The color of the sugar will play an important role for the top color disc of Cracquelin. You can choose to use palm sugar, brown sugar, light brown sugar or white sugar. The disc will turn from dark brown to light brown depending on the color of your sugar.
What is Choux au Cracquelin?
Choux au Craquelin, is a delicate French pastry dessert that is light, crispy and crumbly on top. The bite-size pastry is bursting with delicious creamy filling. The taste is really good! Excellent for weekend afternoon delights. You can serve it at normal temperature or serve it chilled. Just freeze it quickly before serving, the filling turns into ice cream like filling.
What is Choux?
Choux is a French pastry dough that is usually made from butter, water, flour and eggs, it doesnt use a raising agent. The moistured ingredients of the dough when baked starts to steam from the inside, then evaporates, making it puff like a small balloon. So the puffed Choux gives an extra space for its filling.
Choux is a versatile pastry dough. It is popular and used in many European cuisines, French cuisine and Spanish cuisine. It is the heart of many popular desserts like cream puffs, profiteroles, éclairs and churros.
Choux au Craquelin vs. Cream Puff?
The only difference of Choux au Craquelin is the crack disc cover on top. While the cream puff is usually drizzled with chocolate syrup on top. Both of them have creamy filling inside.
Note when using sugar for Craquelin Disc: The color of the sugar will play an important role for the top color. You can choose to use palm sugar, brown sugar, light brown sugar or white sugar. The disc will turn from dark brown to light brown depending on the color of your sugar.
Choux au Craquelin with Diplomat Cream Recipe
INGREDIENTS:
FOR DIPLOMAT CREAM:
2 egg yolk
4 ¾ tbsp sugar (60g)
3 ¼ tbsp cornstarch (25g)
1 cup (240g) liquid milk
½ tsp vanilla extract
180 ml whipping cream (Arla or Anchor)
FOR CRAQUELIN:
3 ½ tbsp unsalted butter, room temp (50g)
4 tbsp brown sugar (or palm sugar)
½ cup all-purpose flour (60g)
CHOUX PASTRY:
130 ml water/liquid milk
¼ cup unsalted butter
⅝ cup all-purpose flour (70g)
2 eggs
pinch salt
INSTRUCTIONS:
Make Diplomat Cream: In a bowl, add the eggs and sugar and mix with a whisk until creamy. Then add the cornstarch, mix well again.
Heat the liquid milk, use low heat until just hot (do not boil), turn off heat. Gradually pour in the egg yolk mixture, stirring constantly until the milk runs out.
Cook the cream mixture again over low heat, stirring constantly until it boils & thickens, then remove from heat. Store in a container, cover with plastic wrap (must stick to the dough). Transfer it in the refrigerator for about 2 hours to chill. After 2 hours, remove the cream from the refrigerator, add the vanilla, and mix well.
Whip the cream in the mixer until thick over high speed, then combine the cream mixture with the whipped cream. Mix it again until smooth. Transfer the cream into a piping bag. Set aside in the refrigerator until time to use it.
Make the Craquelin Disc: Mix butter with palm sugar/sugar, mix well then add flour. Stir again until smooth like a dough.
Flatten the craquelin with a rolling pin and freeze it. You can cut it into a uniform size using a round shape mold. Freeze it for a few minutes until firm.
For the Choux: Bring the water, salt and butter to a boil until melted & the water boils, turn off the heat. Add flour, mix well until the dough is smooth (no lumps of flour). Turn on low heat again, stir again with a spatula about 2 minutes. Cool (transfer to a container, flatten thinly to cool quickly).
After the dough has cooled, add the eggs one by one into the dough. Beat well with a mixer (keep space when adding eggs). Put the dough into a piping bag.
Prepare a baking sheet that has been lined with baking paper or can be printed in a pie mold). Space each dough.
Take out the craquelin dough, make a round shape bigger than the size of the choux skin, place it on top. Bake in the preheated oven at 180° for about 30 minutes, then lower the temperature to 170° (understand each oven’s heat may differ). Also the size of your choux, smaller ones may bake quickly than the prescribed time in the recipe.
Cool the choux to room temperature, then pipe diplomat cream into the bottom of each choux.
