When choux pastry meets doughnut, magical things happen. These tasty botanical chouxnuts are light and airy and baked, not fried.
They're a bit like an éclair, but piped in a circle to look like a doughnut. Our friend Juliet Sear from 'Juliet Bakes' on ITV, has created this recipe which was taken from her book ‘Botanical Baking’. These chouxnuts are perfect for an afternoon tea or to celebrate something special, like a birthday.
If you enjoyed this recipe, give our eclair recipe a try!
16 ingredients19 steps
Vegetarian
Ingredients
MetricImperial
For the Chantilly Cream, Base for Crème Diplomat
300mlDouble cream (heavy)
2 tbspSilver Spoon Icing Sugar
2 tspNielsen-Massey Vanilla Bean Paste
For the Creme Patissiere
4Egg yolks
60gBillington's Unrefined Golden Caster Sugar
25gAllinson's plain white flour
2 tspCornflour
280mlMilk
For the Choux Pastry
225mlWater
110gButter
130gAllinson's plain white flour
225gFree range egg
PinchSalt
2 tbspSilver Spoon Caster Sugar
For the Fondant Topping
300gSilver spoon fondant icing sugar
I used creamWater & food colouring of your choice
Utensils
2x Baking trays
Baking parchment
Sauce pan
Large piping bag
Medium to large round piping nozzle
Circle for drawing round (i used a few cookie cutters)
Nutritional information per 106g serving
Energy 341cal
Fat 19g
of which Saturates 11g
Carbohydrates 38g
of which Sugars 29g
Protein 4.7g
Salt 0.24g
Method
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 190˚C (375˚F) and prepare two baking trays with baking parchment.
Step 2
In a pan heat the water, sugar, salt and butter until completely melted.
Step 3
Add the flour and beat well on the heat for 4–5 minutes until the dough comes away from the pan edges easily.
Step 4
Transfer the dough into a bowl and leave it to cool for 2–3 minutes.
Step 5
Slowly add the egg bit-by-bit, beating well until the choux is the right consistency. It should be stiff, but it should easily drop off a spoon.
Step 6
Put the choux paste into a piping bag with a medium to large round nozzle.
Step 7
Draw around a circular cutter (size of your choice) onto the parchment paper, flip the paper over and then pipe the circles of choux following the guide circles.
Step 8
Place the trays into the oven; spray some water onto the base of the oven before shutting the door (this creates a steamy environment in the oven which helps the pastry to rise).
Step 9
Bake for 25–35 minutes. Do not open the door of the oven until at least 25 minutes into baking otherwise the chouxnuts will collapse.
Step 10
Transfer the chouxnuts to a wire rack to cool. Make a small hole in the base of each chouxnut with a small knife or skewer to let the steam out and leave upside down on the wire rack to cool completely.
Step 11
To make the crème pâtissière, first beat the egg yolks and sugar with the vanilla and the flours until pale and thickened.
Step 12
Heat the milk in a pan until just boiling, whisk the milk into the egg mix and then pour it back into the pan.
Step 13
Heat the mixture stirring continuously until it is thick and boiling.
Step 14
Take it off the heat and pour it onto a tray and cover with cling film making sure the cling film is touching the crème pâtissière to stop a skin forming.
Step 15
Once the crème pâtissière has cooled, in a bowl whisk 300ml (10fl oz) of double cream with the icing sugar and vanilla to soft peak stage (this is a Chantilly cream). Gently mix the crème pâtissière into the Chantilly cream until smooth, light and fluffy to make your Crème Diplomat filling.
If you want to do a quicker version of these, you can simply fill the chouxnuts with Chantilly cream. They will be lovely and fresh, but the Crème Diplomat is a delicious custardy filling that is very special indeed.
Step 16
Poke a hole into the base of your chouxnuts with a small knife and then pipe in the cream until you can feel that the chouxnuts are full. You can feel them getting heavy in your hand.
Step 17
Leave the chouxnuts to one side.
Step 18
To make the fondant, weigh 300g (10oz) fondant icing sugar and slowly add water 1 tsp at a time until you have a thick icing consistency. I added a little cream colouring to the fondant at this stage, but you could leave it white.
Step 19
Using a piping bag, pipe a ring of icing onto the chouxnuts and tap them on the surface to help the icing settle. Then decorate with edible flowers of your choice.
These are best eaten fresh but will keep in the fridge for 2 days, but the pastry will lose its crispness.
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