I’ve made strawberry choux pastries before on the blog and strangely enough I made them on 13th February last year. So there must be something about my mood in February that screams strawberries and choux!
The thing I like about this recipe and the other choux pastries is that two recipes with a very similar name couldn’t be more different. Strawberries aren’t currently in season in February, so the addition of freeze-dried strawberry powder gives these a really intense strawberry flavour when there isn’t any good fresh fruit around.
Instead of using cream in this recipe, I’ve made a chocolate ganache with the freeze-dried strawberry powder and some delicious 66% Valrhona chocolate. I know that this chocolate is expensive, but I really think that you should buy the best quality chocolate you can afford. Brands like Valrhona, Amedei and Callebaut do cost a lot, but they are great chocolates to work with.
What do I mean by that? Well they are very stable if you want to temper the chocolate to enrobe truffles or make chocolate decorations. The white chocolate is much easier to melt without burning it, and the taste is amazing. If you have the chance, try to get hold of some and bake with it. At first I was really anxious, I’ve just spent £7.00 on a 250g bar of chocolate, what if the recipe doesn’t work? What if I temper it wrongly?
Well things do go wrong in the kitchen and I’ve felt like crying when something doesn’t work out and I dwell on how much money I’ve just put in the food waste bin. However when it works and you bite into something like one of these strawberry choux pastries, you know spending that bit extra, really was worth it.
These choux puffs are so customisable thanks to the vast range of freeze-dried fruit powders available. A passion fruit version would have been perfect for Valentine’s Day, but I didn’t bother with that flavour for two reasons, I think Valentine’s Day is a bit rubbish and I didn’t have any passion fruit puree!
All of the different freeze-dried fruit powders can be bought from Sous Chef, which is a site I’m always going on about. I can assure you, I genuinely use their online shop and I don’t get any discounts for doing so.
The fruit puree in these choux puffs can be made in a number of ways, I like to buy the fruit purees by a brand called Funkin’. You can buy 1kg packs of their puree for really reasonable prices, either direct from them, or from Sous Chef or Ocado. I normally freeze the puree in 100g portions and then defrost them as and when.
Or you could make fresh fruit puree if it’s in season – I stress in season because not only will it be cheaper, it will be juicier and sweeter. The other option is to buy frozen fruit and then puree it down yourself and strain it. So I’m sure you can see why I buy ready-made puree, it’s easier and pretty affordable.
The Funkin’ purees do have some sugar added, so do keep this in mind when experimenting with them as you might want to remove some of the sugar in your recipe, so that it’s not over sweet.
Strawberry Choux Puffs
Ingredients
- ***Strawberry Cracquelin***
- 10 g Freeze-dried Strawberry Powder
- 90 g Plain Flour
- 75 g Unsalted Butter
- 90 g Caster Sugar
- 1 x Quantity of Choux Pastry
- ***Strawberry Ganache***
- 250 g Strawberry Puree
- 250 g 65% Dark Chocolate chopped into small pieces
- 60 g Unsalted Butter diced and at room temperature
- ***Strawberry Icing***
- 100 g Icing Sugar sifted
- 10 g Freeze-dried Strawberry Powder sifted
- 30 ml Milk
Instructions
- First make the ganache, place the chopped chocolate in a bowl and then heat the strawberry puree until it comes to a boil. Don't let the puree boil for too long as you don't want to reduce the volume at all.
- Take the strawberry puree and pour it on the chocolate and stir it to melt all of the chocolate, slowly add the butter and stir it until it is all melted and combined.
- Cover with clingfilm, making sure the cling film touches the top of the ganache so that you don't get any condensation and put to one side to cool.
- To make the craquelin, mix the flour, sugar, freeze-dried strawberry powder and butter together in a bowl, using your fingertips rub the ingredients together until they resemble breadcrumbs.
- Then press the breadcrumbs together until they form a dough. Place the dough between two sheets of greaseproof paper and roll out the dough until it's 2mm thick. Place the dough on a baking tray, still covered in the greaseproof paper and put it in the freezer.
- reheat the oven to 180C (160C Fan) Gas 4, line two baking trays with grease proof paper or silicone baking sheets.
- Fill a piping bag fitted with a 1cm straight nozzle and pipe out 3cm sized blobs of choux pastry that are spaced well apart. You should have around 18-20 choux puffs.
- When you have piped the choux, take the craquelin and cut out enough 3cm circles to cover the top of your choux pastry and place one of top of each blob.
- Bake the choux puffs for 35 mins, you may need to rotate the baking tray half-way through cooking. Leave the choux puffs in the oven for a further 30 mins to dry out.
- Take the choux puffs from the oven and place them on a rack to cool, using a sharp knife pierce a hole in the bottom of each choux puff.
- Make the icing, by mixing the strawberry powder, icing sugar and milk together until they form a thick icing. Leave the icing to thicken, whilst you fill the choux puffs with the ganache.
