Choux pastry is used to make sweet desserts like cream puffs and eclairs, but can also be filled with savory fillings. It is made by boiling water, butter, sugar, salt, flour, eggs, and vanilla, then piping it into desired shapes and baking. Cream puffs are round, while eclairs are rectangular, and both can be filled with whipped cream or ice cream and topped with chocolate caramel sauce. Gougeres are savory choux pastries filled with cheese, chicken, or meat and can be served as appetizers or to garnish a main course.
Choux pastry is a pastry used to make desserts such as cream puffs and cream puffs. Choux means “cabbage” in French as cream puffs, also called profiteroles, made with the dough resembling small cabbages. While choux pastry is mostly associated with sweet desserts, it can also be filled with savory fillings such as cheese, chicken, or meat mixes to serve as appetizers or entrees.
The ingredients for the choux pastry are water, butter, sugar, salt, flour, eggs and vanilla. The water, butter, sugar and salt are brought to a boil in a saucepan. After that, flour is added and cooked for about 10 minutes. At this stage, the mixture should be allowed to cool slightly before each egg is beaten one at a time – either by hand with a whisk or with an electric mixer. Vanilla is mixed in last.
The finished choux pastry dough should be thick, smooth and glossy before it is placed into a pastry bag fitted with a pastry tube. A pastry bag holds the dough so it can be squeezed through the pastry tube, a decorative cone-shaped metal tip, to form a textured wavy pattern. Cream puffs and eclairs can be made any desired size from tubular choux pastry – the size of the pastry depends on the size and type of pastry tube or tip used. Some pastry chefs prefer to pour the choux pastry onto a baking sheet rather than attach it with a pastry bag and tube.
Cream puffs are rectangular, while cream puffs are round. The threaded or spooned choux pastry shapes are baked in a fairly hot oven until no longer moist. Baked eclairs are commonly filled with vanilla cream. Cream puffs or profiteroles can be filled with whipped cream or ice cream and topped with chocolate caramel sauce. The top of the airy round beignet can be cut off so the rest can be filled in before replacing the top slice.
Gougeres are savory choux pastries that are also prepared by cutting the top off the puff first. In this case, the filling is a mixture of cheese, chicken or meat. Gougeres can be served as appetizers or to garnish a main course.
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