You know i craquelin cream puffs? In recent years this has spread in pastry variant of classics cream puffs: it is characterized by a very thin mixture of sugar, butter and flour, which is placed on the mixture before cooking; this confers, in addition to a particular and one aftertaste crunchy texture, also a very inviting aesthetic aspect.

Let's find out together with Emanuele Frigerio, pastry chef of the Italian Cuisine School, some advice and the recipe to prepare the craquelin puffs.

Craquelin cream puffs: why choose this technique?

The product, thus thought, tends to develop more in dimension compared to traditional cream puffs. The craquelin crust contains, in fact, a lot of fat and creates an insulating vapor barrier, so that it develops inside the choux pastry. It is therefore an excellent choice in case you choose to to fill cream puffs with one cream.

How to color cream puffs?

It is possible to intervene on the coloring of the product in a simple way, so as to obtain colored and different cream puffs. Gods can be added food coloring directly in the crust dough or, alternatively, you can replace part of the normal flour with some dried fruit flour, like flour of pistachio or flour of almonds. The proportion, which must be maintained, is 90 grams of plain flour per 10 grams of other types of flour.

How to stuff craquelin cream puffs?

For an alternative recipe, you can prepare one salty version: craquelin cream puffs with peanut butter and coffee cream. You will amaze your guests with a sensational and innovative flavor dish! If, on the other hand, you prefer the classic sweet version, the advice is to fill the cream puffs with one light cream, such as zabaglione.
Let's see the pastry chef's recipe together Emanuele Frigerio.

The recipe for cocoa craquelin puffs with lavender cream

Ingredients

For the cream puff mixture
250 g Whole eggs
130 g Type 00 soft wheat flour
125 ml Milk
125 ml water
125 g Butter
10 g Bitter cocoa
4 g Salt

For the special pastry
225 g type 00 soft wheat flour
150 g Butter
100 g Almonds
60 g egg whites
50 g Potato starch
50 g icing sugar
1 g Salt

For the lavender custard
500 ml Milk
150 g sugar
100 g egg yolk
40 g cornstarch
Lavender

Method

For the cream puff mixture, boil the first four ingredients indicated in a pan. Once boiled, remove from the heat and add flour and cocoa, previously sieved. Then put the mixture back on the heat and stir it to dry it, until it detaches from the walls. Place the mixture in the planetary bowl and let it cool, using the leaf. Add the eggs one by one, always working the dough, until a soft and homogeneous mixture is obtained. Put the mixture in one sac a poche and leave to rest in the cool.

For the special pastry, add the almonds, sugar, salt, egg white and ¼ flour to the butter. Mix the dough; add the remaining flour and starch. Work everything quickly and then let it rest.

For the lavender custard, in a basterdella, whisk the egg yolks, sugar and flour with a whisk. Separately in a saucepan, heat the milk and infuse the lavender. Bring to a boil, remove the lavender and pour the rising yolks; mix until they are completely diluted with milk. Put back on the fire, stirring always with a whisk; complete the cooking, until it is thick (82-85 ° C). Remove from the heat and spread the cream on a baking sheet; cover with contact film and allow to cool.

Form on the baking paper the classic shape with the cream puff mixture; with the help of the dough roller, pull the pastry to a thickness of 2 mm. With a round pastry-cutter make small disks of the same size as the choux. Gently lay the puff pastry on top of the cream puffs, previously moistened with water. Bake at 210 ° C for about 15 minutes. Leave to cool and fill with the lavender custard. Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve.

Are you curious to learn other pastry techniques? Come to the courses de The Italian Cuisine School! Click here to find out the next dates.

Texts by Caterina Limido