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Choux Pastry Recipe
What is a choux pastry? In French, choux pastry is called pate a choux.
It’s a pastry dough used in many desserts, for example: cream puffs, profiteroles, French beignets and gougères (cheese puffs).
They are very easy to make at home. They are light, fluffy, airy, buttery, eggy and great with a variety of fillings.
Recipe Ingredients
This recipe calls for five (5) simple ingredients that you already have at home:
- Unsalted butter
- Water
- Salt
- All-purpose flour
- Eggs
How to Make Choux Pastry?
First, heat butter and water on low heat. Add in the flour, salt and stir quickly to form a dough.
Let the dough cool off before you add in eggs and mix well.
To make pate a choux puffs, pipe the dough to form puff shape with a pastry piping bag.
Bake the puffs at 425F (220C) for 30 minute or until the choux puffs turn golden brown.
Filling Ideas
Pate a choux are basically pastry shells, so you can fill them up with either a sweet or savory filling.
Here are some of the filling ideas you can try at home. The possibilities are endless!
- Cream custard filling, for example: cream puffs.
- Chocolate sauce or caramel sauce, for example: profiteroles.
- Ice cream.
- Chicken salad can turn choux pastry into a light meal.
- You can add cheese into the choux pastry batter and turn it into gougères.
Frequently Asked Questions
How to Pipe Choux Pastry?
You can use a pastry bag or piping bag to pipe the dough.
You can also pipe the dough using a plastic bag by cutting off one of the bottom corners.
Transfer the dough inside the bag, press and squeeze it out of the cut corner to form the puff shape.
Why Is My Choux Pastry Dough Runny?
In warmer countries, the dough might be runny and hard to form a shape when you’re ready to bake.
If it happens, please chill the dough in the refrigerator for 10 minutes or longer before piping.
How Many Calories per Serving?
This recipe is only 475 calories per serving.
What Dishes to Serve with This Recipe?
Serve these pastries as is, with strawberry jam, sweet or savory filling. For an afternoon tea, I recommend the following recipes.
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Choux Pastry
Ingredients
- 1 stick unsalted butter
- 1 cup water
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 eggs (or 1 cup eggs)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Put the butter and and water into a saucepan on low heat.
- Add in the flour and salt, turn heat to simmer. Stir quickly until a dough is formed and does not stick to the saucepan. Let cook for about 1-2 minutes to dry up the water a little bit.
- Transfer the dough to a big bowl and leave to cool for about 5 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time using an electronic mixer (low speed) until the mixture is well combined and sticky.
How to Pipe Choux Pastry?
- Using a plastic bag with one of its bottom corners cut off (cut a small opening), scoop the dough into the plastic bag and push it to the part where the corner is snipped off. You can also use a piping bag.
- Squeeze and pipe the dough onto a greased baking sheet or a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. When pipping the dough, use a clock-wise motion to form a small coil shape. Leave enough rooms in between each pastry.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 425 °F (220 °C) for about 10 minute, and then at 375 °F (190 °C) for 20 minutes, or until they turn golden brown. Remove from oven and serve warm.
Notes
- Some eggs are bigger than the others. Use small eggs or just barely 1 cup of eggs if you can't decide on the size of the eggs.
- In warmer countries, the pastry dough might be too "runny" and hard to form a shape when you're ready to bake the choux pastry. Chill the choux pastry dough in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes before piping them for baking.
- DO NOT use aluminum foil for baking as the bottom of the choux pastry will be burned. I ran out of parchment paper hence I used aluminum foil.
Nutrition
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
Very hard to find pastry recipe for begets! Still havent found
Beignet recipe here: https://rasamalaysia.com/new-orleans-beignets/
How many can you make with this recipe?
I like this recipe because its so easy good.
Why do the cream puffs at the bakery shop is crispy and does not flatten when it is cooked and cooled. Mine always looks nice when just taken out of the oven but unfortunately later in the day it is slightly flatten and soft.