Baked Pastry Puffs (French Chouquettes)

Chouquettes translates to "little bits of cabbage." They are usually sold in baskets perched atop the glass pastry cases of bakeries and pastry shops in France. Delicate pastry puffs topped with pearl sugar for a bite-size treat. Chouquettes are not as sweet as other pastries. They’re rich with the flavour of a butter and egg-based dough, but they’re only made slightly sweet from the sugar on top. The dough used to make these pastry puffs is the same dough that’s used to make eclairs and profitéroles. They’re not the kind of pastry I’d serve as dessert. They make the perfect snack: unassuming, unextravagant, unfilling. But yet they add that touch of afternoon sweetness to the day, and take the edge off a rumbling belly. It is one of the easiest doughs to make, and unusual in process too, so that you feel accomplished and chef-y. 

½ cup water (117.5 mL)
¼ cup unsalted butter (57 g)
½ tsp. sugar (2 g)
¼ tsp. kosher salt (1 g)
½ cup all-purpose flour, unbleached (62.5 g)
2 eggs

Garnish:
pearl sugar

Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C).

To a small saucepan, add the water, sugar, salt, and butter. Place the pan over medium heat and warm until the butter has melted. Remove the saucepan from the heat.

Add in the flour, then stir with a wooden spoon until the flour is mixed in. Move the saucepan back over to the heat over medium-low, and stir to create a dough. The pastry dough is ready when it easily pulls away from the pan and doesn't stick to the bottom or sides of the pan - about 30 seconds to 1 minute.

Take the saucepan off the heat. Add in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Once the eggs have been thoroughly incorporated, scoop the dough into a pastry bag, either fitted with a round tip or no tip at all.

On a baking sheet lined with a silicone mat or parchment paper, pipe out 1.5" mounds (3.5 cm), spaced slightly apart from each other. Top each of the mounds with about ½ a tsp. of pearl sugar.

Bake the pastry puffs for 10 minutes, then WITHOUT opening the oven door, reduce the heat to 350°F (175°F) for another 20-25 minutes, until they're a deep golden brown.

Makes 25.

Cook's Notes:  Pearl sugar can be substituted with crushed sugar cubes. Other topping ideas include chocolate chips. A macaron-specific silicone mat can be helpful for creating equal size pastry puffs. If you don't have a pastry bag, you can substitute with a large ziplock bag. Make a ½" wide cut in one of the ziplock bag corners and use it as a DIY pastry bag.