All my tips and detailed instructions will help you make the BEST airy, creamy, crisp Choux au Craquelin with Salted Caramel Cream! Now that I’ve shared with you how to make choux pastry for perfect profiteroles as well as perfect classic eclairs, let’s take it up another notch! Craquelin topped Salted Caramel Choux Pastry (or Choux au Craquelin with Salted Caramel Filling) is as delicious and fancy as it sounds! It’s only a little step up from classic profiteroles. But my goal with my series of detailed choux pastry, cream puffs, profiteroles and classic eclair posts is to help you perfect these impressive and decadent French desserts! 🙂 If you’re brand new to choux pastry, then I’d suggest the following in terms of experience level. This is just a suggestion however, and these are all really easy to make once you get the hang of it. I’m hoping my foolproof recipes will help you master each of these with ease! All levels – Basic guide for making choux pastry + troubleshooting tips. For beginners – How to make perfect profiteroles and cream puffs. Intermediate – How to make perfect classic eclairs. Advanced – How to make choux au craquelin (this post). The first time I made choux au craquelin was several years ago. I ate them a few years before, and found them to be so thoroughly addictive, so, I wanted to make my own. That lovely, crackly top takes these cream puffs to a whole new level. And to make these delicious, crunchy choux buns even more luxurious, I filled them with a light and creamy salted caramel filling!
What is choux au craquelin?
Choux au craquelin is a dessert made with choux pastry, and topped with a thin cookie disc called craquelin. The craquelin is made with a mix of butter, sugar and flour – just like a pie crust recipe or sweet shortcrust pastry. In contrast to regular choux pastry buns, craquelin adds a layer of sweetness and makes the cream puff delightfully crunchy. As the choux pastry bakes and expands, the cookie disc (craquelin) bakes and forms a sweet, crisp, crackly crust on top, enveloping the top of the cream puff.
Can I use different craquelin variations?
While classic craquelin is made with butter, sugar and flour, there are plenty of different variations that you can experiment with. For this choux au craquelin with salted caramel recipe, I used brown sugar for its molassy flavor, and also because the light brown color stands out more on the choux pastry shell. You can use plain white sugar, if you don’t have brown sugar if you want. Plus, the craquelin helps keep the cream puff crisp for longer, even when it’s filled with a filling.
How to make the craquelin
It’s super simple to make the craquelin. The craquelin is like a delicious, crispy cookie on top of the choux pastry buns, and a fantastic way to decorate the cream puffs. The dough for this craquelin only has 3 ingredients. First of all, mix the ingredients to form a dough. Secondly, just roll out the dough till it’s nice and thin. Here’s my secret trick to rolling out the dough – I use a ziploc bag and roll out the dough inside it. Less messy, and keeps the dough from sticking everywhere. Plus, it’s easy to store it in the freezer for later too. If you don’t have ziploc bags, you can roll them out in between two parchment papers to avoid the craquelin from sticking to your rolling pin. Once the dough frozen, you’re finally ready for the final step. Smaller pastry discs need to be cut out from the frozen dough. Because the dough is frozen, it’s easier to cut out discs from it to top the choux pastry. You can store the craquelin cookie discs in the freezer for later use.
Choux pastry basics
Please read my detailed perfect choux pastry recipe to understand the basics of choux pastry, as well as to troubleshoot any pitfalls. For this craquelin choux recipe, you need to pipe out choux pastry that’s about 2 inches in diameter, to match the craquelin disc that’s also about 2 inches in diameter. And be extra mindful when you’re piping the choux, as the pastry bag and tip need to be held upright. This is because if you pipe it at an angle, the choux will rise at an angle as well. This will make the craquelin on top lopsided. Also, you don’t have to flatten the tip of your piped choux pastry, because you’ll be placing the craquelin on top instead (as shown below). Two inch choux pastries will give you choux au craquelin that’s about 2.5 – 3 inches in diameter. If you want smaller craquelin choux pastries, then pipe smaller pastry mounds (about 1.5 inches in diameter), and top them with 1.5 inch craquelin discs. These pastries will end up baking into cases that are between 2 – 2.5 inches in width.
