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Learn how to make crispy Japanese Zaku Zaku-inspired croquant choux filled with delicious pastry cream. All the tips you need to know to make choux successfully at your home kitchen.
What is croquant choux ?
Croquant” is a French word that translates to “crunchy” or “crispy” in English. It is often used in culinary contexts to describe foods that have a crisp or crunchy texture. For example, in “croquant choux,” the term “croquant” refers to the crunchy topping added to the choux pastry such as cream puffs and eclairs. So croquant choux is a crispy cream puff in the shape of a long eclair.
What is zaku zaku croquant choux ?
It’s a shop in Harajuku, Japan specializing in crispy choux known as croquant choux. The croquant choux are made with the finest ingredients from Hokkaido. There are long lines of customers waiting daily. They are so popular that it’s a must to try when you are in the area. I have never personally tried zaku zaku croquant choux before, so I can’t say this is the copycat. because most likely it’s not. I just use the choux recipe I have been using. I use the pastry cream recipe and the croquant recipe that I saw on YouTube with some modifications. There are a few different varieties when it comes to croquant. Some use butter like the craquelin I made a while ago. The version I made here uses egg whites and powdered sugar.
Croquant Choux
Ingredients
Choux pastry:
- 70 gr unbleached all-purpose flour
- ¼ tsp salt
- 57 g butter
- 120 g water
- 110 gr eggs room temperature (about 2 – 2 1/4 eggs)
Croquant:
- 30 g egg white 1 egg white
- 50 g powdered sugar
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 40 g cake flour
- 50 g almonds finely chopped, or use nuts of your choice
Pastry cream: (you may have some leftovers)
- 3 egg yolks
- 30 g cake flour
- 70 g sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 270 g whole milk divided
- 20 g unsalted butter
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 120 g heavy cream
Instructions
Prepare pastry cream: (can be made 3 days in advanced)
- Whisk cake flour and egg yolks in a mixing bowl. Add half of the milk and whisk until all are well combined.
- In a saucepan, add the other half of the milk, sugar, and salt. Put this on the stove over medium heat and bring the mixture to a full boil while keep stirring. Remove from the stove
- Add about 2 tablespoon of the hot milk into the egg mixture while keep whisking. We are tempering the eggs. Then gradually add the rest of the milk mixture while keep whisking rapidly until combined
- Put this back on the stove over medium-low heat and keep whisking rapidly. Make sure you get to the edge of the pan. The pastry cream will start to bubble and thicken. Cook for another minute over medium-low heat
- Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in butter and vanilla extract and continue to whisk until the butter melts and all are well combined. I added matcha powder in this photo
- Pour the mixture into a bowl and place a piece of cling wrap that has been sprayed with some non-stick spray, directly touching the surface of the cream. This is to prevent the skin from forming
- Let the cream cool to room temperature, about 45 minutes to 1 hour, then keep in the fridge until cold, about 4-5 hours or overnight
- 30 minutes before you plan to bake, preheat oven to 425 F (220 C) for conventional oven. For convection oven, lower the temperature by about 20 F / 15 C
- Line one 12 x 15-inch cookie sheet or an inverted half-sheet pan ( 17 1/4 x 12 1/4 inch) with parchment. We invert the pan because the rim of the pan won't block the air flow during baking they bake evenly.
- If you don't have large pan I mentioned above, you can use 2-3 smaller pans
Prepare croquant:
- Combine all the ingredients and set aside. The consistency is medium thick but spreadable. If you put it in the fridge, it hardens. Simply leave them at room temperature for a few minutes and it softens again
Making the dough:
- Beat the eggs in a bowl with a whisk. It is very important that the eggs are not cold from the fridge. They need to be at room temperature
- In a medium saucepan, add water and butter. Bring to a boil to melt the butter
- Lower the heat to the lowest and add flour and salt all at once
- Continue to stir vigorously until the mixture is well blended.
- Then increase the heat back up to medium and keep stirring for another 3 minutes to cook the flour.
- The dough should be smooth and shiny and you can see a layer of dough that coat the bottom of the pan. Remove from the heat.
- Without scraping the bottom of the pan, transfer the dough to a mixing bowl. Use a spatula to smear the dough a few times to release some heat. Let it cool down for about 3 minutes so it is just warm without cooking the eggs that we are going to add later
- Add 1/4 of the egg and keep mixing. They will appear separate and look like big blob of mess. Just keep stirring and add another 1/4 and continue to gradually add as you stir until you get a paste consistency.
- They will appear separate and look like big blobs of mess. Just keep stirring and add another 1/4 and continue to gradually add as you stir until you get a paste consistency.
