Description
Craquelin Choux Pastry with Salted Caramel Cream is an elegant French-inspired dessert featuring golden cream puffs topped with a crackly cookie crust and filled with silky salted caramel diplomat cream. The crisp texture of the craquelin pairs beautifully with the rich, airy cream filling, making this a show-stopping pastry for holidays, parties, or afternoon tea.
Ingredients
115 g unsalted butter (½ cup)
Pinch sea salt
130 g light brown sugar (⅔ cup)
130 g all-purpose flour (1⅛ cup)
150 g white sugar (¾ cup)
½ tsp sea salt
120 mL warm heavy cream (½ cup, 35% fat)
480 mL whole milk (2 cups)
40 g cornstarch (4 tbsp)
1 tbsp vanilla bean paste or extract
3 large egg yolks
1 large egg
45 g unsalted butter (3 tbsp, softened)
1 tsp gelatin powder
30 mL water (2 tbsp, room temperature)
240 mL whipping cream (1 cup, chilled, 35% fat)
30 g confectioner’s sugar (¼ cup)
7 mL vanilla extract (1 ½ tsp)
1 batch choux pastry (prepared separately)
Instructions
- Make the craquelin: Cream butter, salt, and sugar until fluffy. Mix in flour until crumbly, bring together, roll between sheets to 2–3 mm, and freeze overnight.
- Prepare salted caramel pastry cream: Melt sugar until amber, carefully stir in warm cream. Add milk, salt, and vanilla. Temper with whisked eggs, yolks, cornstarch, and vanilla, then cook until thick. Stir in butter, cover, and chill until set.
- Make stabilized Chantilly cream: Bloom gelatin in water, dissolve, then whip cream with sugar and vanilla until soft peaks form. Stream in gelatin until stabilized.
- Prepare salted caramel diplomat cream: Fold Chantilly cream into chilled pastry cream. Transfer to a piping bag.
- Bake choux pastry: Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Pipe 2-inch choux mounds, top with frozen craquelin discs, bake 30 minutes, prick to release steam, then bake 5–10 minutes more. Cool fully.
- Assemble: Cut a hole in the bottom of each puff and pipe in salted caramel diplomat cream. Optionally dust with powdered sugar before serving.
Notes
- Craquelin discs must be frozen solid before baking for best crackly texture.
- Don’t open the oven while baking, or the puffs may collapse.
- Pastry cream and Chantilly cream can be prepared a day ahead and folded before assembly.
- Unfilled shells freeze well; fill them just before serving.
- Pairs beautifully with coffee, espresso.
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: French
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 pastry
- Calories: 210
- Sugar: 14g
- Sodium: 105mg
- Fat: 14g
- Saturated Fat: 9g
- Unsaturated Fat: 4g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 20g
- Fiber: 0g
- Protein: 3g
- Cholesterol: 70mg
