Hi everyone! Today’s recipe is THE recipe for all caramel lovers ? It’s some delicious puffs made up of a crunchy choux pastry filled with some caramel custard cream and some salted caramel sauce in the middle some salted caramel sauce. This is a very easy recipe with only 4 preparations!
You can make the craquelin a few days in advance and store them in the freezer. You can also make the caramel sauce a few days ahead. The choux pastry and the custard cream can be done a day ahead.
For 20 puffs:
Craquelin: (it’s for ~28 craquelin, you can store the surplus in the freezer for another recipe)
- 50g of flour
- 50g of sugar
- 40g of butter
- 1 pinch of salt
Choux pastry:
- 125mL of water
- 5g of sugar
- 60g of butter
- 80g of flour
- 125g of eggs* (= 2,5 eggs)
- 2g of salt
*You may need more or less depending on the texture of the choux pastry
Caramel custard cream:
- 640g of whole milk
- 165g of egg yolks (=~8,2)
- 64g of corn starch
- 286g of butter
- 213g of sugar
- 4g of powdered gelatin (or 2 sheets of 2g)
Caramel sauce: (you may have some left)
- 55g of semi-salted butter (if you don’t have that, you can use regular butter and add 1,6g of salt)
- 100g of heavy cream (or full liquid cream)
- 90g of sugar
Let’s get started!
We’ll start with the craquelin:
1. Cream the softened butter with the sugar. Take your butter out of the fridge at least one hour before beginning, it will be easier.
2. Add the flour and the salt. Stir until it forms a nice ball. Roll it out between two parchment papers to a 2mm thickness (be careful not to roll it out too thinly because it may burn in the oven before the puffs are cooked).
3. Cut circles of 4cm diameter. Take the scraps and roll out again. If the craquelin is too soft to work with, refrigerate a few minutes. When you’ve cut all your circles, refrigerate until use or freeze them if you make them in advance.
Now, for the custard cream:
1. Hydrate the gelatin in 6 times its weight in cold water.
2. In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until it whitens.
3. In a saucepan, place the sugar and cook it over low/medium heat. It will begin to caramelize. With a wooden spatula, you can stir at the spots where the sugar has already melted.
4. When the sugar has completely caramelized, in another pan heat the milk and pour it little by little over the caramel. Mix perfectly.
5. Pour 2/3 of this milk in 3 times over the egg mixture and mix.
6. Bring everything back to the saucepan and cook until it thickens. Keep stirring.
7. Off the heat, add the hydrated gelatin and the butter cut into small cubes.
8. Place the cream into a wide dish and wrap with cling film (which must touch the surface).
For the caramel sauce:
1. In a pan, place the sugar with the semi-salted butter (or regular butter with the salt) and a dash of water. Bring to boil and keep stirring. The mixture will begin to foam, it’s normal.
2. When the mixture has a nice amber color, add the heavy cream (or liquid cream) little by little and mix.
3. Cook it over medium heat again to make sure there are no lumps left.
4. Store the sauce in a jar and let it cool down.
Last preparation, the choux pastry:
1. Put the water, the butter cut into pieces, the sugar and the salt in a saucepan and bring to boil over medium heat. The butter must melt before it boils.
2. Remove from the heat and add the sifted flour in one time. Stir until it is incorporated.
3. Put it back on low heat and stir for a few minutes to eliminate the moisture of the dough. It’s ready when the dough is smooth and forms a ball that doesn’t separate into chunks. You can also see at the bottom of the pan that a thin layer of dough will form.
4. Put the dough in another container and let it cool down for a few minutes. Add the eggs, previously beaten, little by little. You can use a spatula or the flat beater of a stand mixer. To know if you’ve added enough eggs, take a bit of paste with your spatula and it should form a smooth and shiny collar. You can also trace a line in the dough with the back of your spatula, if it closes slowly, it’s perfect. If it doesn’t close you must add a bit more eggs.
5. Put your paste in a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip and pipe circles of 4cm diameter. Add the craquelin (previously made and stored in the freezer) on top of it.
6. Cook for 20-25 minutes in a 180°C preheated oven (fan-assisted if possible, otherwise, normal). During the first 20 minutes, don’t open the oven door, because it will make your puffs fall down. After 20 minutes, you can check if they are cooked, the dough and the craquelin should have a nice golden color without any white spots. If you have time, reduce the oven temperature to 140°C and let the puffs inside for 15 to 20 minutes. This will dry them a bit and they will stay crunchy even after filling them with the cream.
It’s time to assemble!
1. Take the custard cream out of the fridge and whisk it at high speed for a few minutes until it is very airy.
2. Place it in a pastry bag fitted with an open star pastry tip.
3. Cut the top of the puff and garnish with some caramel cream.
4. Place the caramel sauce in a pastry bag with no pastry tip. Pipe a generous amount of caramel sauce in the middle of the puff, you’ll see that the puff will inflate.
5. Cover and sprinkle with some icing sugar.
Your delicious caramel puffs are ready!!
Don’t forget to write an email to partage@justonemorecake.com to share your pictures of the recipe and your opinions! I will add them at the bottom of this article.
