A chouquette is a lovely little French pastry. It’s easy to make, and very lovely in its simplicity. A chouquette is really just a ball of pate a choux that’s been sprinkled with pearl sugar and baked. And while sugar is often used, you can also use mini chocolate chips, or probably even cover it with a thin coating of caramelized sugar. Chouquettes can also be filled with Chantilly, or pastry cream if you like.
There’s nothing special about pearl sugar. It’s just regular sugar that’s in much larger pieces; it looks like little pearls. The extra size helps it stand up to oven temps much better. But it’s also that larger size that gives your chouquettes a lovely crunch.
Ok, these don’t require too much explanation but I wanted to give a little bit.
Ingredients:
Pate a choux
Pearl sugar
Method:
- Form the pate a choux into balls either with a pastry bag or with 2 spoons. Don’t make them too big or they’ll take too long to cook and parts will burn. Make them with tea spoons.
- Sprinkle with the sugar.
- Bake at 400-F for 20-25mins or until they’re a lovely medium brown.
Notes:
- You won’t have any trouble finding pearl sugar. It’s quite easy to come by on the internet.
- I lowered the regular cooking temp of choux from 425 to 400 because the sugar has a tendency to melt, so lowering it just a little helps keep it in tact.