Chouquettes are probably one of my favorite snacks. I love watching these little creatures grow inside the oven, and can’t wait to bite into a warm, plump chouquette. But I know that for many people it’s a difficult pastry to master. So I’m sharing all my tips for making CAP pastry chouquettes!
I’ve already detailed in an article how to make a successful choux pastry and how to make a Paris-Brest CAP or a chocolate éclair! Today, I’m going to give you step-by-step tips on how to make puffy, chubby, round chouquettes! You’ll see, it’s not that complicated. Once you’ve mastered this technique, you’ll also be able to make the heads and bodies of your nuns! And since the cracker is still not officially accepted at CAP, we’re going to learn the old-fashioned way! But first, a little history.
Table des matières
Who invented the Chouquette?
POPELINI, an Italian pastry chef at the court of Catherine de MEDICIS, created the chouquette in the 15th century. To achieve this, he adapted a dessert made by his predecessor: PANTANELL. He calls this dessert made with “hot” pastry popelin or poupelin.
What’s in chouquettes?
If you checked out several recipes before landing here, you may have noticed that there are two schools of choux pastry-making: water-based and milk-based. Contrary to what you might think, this choice will have a real impact on the final result: with water your chouquettes will be crunchy, whereas with milk they’ll be softer. You can cut the pear in half and choose a recipe with half water and half milk.
How do I hold a piping bag?
Before getting to the heart of the matter, namely poaching itself, let’s focus on an element that may seem trivial at first glance, but isn’t all that trivial. In fact, there are many, many Youtube videos of pastry chefs holding their pockets wrong. And that’s a shame, because holding your pastry bag correctly will give you greater control over the gesture and ensure even poaching.
First important point: you need to know that one of your hands (the left if you’re right-handed) will control the movement of the pouch, while the other (the right!) will dictate the pressure and flow.
To grasp the pouch, place your guiding hand in a C-shape a few centimetres from the socket. The second hand (the right, if you’re still following) closes the pouch. It is therefore located just above the contents of the pouch and serves to prevent the pouch from leaking.
Which socket to use for poaching chouquettes?
To thoroughly poach your choux, I recommend using the PF10 tip. This is the smooth, 10 mm diameter “petits fours” sleeve. It will give you smooth, round cabbages!
Poach chouquettes worthy of a CAP in pastry-making!
Now that you’ve got a nice choux pastry in a piping bag, all you have to do is get started! 1st tip, take care to position your chouquettes correctly on the plate, as in the following photo:
This will allow the air to circulate smoothly without the chouquettes touching each other as they swell. For nice, even chouquettes, place the pastry bag on the baking sheet and press the top hand down WITHOUT MOVING the other. It’s a bit counter-productive, but in fact when the pastry comes out, you shouldn’t move the piping bag.
Once the desired amount of dough has been evenly placed on the baking sheet, it’s time to get moving! To do this, simply make a small rotary movement with the hand below, pulling with the other hand. If you’re super talented, you won’t get a crest! If, like me, you’ve never succeeded, your chouquettes will look like this:
But don’t panic, it’s very easy to correct.
For beautiful, round, even chouquettes
For beautiful baked chouquettes, they need to be flat and even before baking. All you need is a fork and a bowl of water. Dip the fork in the water and make a grid pattern: one way, then the other. And then, TADAAAAM, your chouquettes will be flat:
Which sugar to use for chouquettes?
For traditional chouquettes worthy of the name, use coarse-grained sugar known as “sucre perlé” or “sucre casson”. They are now readily available in bakery stores and even local supermarkets. It’s the same sugar that’s used in tropéziennes or on viennoiseries, for example.
How do you put sugar on chouquettes?
All you have to do is sprinkle them with granulated sugar. With the water you’ve just added, the sugar will adhere by itself. Simply remove the excess sugar before or after cooking.
When to take the chouquettes out of the oven?
Cooking the chouquettes is an important aspect of the recipe. Even if you’ve done everything perfectly so far, if your chouquettes fall apart after baking, you’ve missed a trick! There are different cooking techniques, but they should cook for about 40 minutes. To make sure they don’t fall off, check that no water droplets remain on them and that the grooves are no longer shiny. Now you can take your chouquettes out of the oven. If you follow these two rules, your chouquettes will be perfect: round and plump!
How do you make up for lost chouquettes?
Here’s a tip if your undercooked chouquettes fall apart after you take them out of the oven. Prepare a crème pâtissière and garnish your choux as you would for chocolate éclairs. Your chouquettes will regain their lovely round, plump shape and be even more delicious!
Chouquettes
Équipement
- 1 casserole à fond épais
- 1 saladier
Ingredients
Panade
- 125 mL d'eau
- 3 g de sel
- 125 mL de lait
- 150 g de farine
- 100 g de beurre
- 4 oeufs
Cuisson
- sucre perlé
- 1 oeuf battu
Instructions
Réalisation de la panade
- Mettre le beurre, l'eau, le lait et le sel dans une casserole à fond épais. Mettre à chauffer sur feu vif et arrêter dès les premières bulles.125 mL d'eau, 3 g de sel, 125 mL de lait, 100 g de beurre
- Hors du feu, ajouter la farine en une fois et bien mélanger. Remettre sur feu doux pour assécher la panade. Lorsque celle-ci est homogène et fait du bruit lorsqu'on secoue la casserole, retirer du feu.150 g de farine
Hydratation de la pâte à choux
- Battre les oeufs en omelette.4 oeufs
- Ajouter une petite quantité d'oeufs à la panade et bien mélanger.
- Continuer à ajouter les oeufs jusqu'à ce que la pâte soit bien hydratée (vous n'aurez probablement pas besoin de tout mettre).
- Mettre la pâte à choux dans une poche à douille et pocher les choux en quinconce.
- Tremper une fourchette dans de l'eau et quadriller les chouquettes pour aplatir la crète.
- Badigeonner les chouquettes d'oeuf battu et saupoudrer de sucre.1 oeuf battu, sucre perlé
- Mettre à cuire les chouquettes à 180°C pendant 30 minutes en chaleur statique. Les chouquettes sont cuites quand les rainures dans la pâte à choux sont colorées.
