Sweet and crunchy cookie choux puffs, aka choux au craquelin, filled with light and creamy matcha custard
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What is choux au craquelin?
Choux au craquelin, aka cookie choux, is choux pastry baked with a thin cookie on top to create a sweet and crunchy shell. This shell called 'craquelin' is usually made up of flour, sugar and butter.
Cream puffs in Japan
One thing I noticed when I went to Japan was how much they loved cream puffs! No matter which bakery, supermarket or even convenience store I went to there were always cream puffs.
On top of that brands like Beard Papa's who are well known for their delicious pastries all over the world originated from Japan. Among all the cream puffs they have available matcha cream puffs are always popular, so I thought it was time to upload a recipe!
How to make the craquelin
My craquelin recipe is extremely easy. All you need is equal parts of brown sugar, unsalted butter and plain flour. Follow these steps for perfect craquelin:
- Rub the butter into the brown sugar and plain flour with your fingers
No need to use an electric mixer, simply rub the butter into the flour and sugar using your fingers. The dough will be very crumbly, but that's how it is supposed to be.
- Roll the dough between two sheets of baking paper
Once the dough is rolled between two sheets of baking paper the crumbly dough will come together. Roll the dough to about 4mm or ⅛".
- Freeze the dough
It is important to chill the dough before cutting it out and using it on your choux pastries. I like to freeze the dough if I am making the choux pastry straight away. That way, when the choux pastry dough has been made and piped, the craquelin is at the perfect consistency.
Tips for Perfect Choux Pastry
Choux pastry seems easy, but there are couple of key points to keep in mind in order to achieve the perfect cream puff...
Drying out the 'panade'
The panade is the mixture of milk, water, butter and flour. Drying out the panade is one of the most important steps when making choux pastry. It's important to dry out the dough sufficiently as this can affect the pastry during baking. Too much moisture will cause the choux pastries to deflate and become soft and soggy after baking.
Adding the eggs slowly
The eggs also add to the moisture of the dough. Like I mentioned earlier, too much moisture is detrimental for the choux pastries, so it is important to keep a close eye on how much egg is being added to your dough. The amount of egg can differ depending on how much your dough has dried out, and how much liquid your flour is absorbing.
I like to crack my eggs into a jug and pour the egg into the dough in intervals, checking the texture of the dough as I go.
You can tell the dough is ready when you lift up the spatula/paddle attachment and a 'V' or 'beak' forms. At this point you can stop adding egg and transfer it to a piping bag to be piped.
Keep the oven door closed
This is the MOST important tip.
Choux pastry relies on the moisture built up in the oven to rise.
If the oven door is opened during the baking process, the built up moisture is released and the choux pastries will deflate. Ensure your choux pastries are fully baked before opening the oven door!
Poke holes in your choux pastry with a toothpick once baked
Once the choux puffs have been baked there will be a build up of moisture inside the puff. This is what helps it rise, but once it's out of the oven moisture will cause the choux pastries to become soggy.
In order to prevent that and keep them crisp use a toothpick to poke a few holes on the bottom of each puff right after they come out of the oven. This allows the excess steam to escape, resulting in a perfect choux pastry ready to be filled.
How to make the matcha cream
The matcha custard cream is made up of two components: a matcha creme patisserie, aka pastry cream, and whipped cream. The two of these folded together creates a diplomat cream!
Some recipes will fill their choux pastries with pastry cream, however I find that it can be too heavy and rich. By folding whipped cream through you get a light cream that is still creamy, flavourful and delicious.
How should I add the matcha?
As matcha is very prone to clumping it is important to add it at the right step. By adding the matcha to the egg yolks at the beginning of the cooking process it gives it time to be cooked into the custard, rather than simply being folded through.
When adding the matcha powder make sure you pass it through a fine meshed sieve. Due to the nature of matcha it will clump up as soon as you add it to any mixture with liquid. By sieving it first, the amount of clumping will be reduced.
What if the matcha powder clumps up?
Even if the matcha powder does start to clump up in your custard it's not a big deal! There are a couple of method to fix this.
The first is to blend the custard with a stick blender, or regular blender. This will ensure a silky smooth custard free of lumps.
Another method is to pass the matcha pastry cream through a fine meshed sieve. By pressing the cream through the sieve any large chunks of matcha or egg are filtered out!
Let's Get Baking!
