Choux à la Crème Chantilly

Choux à la Crème Chantilly

I was sitting around waiting for it to rain like the weatherman had announced. But now they say that it would only happen late this afternoon. In the meantime, I have spent the morning baking choux pastry so that I could fill them with whipped cream and eat them watching the storm from my window(s) - or so I thought.

Choux à la Crème Chantilly can be so addictive, so easy to pop into the mouth, I know why I wouldn't make them too often. That was all I've been doing this morning, slicing them, squeezing in whipped cream and popping them into the mouth. Arrgh.

Choux pastry is one of the basics of French pâtisserie that one has to master before one could move on (or so I was told). Hub was an expert in his youth and kept telling me that it's really easy to make - if you get the parameters of the cooking process right. And once you know how to make a chou, you can fill it with whatever catches your fancy, you can pipe them out in whatever shape and size you want and you can have them savoury or sweet.

Basic Choux Pastry :

80g Butter

250ml Water

1 Tsp Sugar

A pinch of Salt

125g Flour

3 Eggs

Pre-heat the oven to 200°C.

Bring to a gentle boil in a medium pot the butter, water, sugar and salt. Turn off the heat.

In one movement, tip in the flour and stir well to form a dough.

Stir in the eggs one by one and make sure that everything is mixed uniformly together.

Scoop into a piping bag (I used a plain nozzle for this batch). Pipe onto a baking sheet whatever shape and size you fancy.

Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, taking care not to open the oven door during the baking - or your choux will lose their puff(iness)! They should come out light and puffy.

Cool them completely before filling them with a filling of your choice. I love mine with just chantilly.