Let’s discover together how to make craquelin cream puffs, a colorful variant of the usual cream puffs!
Its colorful crust also gives us a crunchy texture to savor along with the softness of the puff and the cream inside.
You can use classic pastry cream as a filling and I leave the recipe here:
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 50 Minutes
- Cooking methods: Oven, Electric oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 7 tbsp butter
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 pinch sugar
- 1/2 cup milk
- 6 whole eggs
- 3/4 all-purpose flour
- 5 1/2 tbsp butter (soft)
- 2/3 cup sugar
- as needed food coloring (colors as desired)
Tools
- 1 Stand Mixer
- 1 Pot
- 1 Spoon
- 1 Silicone Rolling Pin
- Piping Bag
- 1 Plain Nozzle
- Parchment Paper
- Baking Trays
- 1 Pastry Cutter
Steps
I recommend creating the craquelin FIRST and then preparing the cream puffs.
First, work the soft butter with the sugar and finally incorporate the flour.
Create colorful dough blocks.
Wrap in plastic wrap and let rest for about 3/4 hours in the refrigerator.
Then take the colored dough blocks and roll them out individually on parchment paper sheets to a thickness of about 1/10 of an inch.
Using a pastry cutter of about 1 3/4 inches, cut out the disks that will be placed on top of the cream puffs before baking.
In a pot, bring to a boil butter, water, and milk with a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar.
As soon as it boils, add all the flour and stir with a spoon until the mixture sizzles and detaches from the pot. (a couple of minutes will suffice..)
At this point, transfer the dough to a stand mixer and start mixing with the paddle attachment to lower the temperature to about 140°F.
Continue mixing while starting to add the eggs little by little until a smooth, creamy, and compact mixture is achieved.
Insert the plain nozzle into the piping bag and fill with the choux pastry dough.
Pipe the cream puffs onto the parchment paper on the baking tray, making small mounds of dough spaced apart (they will grow in the oven).
Place a colored craquelin disk on each cream puff.
Bake at 340°F for about 20 minutes.
Once well risen and almost cooked, open the oven door to release the steam and bake for another 5 minutes with the oven door slightly ajar.
The craquelin cream puffs keep frozen for 1 month.
Or in a paper bag for 3 or 4 days.