The dough consistency you are looking for:
- The dough should be smooth and shiny.
- If you lift the dough with a spatula, it should be too soft to hold peaks. If it is too stiff, add a tiny bit of water and mix again and check the consistency again.
Piping:
- You can use 3/4-inch (#7) round pastry tube or 3/4-inch French star nozzle tip.
- I have tried both tips. Using the French star tip helps to prevent the choux from cracking
- Pipe eight 8 inches long and about 1 inch wide, about 3 inches apart on the baking sheet.
- Use a spoon to distribute the croquant evenly on top of each eclair. It can be a bit messy but just use the spoon to tidy up the croquant that runs down
- If you are not ready to bake the next batch within one hour, coat them lightly with a non-stick cooking spray and cover lightly with plastic wrap. Keep them in the refrigerator. Spread the croquant later when you are ready to bake
Baking:
- Bake for 15 minutes. You will see the choux balloon up. DO NOT open the oven door at any point. Then lower the temperature to 325 F (160 C) for conventional oven. Lower temperature by 20 F/15 C for convection oven, and continue baking for 40 minutes or until they are golden brown.
Release the steam from the choux: (to prevent them from deflating)
- Quickly open the oven door and use a small knife to poke the side of each of the eclair to release steam. This is very important to prevent the choux from deflating
Return back to the oven for baking:
- Close the oven door and and lower the oven temperature and bake at 275 F (135 C) for conventional oven and bake for another 20 minutes.
- Turn off the oven, use a wooden spatula to crack the oven door slightly to release pressure and let the pastry dry in the oven for at least 30 minutes or 1 hour if you want them to be really dry and stay crispy longer
- All these steps are necessary to prevent the choux from deflating and to make sure the inside is really dry and the choux stays crispy. If they are wet, they tend to deflate. You can see here that the choux pastries did not deflate at all because they were bake long enough and the inside were dry
Cool completely:
- Then remove from the oven and let them cool completely on a wire rack
Finish preparing the pastry cream : (only when you are ready to fill the pastry)
- One hour before you plan to fill the eclair, we need to finish up making the pastry cream. Remove the pastry cream from the fridge. It has hardened now. Use a whisk to whip the cream again to a creamy consistency
- Whip the cold heavy cream over medium speed until a soft peak forms. When you raise your beater up, you see a soft peak that bents
- Fold the soft whipped cream into the pastry cream using a spatula until they are well combined
To fill the choux:
- Transfer the cream into a piping bag fitted with a long tip nozzle if you have one. Poke the top of the choux with the long tip and gently squeeze in the cream.
- Alternatively, you can cut the choux in half horizontally and use a spoon to spread the cream on the choux. It's going to be messier, but it can be done
- Serve immediately or try to serve within 1 hour. The pastries start to soften once filled but they are still delicious
*Nutrition facts are just estimates and calculated using online tools*
Tips for successful choux
Making a choux pastry can be challenging, especially if it’s your first time. Despite its simple ingredients, there are a few key areas you must pay attention to.
1. Weigh ingredients with a scale.
I highly recommend this for consistency
2. Make sure you cook the butter, water, and flour mixture long enough.
This step is to cook the flour and to dry up most of the moisture
3. The amount of eggs needed can vary
It depends on the flour you use, how long you cook the flour mixture, and the eggs’ size. This is why it is best to weigh the eggs instead of just telling you 2 to 3 eggs because the size of eggs varies too
4. Higher temperature at initial bake.
The moisture inside the dough will cause the dough to puff up (because of the steam) when exposed to high heat.
5. Lower the temperature to dry the inside.
After that initial puff, the baking temperature is lower to ensure the choux is baked until they are dry on the inside so it hold the shape and won’t deflate
6. Release steam.
This is done by piercing the choux with a knife or skewer to release any trapped steam, which can cause the choux to deflate
7. Bake further at a lower temperature.
This is to dry out the inside of the choux. I know you are thinking, why such a long baking? Well, when a choux is baked long enough until they are dry and stiff, you can be assured it holds its shape and stays crisp much longer
8. Let them dry in the oven
Yep, you got it! To dry out the choux! Choux is a dry pastry, so don’t be surprised that there are so much focus on trying to dry the inside of the choux
How to store croquant choux
1. Unfilled choux can be kept at room temperature in an air-tight container for about a day, and about 1 week in the fridge and 1 month in the freezer
2. I recommend filling the pastry only when ready to serve them on that day. You can keep filled choux in an air-tight container for about 1 hour at room temperature, for about 2 days in the fridge (but they lose that crispness)
