Pandan Choux Au Craquelin (with Coconut Pastry Cream)
Course: Pastry
Cuisine: Asian Fusion
Prep Time: 1 hourhour
Cook Time: 30 minutesminutes
Resting and chilling:: 2 hourshours
Total Time: 3 hourshours30 minutesminutes
Servings: 20small choux
Calories: 135kcal
Author: Marvellina
Learn how to make this French cookie choux or known as choux au craquelin in pandan flavor and filled with creamy coconut gula Melaka pastry cream. A nice twist to this delicious French pastry.
100greggs (room temperature)about 2 large eggs without the shell, you may or may not need a bit more
Instructions
Prepare the cream:
Put all ingredients, except for butter in a saucepan. Whisk to combine until you don't see any more lumps. Cook over low heat and keep whisking. The mixture thickens and coat the back of your spatula. Add butter and whisk until butter melts. Turn off the heat and add the vanilla extract and stir to combine. It thickens further when it cools down
Cover with a cling wrap touching the cream directly so it won't form a "skin". Keep chilled in the fridge for at least 2 hours
Prepare the craquelin:
Cut the butter into small cubes. Add coconut sugar, salt, and flour. Pulse a few times until you get a moist dough
Scrape the dough onto parchment paper and pat to form a disc shape. Cover with another parchment paper on top and use a rolling pin to roll into 1/16 inch (1.6 mm) thick. Slide it onto a baking sheet and keep in the freezer (not fridge) for at least 30 minutes
Then use 1 1/2-inch cookie cutter or a round glass to cut out 20 rounds. Arrange on a baking sheet and freeze again for at least 30 minutes or until ready to be used. They can be kept frozen and used straight from the freezer
Making the choux pastry:
Preheat oven to 375 F (190 C) for a conventional oven. If you have a convection oven, please lower the temperature by 20 degrees. Position the rack in the middle of the oven
It is important that the eggs are at room temperature. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper, but we will bake one tray at a time for the best result.
You don't have to do this, but I draw about 1 1/2-inch circles about 2 inches apart so i can pipe the dough within that circle. This is optional
Bring pandan juice, pandan essence, butter, sugar, and salt to a rapid boil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over high heat. Add the flour all at once and lower the heat to medium-low and stir quickly. You will see a light crust form a the bottom of the pan. Keep stirring for another 2 minutes to dry the dough. The dough should be smooth. Remove from the heat
Let the dough sit for 5 minutes. Add the egg, one at a time. Mix until fully combined before adding another one. When you lift the dough up with a spatula it should be able to form a long V trail that eventually will break off. If it doesn't, the dough may be still too thick and if you have used up all the eggs in the recipe, you may need to add a bit more. Beat one more egg and then add 1/4 of it and mix it to the dough again and try to see if you can get that V trail
You don't want the dough to be too runny or too thick. Runny dough will make flat choux that won't really puff up or worse deflate. This is the tricky part with making choux and if you get the consistency right, the choux will turn out as it should.
Pipe the dough:
Transfer the dough to the piping bag. Pipe the dough about 1 1/2 inches wide, about 2 inches apart at a 90-degree angle and stop applying pressure and swirl the tip away to stop the piping. Place one frozen craquelin on top. I pipe about 10 doughs for one tray
I made a horrible mistake in the video by piping too close and they all stick to each other during baking, but luckily they turned out okay, but some weren't perfectly round! oh well! learned from my mistake :)
Baking:
I recommend baking one tray at a time. I have tried baking two trays but the results weren't good. Some choux didn't puff up as they should. Put the baking sheet on the positioned rack. Bake for 30 minutes and DO NOT open the oven door during this time
When they are done baking, turn off the oven and open the oven door and let the choux cool down inside the oven for 15 minutes. This helps to crisp up the choux
Cooling:
Remove from the oven and use a small knife to poke a small hole on the bottom of the choux to allow steam to escape and let them cool down completely before piping the filling inside
Then you can turn the oven bake on to let it reheat while you are piping the next tray of choux pastry. I don't recommend piping ahead while waiting for the first tray to bake. It's a bit inconvenient, but it's to assure that your second tray turn out great too
If you only have one tray, make sure the same tray you use to bake second batch, has cooled down to room temperature and not warm anymore
Pipe the filling:
Only pipe the filling into the choux pastry when you are ready to serve them. Transfer the filling to a piping bag fitted with 3/4-inch star tip nozzle or regular round nozzle. Pipe the filling inside the choux and serve immediately