Lemon Cream Choux with Crispy Lavender Craquelin



This is probably one of my most experimented with recipes so far.  It's modified from this recipe Home Cooking Adventures.  Basically what I learned in the last half year or so, is I really like lemon and I've been trying to stuff as much lemon I can into my bakes.  With mixed results. Though I think these are a solid win for sure.  One major note before, due to the acidic nature of these, they won't last as long as a vanilla Chantilly cream Choux.  I made them the night before a company Christmas party, and they almost taste underdone the next day in texture.  Delicious, but the acid does decay the dough pretty quickly. Highly recommended to make them the day of the eating.

Ingredients

  • Craquelin (Crunch topping)
  • 1/4 cup (56g) butter, room temperature
  • 1/3 cup (67g) light brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup (62g) flour
  • 1 to 1-1/2 tsp (8g) Lavender (blitzed in a food processor)
  • Choux Pastry
  • 1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour
  • 3.5 oz (100ml) milk
  • 3.5 oz (100ml) water
  • 2 tsp 10g) sugar
  • 1/2 tsp (2g) salt
  • 5 1/2 tbsp (80g) unsalted butter
  • 4 eggs
  • Chantilly Cream (Do this to taste, I like a lot of lemon)
  • 2 cups (480g) whipping cream, 35% fat, chilled
  • 1 cup (120g) powdered sugar
  • 6 Tbsp lemon juice (about 1 & half large lemon)
  • 1 lemon worth of zest


Preparation

  1. Prepare the craquelin. In a bowl, cream together the butter and sugar, using a spatula or wooden spoon. Add flour and mix until combined. Add the lavender, be careful, it's a very strong flavor and you don't want to go overboard. Make sure to taste it while you go. It will taste stronger in the craqueling by itself compared to when it paired with the lemon cream.
  2. Put the dough between a sheet of plastic wrap or parchment paper and roll the dough until very thin, about 2-3 mm thick.
  3. Place it on a cookie sheet & refrigerate the piece of dough for 1 -2 hours or freeze for 30-45 mins. (I tend to freeze cause I'm wanting to be active)
  4. Meanwhile prepare the choux pastry. Sift the flour. In a saucepan bring the milk, water, sugar, salt and butter to a boil.
  5. Remove from heat and add flour all at once and incorporate mixing energetically with a wooden spoon until homogeneous.
  6. Return the saucepan over low heat and while stirring cook for 1 minute or two to pull out the moisture from the batter and until it pulls away from the sides of the pan. You will see some of the dough sticks to the bottom of the pan.
  7. Transfer batter to a large bowl and allow to cool.
  8. Add the eggs into a measuring cup and whisk together. Add the eggs mixture slowly to your cooling batter. Be carefully incorporating each into the batter using the wooden spoon or even a stand mixer. It will result in a smooth, homogeneous batter which still holds its shape. To test the dough, stick a scapula into the dough or your finger and the dough should be smooth, but still hold it's peak when turned up right. I tend to use about 3 1/2 eggs worth egg, but it can depend on dough. If you put too much egg the choux will relax too much on the parchment paper turning into a pancake.
  9. Preheat oven to 350F (180C).
  10. Fit a pastry bag or plastic zip lock bag with a large ½ inch (1cm) round tip and pipe the dough into 1 inch (3 cm) circles on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. If you don't have large enough tips, this is fine just hold the smaller tip in the same place slowly raising it until it pools into the correct size.
  11. Remove the craquelin dough from the freezer or fridge and cut 1 inch (3cm) discs, using a cookie cutter, measuring spoon, or a piping tip.
  12. Place the discs on top of the choux, pressing slightly.
  13. Bake  for 25-30 minutes until browned and puffed.
  14. Prick each with a skewer to release steam and allow to cool on a wire rack.
  15. Prepare Chantilly Cream . Wait till the Choux pastries are cool or the cream will melt. In a large bowl whip the cream with an electric mixer until it forms stiff peaks. Add sugar, lemon juice and zest.
  16. Load the Chantilly cream into a piping bag. I use a large pint glass to help with this by placing the empty bag inside the glass, pulling the edges down around it. Then load the cream into the bag.
  17. Use a piping bag with a small plain tip to pipe the cream inside the choux from the bottom of it.This part feels weird since you can't tell how much cream is in each Choux besides weight and when you put to much it will explode from the sides. But i'd recommend exploding is better then too little, and after a while you'll get a feeling for how much is in each one.
  18. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Tips (Here's a link to the website I pulled the basic recipe off before modifying.)





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