Menu
Making homemade choux pastry (also known as pâte à choux) may sound intimidating, but it’s actually quite simple (and fun!). The pastry itself uses steam to puff up into balls that are light, crispy, and filled with air. Choux pastry can be filled with a sweet pastry cream, ice cream, or whipped cream (called a “profiterole” or “cream puff”), and can be left plain, dipped in chocolate, or topped with a crunchy Craquelin topping. It can also be made savoury by adding cheese (called “gougères”).
Below I have attached a basic choux pastry recipe, a pastry cream recipe, and a craquelin recipe. However, there are plenty other variations and flavours of these recipes online, so feel free to explore all the possibilities!
The Spruce Eats recipe says to bake the choux pastry for ~40 minutes and then let them cool for another 30 minutes in the oven with the door open. However, if you are short on time you can alternatively just bake them for 30 minutes at 375F, then open the door for ~10 seconds to let the steam escape, then close the door and bake for another 5-10 minutes until golden brown and slightly crispy.
This is a basic vanilla pastry cream recipe, but there are many flavours you can try (chocolate, salted caramel, strawberry). To fill the choux buns with pastry cream, simply poke a whole in the bottom and use a piping bag to fill it with pastry cream! You could also just cut the choux in half and place the pastry cream inside (like a sandwich).
This craquelin recipe is a great way to add extra crunch (and sweetness) to choux pastry! You could even half this recipe and just add craquelin to half your choux buns.
