These Chouquettes (French Sugar Puffs) are Choux Pastry Buns topped with Pearl Sugar. A delicious treat for afternoon tea, a party or as an edible gift for the Holidays!
15gr (1 tablespoon)Caster Sugaror fine white granulated sugar
75gr (1/2 cup)Plain / AP Flour
2Eggs, at room temperaturesee note below
100gr (3/4 cup)Pearl Sugaror to taste
Instructions
Preheat your oven on 180'C/350'F. Prepare a large baking tray with a baking mat or paper.
Place the Water, Butter and Sugar and a medium size saucepan. Heat up on medium heat until all the butter and sugar has dissolved.
Away from the heat, drop in the sifted Flour at once. Stir with a wooden spoon or stiff spatula until a dough starts to form. Place back on medium heat and keep stirring for a few minutes to dry out the dough as much as possible (see note 1).
Transfer into the bowl of your mixer (or a mixing bowl if making by hands/with a hand mixer) fitted with the paddle attachment. Leave to cool down for 10 minutes.
In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs. Add the whisked eggs a little bit at the time, mixing until the mixture is smooth before adding more (see note 2). Keep on adding the eggs until you get a soft, shiny and supple pastry. You may need more or less egg than recommended (see note 3).
Tranfer the choux pastry in a pastry bag fitted with a large round piping tip. Pipe small mounds of pastry over the prepared baking tray , leaving some space between each chouquette as they will expand.
Generously sprinkle some pearl sugar over each chouquette.
Bake for 25 minutes, open the oven door for one second to let the steam out then close it off straight away. Bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, or until the chouquettes are puffed and golden (see note 4).
Take out of the oven and leave to cool down completely on the baking tray. Serve straight away.
Video
Notes
Ingredients Notes:
Eggs: Depending in the size of your eggs, how dry the dough is and the brand of flour you use, you might need a little bit more or less Eggs. Add the eggs a little bit at the time until you get the desired consistency.
Pearl Sugar: you can find some online, in speciality shops or make your own by crushing sugar cubes.
Instruction Notes:
The dough (called "panade" at this points) is ready when you can see a thin skin at the bottom of the saucepan and the dough does not stick to the saucepan anymore. A good way to dry out the dough as much as possible is to press it against the sides of the pan in a rotating movement.
It will look like the dough is splitting every time you add some eggs, it's normal! It will eventually come back together, just keep on mixing.
The exact amount of eggs needed will depend on the brand of flour and how dry the dough got on the stove. To know you've got the right consistency, poke a finger into the dough and lift it (a little bit of dough should stick to the finger). Turn the finger upside down so that the dough is standing up, then look to see if the dough is slowly falling back down, creating an inverted 'C' shape. If the dough stands up without falling back at all, you need to add more eggs. Make sure to add the eggs a little bit at the time to avoid adding too much; you cannot save a choux pastry that has too much eggs and is too liquid.
The exact baking time might vary based on the size of the chouquettes. Make sure not to open the oven door too early or more than once or the chouquettes might collapse.