Choux with Cocoa and Praline
All conditions met with this crispy choux:
Texture difference – creamy filling, crunchy praline, even crispier exterior.
Taste difference – slightly bitter cream, sweet praline.
Color difference – very dark brown cream, lighter praline.
And let’s not even get started on the taste…
For… 12 choux pastries (or more or fewer, depending on how big you make them)
For the pâte à choux:
100 g Water
100 g Milk
100 g Butter
2 g Salt
10 g Sugar
Place these ingredients in a pot and heat them. Be careful to melt the butter before the mixture starts boiling.
123 g Flour
10 g Cocoa Powder
Mix the flour and cocoa powder. When the liquid mixture reaches its first boil, remove the pot from the heat and add the dry ingredients, stirring well. Place the pot back on the heat and stir with a spatula, avoiding touching the bottom of the pot, until a thin film forms on the entire base.
Transfer the mixture to a stand mixer bowl and mix on low speed with a paddle attachment until it cools down (about 40°C).
200 g Eggs
Beat the eggs well and gradually add them to the mixture, mixing slowly between each addition, until you get a soft and elastic dough. Transfer the dough to a bowl, cover it with plastic wrap in direct contact, and let it rest for at least 2 hours before using.
For the Craquelin:
60 g Butter
80 g Sugar
Mix the sugar and butter gently until combined.
75 g Flour
5 g Cocoa Powder
Add the flour mixed with cocoa powder and mix until incorporated. Roll out the dough between two sheets of parchment paper to a thickness of 2-3 mm and refrigerate. Cut circles 1 cm larger than the choux you will be making, then place the dough (with the cut-out circles) in the freezer.
Pipe the choux onto a micro-perforated baking mat, cover each one with a disc of craquelin, and bake at 165°C with fan for about 45 minutes. When they are done, remove them and poke a small hole in each choux using a toothpick to release the steam inside.
For the Praline:
100 g Hazelnuts
100 g Almonds
200 g Sugar
Roast the hazelnuts and almonds in the oven at 150°C for about 10 minutes. Melt the sugar in a pot and pour it onto parchment paper. Once both have cooled, process them in a food processor until you obtain a fine or crunchy praline, depending on your preference.
For the Cocoa Cream:
360 g Milk
Heat the milk.
144 g Sugar
24 g Cornstarch
24 g Cocoa Powder
Mix these ingredients and gradually add the warm milk, little by little, to form a thick paste that you slowly dilute. This ensures you won’t get lumps of cocoa in the cream.
6 Egg Yolks
Add the yolks to the mixture, return everything to the pot over medium-high heat, and cook until the cream thickens and becomes glossy.
180 g Butter
Incorporate the butter, transfer the cream to a bowl, cover it with plastic wrap in direct contact, and let it cool.
Assembly:
Fill the choux about 80% with cocoa cream, inject praline into the remaining space, and top with a small swirl of cocoa cream. For decoration, I used chopped almonds, but you can also pipe a rosette of cocoa cream or add a piece of chocolate, as you prefer.
Bake, fill, and enjoy the choux on the same day for the best experience! 😊
