chouqettes

Hello, spring. Hello, reader. Welcome to Kimchiburgers. Thank you for joining me here. All recipes from BREAD & SILK will be still up here.

I see and smell spring. The graininess of pollen, the delicate pink petals of cherry blossoms, the fishy scent of pear trees. Spring tastes like sweet and delicate desserts, like these adorable chouqettes.



I was inspired by Rachel Khoo from The Little Parisian Kitchen. She's a lovely British chef, living in Paris and cooking like a true Parisian. She made chouqettes on one episode and they looked absolutely delicious. Chouqettes are French pastries made from choux pastry dough, the starter for eclairs, profiteroles, and beignets. After a bit of browsing, I adapted David Lebovitz' recipe.



These delicate beauties are everything I want in a spring dessert. I dusted them off with powdered sugar before sliding the tray into the oven because I didn't have any pearl sugar. I sifted some sugar on top after they came out and even MORE after they have been sitting out for a bit. These chouqettes were delicious when hot, warm, and cold. Filled with peanut butter and raspberry jam, smeared with fig butter, drizzled with melted chocolate. Or you can follow tradition and stuff their little middles with sweetened whipped cream.


Chouquettes
Adapted from David Lebovitz
I used a cookie scoop that produced tablespoon sized dough balls. They expanded to become the size of a toddler's fist. I had some difficult with scooping because they started to melt and form spreading puddles. Don't wait too long before incorporating the eggs. I waited for fifteen minutes. No, no, just wait for a few minutes; you should be good.

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1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
1 cup white whole wheat flour
4 large eggs, at room temperature

Read the instructions here.