Choux pastry (pâte à choux)
Choux pastry is used for making profiteroles, eclairs and other small pastries.
535 K 3.7/5 (61 reviews)
1 hour 4 min.
Easy
800 g
8 IngredientsLast modified on: February 13th 2022
For 800 g, you will need:
- 1
120 g Milk - 2
120 g water - 3
120 g butter - 4
150 g flour - 5
220 g egg ( How to... ) - 6
4 g fine (or table) salt - 7
8 g caster sugar - 8
200 g craquelin (sweet cracker dough) (optional) - Total weight: 745 grams
Change these quantities to make:
Change measures:
Times for this recipe
Preparation: 25 min.
Cooking: 45 min.
All in all: 1 hour 4 min.
If you start now, at , you will finish around : ?.Change start time
To finish around 7pm, you'll need to have started before: .Change end time
Step by step recipe
Stage 1 - 3 min.
Stage 2 - 5 min.
Pour 120 g Milk and 120 g water into a pan, add 120 g butter, 4 g fine (or table) salt and 8 g caster sugar.
Stage 3 - 7 min.
Heat on medium heat until butter is completely melted.
Stage 4 - 1 min.
Remove pan from heat, and 150 g flour.
Stage 6 - 1 min.
Put pan on low heat, and stir dough for one minute to dry it.
Stage 7 - 2 min.
By hand
Pour the ball into a small bowl.
Stage 8 - 5 min.
Pour beaten eggs step by step...
Stage 9
...and whisk to mix.
Stage 10
Stage 11
Your handmade choux pastry is ready.
Stage 12
With a mixer
Pour the ball into the bowl of a mixer.
Stage 13
Start up at minimum speed.
Stage 14
Gently pour the eggs into the bowl of the mixer while it is moving, until completely incorporated.
Stage 15
Increase the speed of the mixer a little and continue beating for a minute or two to aerate the dough a little.
Stage 16
Your choux pastry mixer made is ready.
Stage 17 - 3 min.
Stage 18 - 5 min.
Make choux with the forcing bag, in shape and size of your choice, here small round choux.
Don't forget that dough will rise and spread during cooking, so choux must not be too close together.
Don't forget that dough will rise and spread during cooking, so choux must not be too close together.
Stage 19
If you're not easy with forcing bag, you may have unwanted small peaks on top of choux
Stage 20
In this case, flat the peak using a teaspoon soaked in milk...
Stage 21
...to get a well rounded top.
Stage 22
Other solution, use craquelin (sweet cracker dough) which give a real professional look.
Stage 23 - 30 min.
Cooking
Put in the oven for about 30 minutes.
Remove choux from the oven as soon as they are browned.
Note: Don't open the oven door during cooking, because the drop in temperature will make your choux collapse.
Leave to cool on a wire rack
Remarks
According to whether the choux pastry will be used for a sweet or savoury recipe, you can double the quantity of sugar or salt to accentuate the taste. For example: you want to make sweet cream puffs, make this recipe with 2 g salt and 5 g sugar, for salted cream puffs (with bechamel sauce for example) use 2 g sugar and 5 g salt.
Keeping: Choux pastry cooked: several hours.
Source: Home made, but after Gaston Lenôtre.
Nutritional information
| Proteins (gr) | Carbohydrates (gr) | Fats (gr) | Energy value (in k-calories) | Energy value (in k-joules) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whole recipe | 60 RDI=20 % | 300 RDI=30 % | 220 RDI=30 % | 2,870 RDI=140 % | 12,020 RDI: 140 % |
| Per 100 g | 7 RDI=3 % | 40 RDI=4 % | 30 RDI=4 % | 390 RDI=20 % | 1,620 RDI: 20 % |
How much will it cost?
- For 800 g : 1.80 €
Change currency: 
Note: Be careful, these prices are only an estimate, you can consult the table of prices by ingredients used for this estimate.
Some other recipes using this recipeSee them all 9
Profiteroles
Small choux pastry puffs, filled with vanilla ice cream and topped with a rich smooth chocolate sauce.
310 K 14.5 1 hour 35 min.
Pets de nonne
These small fritters are like mini doughnuts: they're simply made with choux pastry dough, then tossed in a little sugar. [Translator's note: their amusing French name literally means "nun's farts". So, maybe we'll leave it French...].
73 K4.1 45 min.
Valay-Brest
A Valay-Brest is a mini eclair, filled with apple-flavoured confectioner's custard and topped with a rectangle of walnut nougatine.
74 K4.1 1 hour 30 min.
Saint Honoré cake
The Saint Honoré cake is a famous example of French patisserie. It consists of a puff pastry base surrounded by a ring of caramel-coated choux puffs and topped with whipped cream (Chantilly). It is a bit tricky to make, but this recipe gives you all the hints you need.
124 K4.7 2 hours 55 min.
Gougères
Gougères are small cheese choux pastries, sometimes (like here) with bits of ham.
244 K 13.8 60 min.
This recipe uses (among others)
Egg
Like these other recipes: Apple Batter Puddings, Lime meringue tart, Sweetcrust pastry (pâte sablée), Pogne de Romans, Brioche dough, ... See them all 233
Flour
Like these other recipes: Nanou's chocolate cake, Chestnut cake, Corsican tarts, Jam doughnuts, Oatmeal cake, ... See them all 199
Butter
Like these other recipes: Clementine cake, Gratin Dauphinois, Gnocchi alla romana, Pilau rice, Chocolate almond cookies, ... See them all 461
Milk
Like these other recipes: Household cake (Gâteau de ménage), Clafoutis batter, Potato gratin, Chocolate eclairs, Pan-baked hash brown (Hash-brown casserole), ... See them all 60
Other recipes you may also like
How to prepare cockles
Cockles are small Atlantic shellfish which can be used in many delicious dishes. However, they need to be prepared with care before cooking. Here is a simple way to do this.March 13th 2013545 K 13.7 1 hour 55 min.
Piped petits-fours
As the name suggests, these are piped into shape using a forcing bag. These dainty little macaroon-like cakes are made with marzipan and have a soft, moist texture.December 30th 2019125 K1 1 day 35 min.
How to prepare leeks
Leeks are vegetables that are often muddy, we must be careful when washing them to remove mud that would be very unpleasant to "discover" the plate.October 13th 2010550 K5 30 min.
New leavened bread
This new recipe for leavened bread is simple and delicious, but needs rather long resting times. If you'd like more more information about making your own bread, look at this dedicated page.December 30th 2019910 K 34.3 7 hours
Avengers' potatoes
Lurking behind this strange name (see reason below) is a kind of potato-cheese gratin, which is wrapped in thin slices of bacon. It's cooked first on the hob, then in the oven.February 21th 2011304 K5 1 hour 55 min.
News list of cooking-ez.com
Sign up to receive the latest recipes (next batch due to be sent on 2025-04-06)
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Post a comment or question
Follow this recipe (as 8 people already do)
If you are interested in this recipe, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the recipe is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.