Chouquettes
The simplest thing made from choux and one of the best-loved small treats of Paris bakeries — sold by weight or by the piece in paper bags, often bought for children after school. They are small, hollow puffs with no filling at all, studded with pearl sugar, which does not melt in the oven. The whole art is a choux paste of the right consistency: it should fall from a spoon in a V shape. Too thick and it will not rise, too thin and it spreads.
Your own work in that: 20 min.
- Cooking the paste 10 min
- Adding the eggs 10 min
- Piping 10 min
- Baking 50 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneBring milk, water and butter to a boil
Bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to a boil, until the butter has fully melted and the liquid boils hard. The butter must melt before boiling — if the water evaporates first, the proportions go wrong.
Ingredients: 130 ml milk · 130 ml water · 100 g butter · 150 g plain flour · 4 pcs eggs · 1 tbsp sugar · ½ tsp salt
Add the flour all at once and beat
Take off the heat, tip in all the flour at once and beat hard with a wooden spoon until a smooth ball forms. Return to low heat and dry the paste 2 minutes, until a thin white film forms on the base.
Ingredients: 130 ml milk · 130 ml water · 100 g butter · 150 g plain flour · 4 pcs eggs · 1 tbsp sugar · ½ tsp salt
A smooth ball and a white film on the base — dried out.Cool the paste a few minutes
Transfer the paste to a bowl and stir 3 minutes to release steam and cool. Hot paste sets the eggs the moment they go in and the choux will not rise in the oven.
Ingredients: 130 ml milk · 130 ml water · 100 g butter · 150 g plain flour · 4 pcs eggs · 1 tbsp sugar · ½ tsp salt
Add the eggs gradually
Add the beaten eggs gradually, beating until fully absorbed after each addition. The paste first breaks apart and looks wrong, then turns smooth and glossy. Do not add it all at once.
Ingredients: 130 ml milk · 130 ml water · 100 g butter · 150 g plain flour · 4 pcs eggs · 1 tbsp sugar · ½ tsp salt
Check the V test
Lift the spoon: the paste should fall slowly, leaving a V-shaped triangle on the end of the spoon. If it drops in lumps, add a little more egg. Sometimes fewer than four eggs are needed — consistency decides, not the number.
Ingredients: 130 ml milk · 130 ml water · 100 g butter · 150 g plain flour · 4 pcs eggs · 1 tbsp sugar · ½ tsp salt
A V at the spoon's tip — consistency decides.Pipe small mounds
Spoon the paste into a piping bag with a round nozzle and pipe mounds about 3.5 cm across (about 15 g each), 3 cm apart — enough for two trays. Smooth down any peaks with a wet finger — in the oven they would burn black.
Ingredients: 130 ml milk · 130 ml water · 100 g butter · 150 g plain flour · 4 pcs eggs · 1 tbsp sugar · ½ tsp salt
Glaze with egg and cover with sugar
Brush gently with beaten egg and cover generously with pearl sugar, pressing lightly. Then tilt the tray and shake off the excess. Pearl sugar does not melt and stays in crunchy white nuggets.
Ingredients: 1 pcs egg for glazing · 100 g pearl sugar
Plenty of pearl sugar — it does not melt in the oven.Bake without opening the oven
Bake one tray at a time, 22–25 minutes at 200 °C (conventional, middle shelf), until golden and light; two trays take about 50 minutes in all. Do not open the oven for the first 15 minutes — cold air rushing in collapses the choux before it sets. Cool on a rack.
Ingredients: 130 ml milk · 130 ml water · 100 g butter · 150 g plain flour · 4 pcs eggs · 1 tbsp sugar · ½ tsp salt
Before you start
Pearl sugar is essential
Pearl sugar is compressed nuggets of sugar that do not melt in the oven. Granulated sugar melts and caramelises into a sticky layer. Without it, crush sugar cubes into peppercorn-sized pieces.
Milk and water half and half
Choux made with water alone is crisper and paler, with milk alone softer and darker. Half and half is a common choice for chouquettes: they come out golden and lightly crisp.
Best on the day
Chouquettes soften within hours. Refresh them with 4 minutes in a 180 °C oven. Raw mounds can be frozen on the tray and baked from frozen, adding 5 minutes; brush with egg and sprinkle with sugar just before baking.
