Cinnamon Craquelin
Five Ways to Fancy Up Your Cream Puffs
Cream puffs, profiteroles, eclairs, choux are all made of the same thing– a simple paste which on its own doesn’t carry much flavor. They are, however, the perfect vehicle for a variety of fillings, both sweet and savory.
When you first start making cream puffs, you might find that they don’t always bake up evenly. Things like your piping technique or an imperfect heat setting can make your baked puff appear misshapen (let’s call it rustic). However, when you add a disk of craquelin to the top the dough will puff up perfectly round, which appeals to my ocd side–I love the consistency of perfectly round cream puffs!
WHAT IS CRAQUELIN…
Craquelin can be called a dough, a paste, or even a cookie. It’s a simple mixture of butter, sugar, and flour that is flattened, frozen, cut, and baked directly on the choux dough. When it bakes, it envelops the choux dough as it’s rising so you get a perfectly round puff with a cracked, crispy exterior that gives the appearance of exceptional skill with minimal effort. In short, these cream puffs are dressed to impress! The hardest part is going to be deciding which filling to accompany the type of craquelin you choose!
HOW TO MAKE IT…
As there are many ways to flavor your craquelin, there’s also many ways to make it. The simplest is with a mixing bowl and rubber spatula. I find a flexible spatula head helps me press into the butter to incorporate the flour and sugar. If you are making a large batch, (this can be frozen for up to 4 months!) bust out the stand mixer and paddle attachment, or even the food processor!
As it’s coming together (especially if you are doing it by hand) it may look like it will never be anything but crumbly. Just keep pressing into the butter and eventually you’ll have a solid ball of dough.
Once it’s formed together, you’re going to roll or press it out between 1/8” and 1/4″. You can do this between 2 pieces of wax or parchment paper, or you can put it in a ziplock bag, which makes freezing for storage simple! After it’s frozen, you’ll simply cut out circles and place them on the piped (or scooped) choux rounds. I like to cut them just a hair larger than my piped choux so that they completely blanket the cream puff.
When applying them to the choux, don’t smush them down–press just enough that it attaches to the dough! Remember, cream puffs are only using steam to rise and create that open cavity in the center, so pressing too hard or putting too thick of a topping on could compromise your overall shape!
Now, for the fun part – how to customize your craquelin! When you’re deciding what type of craquelin you want to make, you must first take your filling into account. Make sure that the flavors are compatible. Whenever you’re in doubt, or if you just want the filling to really shine and the craquelin is more for the crunchy texture, stick with the basic sweet craquelin. Here’s five varieties of craquelin to give you some ideas how versatile this can be!
5 variations of craquelin
- SWEET – this is the basic Craquelin, a meld of butter, flour and sugar. You can alter this by using different types of sugars, dark or light brown, granulated, or even turbadino coarse sugar.
- COLORED – Add food coloring or use colored sugar with the basic sweet craquelin base. This is a great way to add pops of color to your dessert table, or to match a theme for a party! I would suggest using gel coloring so that the liquid content stays low, and darker colors will work better than light.
- SPICED – A great way to enhance craquelin is by adding extracts or spices. For my Apple Pie Cream Puffs, I added cinnamon, which gave it a bit darker color, and the cinnamon complimented my apple pie pastry cream the cream puff was filled with.
- CHOCOLATE – You can’t go wrong by adding chocolate to your cream puff! You can compliment a chocolate filling with a tempered chocolate base (a topic for a future entry!), and then by adding cocoa powder to the sweet craquelin base.
- SAVORY – If you want to switch gears altogether by filling your puff with something savory, take the craquelin base and replace the sugar with the cheese of your choice! A sprinkle of chopped, fresh herbs before serving will give you a nice pop of color and a bit of freshness, especially if your filling is decadent!
THIS WEEK’S FEATURE DESSERT…
My favorite way to use the craquelin recipe below is in my feature recipe this week, Apple Pie Choux au Craquelin. Pastry cream with apple pie spices and bits of tart apple is piped inside a tender but crispy cream puff that’s been baked with the cinnamon craquelin topping. The pastry shell replaces the pie crust and the craquelin blanket is reminiscent of the brown sugar cinnamon crumble. Together, I think you’ll find this is an unbeatable combo!
Be sure to subscribe or check back to see all three recipes used to complete this week’s feature dessert!
THE RECIPE…
Cinnamon Craquelin
Ingredients
- 44 g butter room temperature
- 52 g flour
- 38 g light brown sugar
- 3 g cinnamon
Instructions
- If using for cream puffs, preheat oven to 450*
- In a mixing bowl, press dry ingredients into butter until it forms a ball of dough.
- Place dough in ziplock bag or between two pieces of parchment paper, and roll or press out to 1/8" – 1/4" thick.
- Freeze until firm.
- Using a round metal cutter slightly larger than your piped cream puff, cut out circles.
- Place circles onto piped cream puff, gently pressing down to adhere.
- Place in preheated oven, immediately reducing to 350*.
- Bake 30-40 minutes, or until firm to the touch with golden brown bottoms.
- Cool completely before filling.
