Chouquettes, a French treat

As always, I'm always looking for something new around here.
The chouquettes (shukets) are mini balls of "pâte à choux" or pastry puff, covered by coarse sugar.
Little crunchy semisweet balls. Start with one and won´t stop easily.

I had this recipe on my list for some time, but I was waiting for this sugar, "granela". Here we use this type of sugar for Easter thread cake, on top of the pastry cream. 






And I will say that as they are so popular in France, in my house were very well received. Surely, for the next I´ll try with chocolate chips on top.

I doubted whether they would be good or may too plain, the dough doesn´t have much flavor nor sweetness. But without a doubt the amount of sugar is ok, and the flavour is perfect, butter and a it of vanilla.

Chouquettes
250 cc water or milk (I put half milk, half water)
100 g butter
Salt 1/4 tsp
1 tbsp sugar
150 g flour
Eggs 4

Vanilla esence 1/2 tsp

- For this recipe the mise en place is a must: read the entire recipe before starting, weight the flour and keep it close to you. Break the eggs and vanilla into a bowl, mix to break the yolk and set them aside. Keep a whisk, wooden spoon or silicone spatula. Preheat oven to 150°C, prepare the baking pan, well greased and floured
- Put in a small saucepan: water or milk, butter, sugar and salt.
- When it boils, remove from heat and add all the flour at the same time. Mix to break up the lumps.
- Keep the fire again, and dried the dough for 1 minute stirring constantly. You will see that it forms a ball that comes off of the walls of the pan
- Turn off the heat and bring to a large bowl and let rest a few minutes to cool it off a bit
- Add eggs slowly, medium egg at a time and beat until incorporated.
- To picture the texture of the dough, it´s done when you lift the spoon and forms a V
- Put in a pastry bag with a round tip, or do mini balls with a teaspoon, big as half teaspoon or half nut
- Sprinkle the sugar over and bake for about 20 minutes, you see that they grew up, are golden and crispy.

 

 

In the sense of clockwise: the dough before adding the eggs, while adding

eggs, the V form, and the filling of the pastry bag, (if you do not have help!)

Footnotes
- In this recipe is very important the mise en place (the preparation) to enjoy doing it. If not you´ll suffer in the process
- Eggs, indicated 4, which are medium eggs, 50 grams without the shell. But this recipe may take more or fewer eggs, depends on how dry or how much water the dough acceptance of the flour. They have to keep adding little by little until it´s like I told you
- Store them in airtight container, and if they soften, put them back in oven a few minutes and they´ll be crisp again.
- It makes about more than 60 chouquettes.