Chouquettes

Light, fluffy, airy, crispy. Mmmm. This is my first attempt at choux pastry of any sort and what emerged from the oven was absolutely delightful - crackly golden mounds of lip smackingly delicious chouquettes. And the best bit? It took only 5 minutes to put the pate a choux together and another 25 minutes to bake it to perfection. I was rather skeptical initially when my 'dough' looked more like a thick batter after adding the eggs, so I plonked myself down in front of the oven and watched with hawk-like scrutiny, all doubts put to rest when they started fluffing up obediently like little balloons. Good little chouquettes.

The only step I missed out in the recipe is the turning off the oven bit and waiting 10 minutes, which could explain why it didn't work too well when I tried making normal palm-sized puffs. Gargh - this is a lesson to read the recipe more thoroughly next time! Nonetheless, they were still very tasty and are just perfect to pop into your mouth. I stuffed half of the chouquettes with coin-sized dark chocolate semis as soon as they were cool enough to handle. Splendid.

Chouquettes for two (Chocolate and Zucchini)
Ingredients:
3 tbsp butter
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp brown sugar (or normal sugar)
a pinch of salt
1/2 cup self-raising flour
2 eggs

Bring butter, water and sugar to boil with a pinch of salt. Remove from heat and add flour all at once, stirring with a wooden spoon until a wettish dough is formed.

Wait for dough to cool a bit, then add the 2 eggs, one at a time, and combine well. It should have a somewhat thick batter-like consistency.

Scoop little teaspoonfuls of dough onto a tray lined with baking paper, leaving a bit of space in between each mound. Top with coarse sugar (or in my case, more brown sugar) and bake in the oven for 25 mins or until risen and golden brown. Turn off the oven and wait 10 minutes before popping them out to cool.

Enjoy immediately or stuff little chocolate chips like I did inside!