- Place the cooled ganache in a piping bag and snip off the end with a pair of scissors so there is an opening small enough to fit inside the hole in the bottom of the choux bun. Fill each choux puff with ganache, just until it puffs up a little and before ganache oozes back out.
- Stir the icing to make sure it hasn't crystallised and dip the tops of the choux puffs in the icing and let the excess fall off. Dip all of the choux puffs in the icing, towards the end you may not have enough icing to dip it, so you'll need to use a spoon to spread it on top.
Notes
The ganache can be made a day or two in advance, but if it sets to hard, the ganache can be softened in the microwave in short bursts of 30 seconds but don't let it get too hot.
The freeze-dried strawberry powder can be bought from Sous Chef.
I hope all of that information about how I work and source my ingredients has been helpful and I hope I didn’t go on too much about using the best chocolate possible. If you ever have any questions, I’ll try to help where possible.
Thanks for reading.
Angela
Tamsyn Elizabeth
WOW! These look so delicious!
I’m planning on doing a little Afternoon Tea this week for my grandma so I think I’ll definitely give this recipe a go!
Tamsyn Elizabeth | Peaches and Bear
PatisserieMakesPerfect
Thank you so much Tamsyn, they taste so delicious, I think you’ll love these so much. Let me know how you get on and I hope your Grandma enjoys them too!
Jodie Dodd
I’m not a fan of strawberry flavoring but I would love to try these, they just look so good! And I’m right there along with you Angela, not a huge fan of Valentine’s Day! 🙂
PatisserieMakesPerfect
They are really good Jodie and because they’re made with a freeze-dried powder, the flavour can be changed very easily. Together we can boycott Valentine’s Day.
Our Food Stories
these look SO pretty and delicious!! wish we could one now 🙂
PatisserieMakesPerfect
Coming from such creative people as both of you, I am so pleased that you like the look of these. They taste so delicious and the recipe is very easy.
Fran @ G'day Souffle'
Congratulations on teaching yourself patisserie from a book! I see that the Cordon Bleu school in Paris is soon moving into their new quarters near the Seine- I’m tempted to enrol in their patisserie course but it’s just too expensive! I’ve made choux pastry before but never with freeze dried flavouring- sounds like a novel idea- thanks for sharing!
PatisserieMakesPerfect
Thank you Fran. Le Cordon Bleu offer a course in London, but it’s full-time and I cannot afford it either 🙁
Freeze-dried flavourings are great and give it a real intense hit of flavour. So pleased you found my blog.
Hannah Hossack-Lodge
These are gorgeous! I really love choux desserts, especially with fruit ganche, it is utterly addictive… I keep meaning to order some freeze dried fruit powders, you’ve made so many delicious things with them! x
PatisserieMakesPerfect
Thank you Hannah. Choux pastry is one of my favourites – you really do need to get some freeze-dried fruit powders, they’re so versatile. x
Pang
Could this be my favourite dessert? Yes, it could!!!! It looks so so so good, Angela. I just want to devour 10+ of them right about NOW. LOVE LOVE LOVE
PatisserieMakesPerfect
Thank you Pang! That’s so nice of you to say! You could easily eat 10 of these and I wouldn’t judge!
Erin
You’ve really nailed the choux! Beautiful!
PatisserieMakesPerfect
Thank you so much Erin and thank you for coming here to comment! I love making choux, even though it can be a really cruel beast at times!
Lucy Parissi
They look so pretty and so delicious – I could not possibly resist these! I have actually cleared my house of chocolate to avoid temptation…
PatisserieMakesPerfect
I have actually just bought a blender/juicer in the hope I can go on a bit of a detox! I still need dessert though 🙂 There will be room for that!
Winnie
Absolutely AMAZING pastries!! You can’t argue about quality ingredients once you see this perfection.
PatisserieMakesPerfect
Thank you so much Winnie, you’re too kind. I promise you they’re worth making.x
PatisserieMakesPerfect
Thanks Louise – I worry that I sound patronising or like I have this bottomless pit of money – but I am blogging on a budget just like everyone else 🙂 Glad you like my buns 😉 x
nicole (thespicetrain.com)
These puffs look so cute and delicious! I couldn’t agree more, high quality ingredients are so important, especially when it comes to chocolate.
PatisserieMakesPerfect
Thank you Nicole – I used to think there wasn’t any difference in chocolate, but it’s just like tea/coffee etc – once you try different qualities you realise they’re worth the extra money and you just have a bit less.
fashion for lunch
love this!
fashionforlunch.net
PatisserieMakesPerfect
Thank you so much <3
Ariadna Morell
I’m not a massive fan of strawberry desserts but these actually sound so yummy! And they look so cute too! x
Ariadna || RAWR BOWS
PatisserieMakesPerfect
Thank you so much – there’s some flavours I struggle with that others love, so I understand completely how you feel. I’m so pleased you like them – I think they’re cute too.