Tuesdays with Dorie BCM: Crackle-Top Cream Puffs

May 28, 2019 at 7:41 am | Posted in BCM, general pastry, groups, other sweet, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 6 Comments
Tags: baking, choux

I love making all things choux— It’s one of the most fun doughs to make, IMO, and yields some of the most tasty pastries! While I’ve made pâte à choux treats here many times, this was my first attempt at making Crackle-Topped Cream Puffs. A standard cream puff gets topped with a small, thin disk of cookie dough that fuses to the top and gets beautifully cracked as the choux beneath it rises and expands. Dorie said we could either use a “craquelin” made from a simple brown sugar cookie dough or we could use her Sweet Tart Dough made with nuts. I happened to have some STD (hahaha) made with almond meal in the freezer, so I just went with that. I will say that, while I did have a crispy-crackly top, I didn’t get the color contrast that I would have with the brown sugar dough version, so mine look less striking than I would have hoped. Next time I will try the other way.

You can fill these babies however you’d like– with pastry cream, whipped cream, mousse, curd, or with ice cream, like I did. I even had a hidden layer of cookie butter at the bottom, as I’m still trying to use up a jar I made for other things. The first local strawberries were at the market this past weekend, so I snagged some of those to along with, too. Kind of like strawberry shortcake cream puffs, they were delicious and perfect for Memorial Day dessert.

For the recipe, see Baking Chez Moi by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!

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Ooh, these look devine. Winter has come here today (coat, scarf, hat), but sitting toasty warm inside, I would love these with icecream and strawberries.

Comment by Cakelaw— May 28, 2019 #

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Love your cream puffs. My husband went out and bought another jar of Biscoff. So much for me trying to use up ingredients:) I have another dozen cream puffs in the freezer for our next get together. I am having trouble deciding which filling to use.

Comment by Diane Zwang— May 28, 2019 #

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These are so pretty! I like the “no colour” contrast too!

Comment by Mardi (eat. live. travel. write.)— May 29, 2019 #

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That’s a beautiful dessert. Fusion cuisine at its best.

Comment by Zosia— May 29, 2019 #

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Love the idea to serve with strawberries. These look delish!

Comment by lovielou— May 29, 2019 #

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These look just delicious…I am more of an ice cream person, than pastry cream so I love your version with the added strawberries!

Comment by isthisakeeper— May 29, 2019 #

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