 20 min
- Chilling 20 min
- Baking 25 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneCook a thick, chunky compote
Peel the apples and cut into 1 cm dice. Stew with the butter, sugar, vanilla sugar, lemon and a pinch of cinnamon, if using, 15–20 minutes, until some of the apple collapses and some stays in pieces. The compote must be thick, with no liquid — reduce it uncovered at the end.
Ingredients: 3 pcs tart apples · 20 g butter · 40 g sugar · 1 tsp vanilla sugar · 1 tsp lemon juice · 1 pinch cinnamon
Part collapsed, part chunky — and no liquid.Cool the compote completely
Spread the compote on a plate and cool to fridge temperature (about 40 minutes in the fridge). Warm compote melts the butter in the puff pastry before it reaches the oven, and the pastry will not separate into leaves.
Ingredients: 3 pcs tart apples · 20 g butter · 40 g sugar · 1 tsp vanilla sugar · 1 tsp lemon juice · 1 pinch cinnamon
Cut ovals of pastry
Unroll the cold pastry sheets (about 24 × 40 cm) and cut 3 circles 13 cm across from each, ideally with a fluted cutter. Roll each slightly into an oval — so the centre is thinner than the edges.
Ingredients: 550 g all-butter puff pastry · 1 pcs egg · 1 tbsp milk
Fill and fold
Spoon 2 heaped tablespoons of compote (about 50 g) onto one half of each oval, leaving a 1.5 cm border. Brush the border with egg beaten with milk, fold in half and press the edges firmly with your fingers. Do not overfill — compote will leak and burn on the tray.
Ingredients: 550 g all-butter puff pastry · 1 pcs egg · 1 tbsp milk
Two spoonfuls, a clear border pressed firmly.Turn over and chill
Turn the chaussons over (smooth underside up) onto a lined tray, brush with egg and put in the fridge for 20 minutes. Chilled pastry rises better, and cold butter turns to steam in the oven, separating the layers.
Ingredients: 550 g all-butter puff pastry · 1 pcs egg · 1 tbsp milk
Glaze again and score
Brush with egg again and score a leaf pattern with the back of a knife: one line down the middle and diagonal veins either side. Score shallowly, without cutting through. Make 2 small holes for steam.
Ingredients: 550 g all-butter puff pastry · 1 pcs egg · 1 tbsp milk
The back of a knife — leaf veins, shallow.Bake until golden
Bake at 200°C for 22–25 minutes, until deep golden and clearly layered at the sides. Do not open the oven for the first 15 minutes — puff pastry will collapse.
Ingredients: 550 g all-butter puff pastry · 1 pcs egg · 1 tbsp milk
Brush with syrup
Boil the sugar and water into a syrup and brush the hot chaussons as soon as they leave the oven. The syrup gives a bakery shine. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature — best the day they are baked.
Ingredients: 2 tbsp sugar · 2 tbsp water
Before you start
All-butter puff pastry
Choose all-butter puff pastry, not one made with margarine — the difference in flavour and layering is huge. Keep the pastry cold throughout; if it softens, give it 10 minutes in the fridge.
Which apples
Tart apples that collapse, like Reinette or Boskoop, are best. Sweet dessert apples give a bland, watery compote. You can add a handful of raisins or a few pieces of pear.
Freezing
Shaped, unbaked chaussons frozen on a tray and then bagged keep 2 months. Bake straight from the freezer, adding 5–8 minutes to the baking time.
