French · Baking

Chouquettes

Small choux buns rolled in pearl sugar and baked empty. Sold by weight in paper bags and eaten before you get home.

50 min total Serves 10 servings Medium
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Chouquettes

Photograph credit: Chouquettes by NavyOctopus · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · this resized copy is shared under the same licence

Pearl sugar is not the same as any other sugar and there is no real substitute — it is compressed enough not to melt in the oven, so it stays as visible white nuggets. Granulated sugar dissolves into the surface and caramelises, giving something entirely different. The buns are also baked with the oven door propped open for the last five minutes, which lets the steam out and stops them going soft as they cool.

The Method for Chouquettes

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  1. Bring the water, milk, butter, sugar and salt to a rolling boil.

  2. Tip in the flour all at once and beat hard to a smooth ball, then dry it over the heat for 2 minutes.

  3. Cool 5 minutes, then beat in the eggs one at a time until the paste falls slowly from the spoon in a V.

  4. Pipe walnut-sized mounds onto lined trays, well spaced, and flatten any peaks with a wet finger.

  5. Brush with beaten egg and scatter generously with pearl sugar, pressing it on lightly.

  6. Bake at 200°C / 400°F for 20 minutes, then lower to 170°C / 340°F and bake 12 minutes more.

  7. Prop the oven door open with a wooden spoon for a final 5 minutes to dry them out, then cool on a rack.

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Tips That Matter

  • Pearl sugar only. Granulated melts away.
  • Prop the door open at the end to dry them.
  • They are meant to be empty. Do not fill them.

Serve It With

Coffee · A paper bag · The walk home

Keeping and Reheating

Best the day they are made. A day in a tin; refresh at 170°C / 338°F for 4 minutes.

What's in a Serving

Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.

240Calories
5gProtein
28gCarbs
12gFat
0gFibre
16gSugar
160mgSodium

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Compiled by Turab

Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.

First published ; last changed .