The amount of matcha flavoured desserts on this blog seem to be never-ending, but I couldn't resist adding this matcha cream puff recipe! The slight bitterness of green tea is perfect with the sweet and crunchy choux pastry.
Eat these on the day they're made for the best texture, the choux pastry will still be crisp, and when paired with a cool and cream custard... what can be better!
If you make this recipe make sure to leave me a comment and rating down below, I would love to hear how it went.
Also don't forget to tag me on instagram @catherine.justdessertsau and hashtag #cattycakes so I can see and share your desserts!
Follow me on facebook, pinterest, youtube and tiktok for more of my baking creations and updates! Until next time... happy baking!
PrintMatcha Cream Puffs (Choux au Craquelin)
Sweet and crunchy cookie choux puffs, aka choux au craquelin, filled with light and creamy matcha custard
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 12 1x
- Category: Pastry
- Method: Intermediate
- Cuisine: Japanese
Ingredients
Craquelin
- 65 g Brown sugar (⅓ cup)
- 65 g Plain flour (½ cup)
- 65 g Unsalted butter, softened (⅓ cup)
Choux Pastry
- 50 g Milk (3 tbsp 1 tsp)
- 50 g Water (3 tbsp 1 tsp)
- 45g Unsalted butter (3 tbsp 1 tsp)
- Pinch of salt
- Pinch of sugar
- 55 g Plain flour (⅓ cup 4 tsp)
- 100 g Beaten egg, approx 2 eggs
Creme Patissiere
- 30 g Egg yolk, approx 2 egg yolks
- 60 g Sugar (4 tbsp 2 tsp)
- 25 g Cornflour (3 tbsp 1 tsp)
- 1 tbsp Matcha powder
- 200 g Milk (¾ cup 4 tsp)
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- 25 g Butter (2 tbsp)
Diplomat Cream
- 200 g Thickened/Heavy cream (¾ cup 2 tsp)
- Creme Patissiere, prepared and cooled
Instructions
Craquelin
- Combine brown sugar, flour and butter in a mixing bowl
- Rub the butter into the flour and sugar using your fingertips
- Place between two sheets of baking paper and roll out to 4mm in thickness
- Freeze
- Cut into 4cm or 1 ½" inch round discs and reserve in freezer until ready for use
Choux Pastry
- Preheat the oven to 230°C
- Heat milk, water, butter, salt and sugar in a small aluminium saucepan
- When it starts to boil remove from heat and add the flour in one go, mixing vigorously until smooth
- Return to heat and flatten the dough to the bottom of the pan, listening for crackling of the dough without mixing
- Give the pan a shake and when you notice a thin film on the bottom of the pan the dough is sufficiently dry
- Mix the dough and remove from heat
- Using a wooden spoon/spatula beat the dough to let steam evaporate and then cool for 10 minutes
- Slowly add the beaten egg and combine until the dough is smooth, but still holds structure (the batter will form a 'V' or a 'beak' on the spoon/spatula when lifted)
- Pipe small 3.5cm or 1 ⅓" round mounds on a lined baking sheet
- Top with a disc of frozen craquelin
- Turn down the oven temperature to 160°C and bake for 25 minutes, or until golden brown
- Remove from oven and poke a hole in the bottom of each puff to release steam
- Cool on a wire rack
Creme Patissiere
- Heat milk until just boiling in a small saucepan
- Meanwhile, in a medium sized mixing bowl combine egg yolks and sugar, whisking until doubled in volume
- Sift in the cornflour and matcha powder, mix until combined
- Pour the hot milk into the egg mixture and whisk until smooth
- Return the mixture to heat and whisk constantly until thick
- Remove from heat and add butter
- Pour into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap, ensuring it touches the surface of the pastry cream
- Cool in fridge until use
Diplomat cream
- Whisk the cream until medium stiff peaks are reached
- Add the cooled creme patissiere and whisk until stiff peaks are reached
- Transfer to a piping bag with a star tip
- Reserve in fridge until use
Assembly
- Using a sharp knife, cut the tops of the choux puffs off
- Fill with diplomat cream and top with a swirl
- Place the top of the choux puff on top of the swirl and sprinkle a little icing sugar and matcha powder
- Repeat until all puffs are filled
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge and consume within 2 days of filling
Keywords: matcha, cream puff, choux pastry, choux puff, matcha cream, beard papa's, japanese cream puff, custard cream
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