Strawberry Choux au Craquelin

How to make it

1. 1

   Loosen the soft, room-temperature butter lightly with a spatula, then add the white sugar and mix until it no longer feels gritty. Add the medium-strength flour and cut it in until the dough gathers into one mass.

2. 2

   Roll the dough out to 2mm, firm it up in the freezer, and once it is hard, stamp out discs with a 5cm round cookie cutter and keep them frozen until you use them.

3. 3

   Put the water, milk, butter, and salt in a pot; when the liquid boils all the way to the center, turn off the heat and stir in the sifted medium-strength flour until it comes together as one mass. Turn the heat back to high and cook it, stirring, until the dough is fully gelatinized.

   · The paste has to be cooked through, or the choux will not puff.

4. 4

   Add the eggs to the gelatinized dough a little at a time until the batter reaches the right consistency.

5. 5

   Load the batter into a piping bag, pipe 5cm rounds with a plain round tip, and set one frozen craquelin disc on top of each.

6. 6

   Bake in a preheated oven at 375°F (190°C) for 15 minutes, then lower the temperature and bake at 350°F (170°C) for 15 minutes more.

7. 7

   Let the baked choux shells cool completely, then cut off their tops.

8. 8

   Whip 4.4 oz of heavy cream, 7.5 g of condensed milk, and 3.5 g of white sugar until stiff, load it into a piping bag, and fill the inside of each shell about 90% full.

9. 9

   Put the strawberry purée, finely chopped strawberries, and corn syrup (mulyeot) in a pot and heat them to 40 to 50°C, then add the pre-mixed white sugar and NH pectin a little at a time, stirring so that no lumps form. Turn the heat back on, stir and boil until the strawberries soften, then add the lemon juice and chill it.

   · Mix the sugar and pectin together before adding them, so they do not clump.

10. 10

    Load the compote into a piping bag and pipe a little of it into each cream-filled shell.

11. 11

    Warm heavy cream (A) until it steams, pour it over the Valrhona strawberry inspiration chocolate and the bloomed gelatin sheets, wait 2 to 3 minutes, then stir slowly outward from the center to make a ganache. Add the cold heavy cream (B), mix it in evenly, then age it in the refrigerator and whip it.

12. 12

    Finish by piping the strawberry chocolate cream onto the top of each shell with an 8-point star tip.

No coming back

Things that actually went wrong over 20 years in a kitchen.

• Adding the eggs in one go leaves you no way to control the consistency.
• Do not open the oven door at any point while they bake. Once the hot air escapes the choux shrink. A small home oven may need longer.
• Ganache montée is usually left to set for at least 6 hours.

You can fix this

If it hasn't burned or stuck to the pan, it can still be fixed.

• If the batter or cream is stiff, add milk a little at a time; if it is loose, add flour the same way. Once it has set, it cannot be adjusted.