Recipe »Salted Caramel Craquelin Cream Puffs«

Recipe »Salted Caramel Craquelin Cream Puffs«

Makes around 20

Craquelin cutter size & choux bun template size: 5.5 – 6cm

Ingredients:

For the craquelin:

• 100g unsalted butter at room temperature
• 120g light brown sugar
• 120g plain flour

For the choux buns:

• 250ml water
• 95g salted butter
• 140g plain flour
• 4 large eggs

For the salted caramel cream:

• 200g sugar
• 250g butter
• 2x250ml double (heavy) cream
• ¼ tsp fleur de sel

How it’s done:

The craquelin:

1. Put the sugar and butter into a bowl and mix until combined
2. Add the flour and work into the mix until you have a smooth dough
3. Flatten the dough slightly and place between two large sheets of parchment paper
4. Roll the dough between the sheets to a thickness of about 2mm
5. Now place the dough (with the sheets) into your freezer at least one hour

The choux:

1. Preheat your oven to 190C (fan assisted)
2. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper and draw 5.5-6cm circles onto the paper. Then turn the parchment paper over so the dough won’t touch the pencil marks. These are the templates for the size of your choux buns
3. Fit your piping bag with a plain, large nozzle
4. Put the water and butter into a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over a medium heat
5. As soon as it boils, take the saucepan off the heat and tip all the flour into it in one go
6. Use a wooden spoon to quickly mix the flour into the water
7. Return to the heat and keep mixing until the dough comes off the sides of the saucepan and forms something of a ball
8. Take the saucepan off the heat and leave to cool for 2 minutes
9. Now add the eggs one by one working them into the dough with the wooden spoon between each addition
10. Keep stirring the dough until smooth
11. Now put the dough into your piping bag and pipe the dough onto the prepared baking sheet using the circles you’ve drawn as guidelines for size
12. Take the craquelin out of the freezer and leave to rest for 2 minutes
13. Using the same cutter you’ve used for drawing the circular templates, cut out craquelin “biscuits”, place one on top of each choux bun and press down lightly
14. Put the baking sheet into the oven and bake for 25 minutes
15. Once done, remove from the oven and immediately pierce a small hole into the side of each bun to release any moisture

The caramel:

• Put the sugar and water into a medium saucepan on a medium to high heat
• Heat the sugar without stirring until it starts to melt
• Once melted, swirl it a little until it reaches a medium brown colour
• Add all the butter (be careful as the caramel will spit and splatter!) and whisk into the hot caramel until it’s all melted together
• Now pour 250ml cream (keep 250ml for the cream filling) in slowly whilst continuously whisking
• Whisk until all combined and smooth
• Pour the caramel into a clean bowl and leave to cool
• Put the caramel into the fridge and leave to cool completely

To assemble:

1. With a sharp knife, cut the top 1/3 off each choux bun
2. Whisk the 250ml cream until you have soft peaks
3. Now add the cooled down caramel and fold into the cream
4. Put a large star nozzle into your piping bag
5. Fill the piping bag with the caramel cream mix and pipe a good amount of cream into the bottom part of the choux bun
6. Place the top part on the cream
7. If you fancy, you can dust the cream buns with icing sugar