Salted caramel diplomat cream filling
I find this salted caramel diplomat cream absolutely addictive! It’s probably my favorite flavor variation of a classic diplomat cream. First, I make a dry caramel and dissolve the caramelized sugar in a little liquid. Next, I mix this with more milk, eggs, cornstarch, vanilla and sea salt to make luscious, creamy salted caramel filling. Once the pastry cream is completely cooled down, it’s mixed with stabilized chantilly cream. Stabilized chantilly cream is simply cream that’s whipped to soft peaks, with a little sugar, vanilla and gelatin. The chantilly cream lightens the salted caramel pastry cream, and makes for an amazingly melt-in-your-mouth, light filling.
Can I fill these craquelin choux pastries with pastry cream instead?
While you can fill these craquelin choux pastries with salted caramel pastry cream, the pastries are quite large (about 2.5 inches in width). This means filling them all the way with pastry cream would make the cream puffs quite heavy. This diplomat cream on the other hand is lightened with whipped cream, resulting in a light, fluffy salted caramel filling that is less sweet and has a better mouthfeel. And overall it works better in these pastries.
Why add gelatin to the chantilly cream?
The gelatin acts as a stabilizer for the whipped cream, and in turn acts as a stabilizer for the diplomat cream as well. The filling stays fluffy and creamy, and doesn’t weep or split into liquid. This is really important to keep the choux au craquelin nice and crisp.
Can I make this salted caramel choux pastry ahead of time?
You can make choux pastry cases ahead of time easily. However, keep them unfilled and freeze the unfilled cases in an air-tight container for later. Then allow the pastries to thaw to room temperature before using. I do prefer to reheat thawed pastry cases slightly in the oven before filling them, to make them crisp again, because freezing can make the craquelin choux cases a little stale. This step is optional however. You can make the salted caramel diplomat cream up to 4 days ahead of time, so long as you keep it in an air-tight container in the fridge (not freezer). If you have leftover choux au craquelin with salted caramel cream, you can freeze them for a day or two as well. And when you’re ready to eat them again, just make sure to thaw them out at room temp. for about 30-60 minutes. Buttery choux pastry topped with a sweet, crunchy, crackly topping and filled with a not too sweet, melt-in-your-mouth light, creamy, airy salted caramel filling. These craquelin choux pastries are absolutely addictive and look really impressive too! If you liked this Choux au Craquelin with salted caramel recipe (salted caramel choux pastry recipe), don’t forget to subscribe for new (and free) recipes by entering your email address in the subscription box below the recipe card (and get all these recipes delivered straight to your inbox), so you don’t miss out on a thing. You can find me on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, PINTEREST, YOU TUBE and GOOGLE-PLUS too.
Other recipes you may like to check out
Perfect profiteroles Chocolate eclairs Vanilla pastry cream Chocolate pastry cream Perfect cream puffs Chocolate cream puffs Best Paris Brest recipe Strawberry cream puffs Chouquettes recipe Chicken puffs (chicken bouchees)
EQUIPMENT I USED FOR THIS RECIPE
Circle cutters for the cookie discs on top Piping bags – 16 inch piping bags for the choux pastry dough Large round pastry tip – to pipe the pastry cases. Wilton 1A is about 1/2 inch wide. OR you can get Ateco #Plain 809 which is a little larger than 1/2 inch. Whisks – A good set of whisks is a must for all of your baking needs. Silicone Spatula Hand mixer or Stand Mixer – I currently use KitchenAid 2 x Silpat baking mats (optional) – You can use parchment paper instead too. 2 x Half Sheet pans – Having two makes it easier to bake the craquelin choux pastry. While one is baking, the other tray can cool down and be ready to pipe dough on, and then bake as soon as the other tray is out.
