Choux Au Craquelin (Crispy Cream Puff)

A classic French Choux Au Craquelin is one of the most professional and fancy-looking desserts you can make. If you're looking for something dainty yet delicious and full of texture, you've come to the right place.

Jump to:

• 📖 What is choux au craquelin
• 💡 What is the difference between choux au craquelin vs cream puff
• 🌟 Why this is the best recipe
• 📝 Ingredient notes
• 👩‍🍳 How to make this recipe
• 👩‍🍳 Storage & Freezing
• 📚 Flavor variations and substitutions
• 🎓 Expert tips to make choux au craquelin
• 👩‍🍳 Troubleshooting choux au craquelin
• 🥣  Equipment notes
• ❓ Recipe FAQs
• 👩‍🍳 Choux pastry filling ideas
• 🌟 More Choux pastry recipes
• Choux Au Craquelin (Crispy Cream Puff)

📖 What is choux au craquelin

Choux au craquelin is a choux bun (cream puff) covered with a disk of crunchy craquelin dough and baked. The French word "craquelin" means "cracker" in English, and the word choux translates as cabbage! But it is referring to the shape of choux buns.

When they bake, the craquelin melts on top of the cream puff to form a perfect crackly layer. It gives an incredible texture, a velvety look, and an incredibly delicious crunchy taste to the crispy cream puffs. It's a must-try if you are a choux pastry lover!

💡 What is the difference between choux au craquelin vs cream puff

They are both in the choux pastry family; choux au craquelin is just a cream puff with an added crunchy cookie disk topping. Taste-wise, they are very similar and equally delicious. However, the Choux au craquelin is crunchier due to the craquelin cookie on top.

A basic cream puff (also known as a choux bun or profiterole) is made from choux pastry and piped into shapes to make classic French desserts like eclairs, extravagant Paris Brest, or a showstopping croquembouche. The craquelin disk on top is made separately by creaming butter, sugar, and flour. Together, they are choux au craquelin!

🌟 Why this is the best recipe

1. It's an in-depth tutorial - My easy step-by-step choux au craquelin tutorial and top tips will take your crispy cream puffs to the next level.
2. It's so elegant - This is one of those classic European desserts you have to try. The choux au craquelin is so pretty and has a delicious taste and texture, too.
3. It's so versatile - once you have mastered this choux au craquelin recipe, you can try so many fillings and variations, like a delicious vanilla bean pastry cream, which is my favorite.

📝 Ingredient notes

For the choux pastry

1. Milk - Whole milk is the best. Avoid using milk substitutes for this recipe unless you are aware of how to reformulate the recipe.
2. Sugar - This choux dough recipe is made using white granulated sugar. If you want to learn about the different types of sugar and how to use them in baking, please read my sugar guide.
3. Water - The milk-water ratio in this Pâte à choux recipe is 50-50%. If you are a more experienced baker, feel free to play around with different ratios.
4. Salt - Salt balances the sweetness and enhances the flavors in this choux pastry recipe as well as contributing to the right texture.
5. Butter: Use unsalted European-style butter with a high-fat content (I use 82%) for best results.
6. Flour - A high-protein flour (for example, bread flour) is essential to achieve that lovely huge air pocket. Read the flour packaging and aim for at least 12% protein content. Do not use pastry flours, as they are too low. To learn more about what type of flour to use in your baking, please read my flour guide. Sift the flour before use to avoid lumps.
7. Eggs - Always use room temperature eggs in baking.

Read my detailed tutorial about making choux pastry in my eclair recipe with technique and equipment tips, as well as a troubleshooting guide.

🛒 You’ll find detailed measurements for all Ingredients in the printable version of the Recipe Card at the bottom of this post

For craquelin

1. Cane sugar: Many recipes use light brown sugar for the craquelin layer, but I recommend cane sugar for that signature velvet texture. The second best option is light brown sugar. However, it won´t look exactly the same. Muscovado or Turbinado can work, but above all, use a type of sugar that has medium crystals.
2. Flour: Simple all purpose flour (also known as AP flour or plain flour) works perfectly fine in the craquelin recipe.
3. Butter: Unsalted butter at room temperature. It is important that the butter is soft enough to be able to cream but not melted or runny.

🛒 You’ll find detailed measurements for all Ingredients in the printable version of the Recipe Card at the bottom of this post

👩‍🍳 How to make this recipe

1. How to prepare pate au choux

1. Heat the butter, milk, water, sugar, and salt together in a saucepan over medium heat until simmering.
2. Remove the mixture from the heat, and add all of the sifted flour in at once whilst whisking vigorously.
3. Place the mixture back over medium heat and cook the dough (known as the panade) for a few minutes whilst mixing constantly to evaporate off some of the moisture and cook out the flour.
4. Remove from the heat and place the dough in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or into a mixing bowl.
5. Mix the room temperature egg together and slowly start to add it to the dough mixture. Either whisk in between each addition in the stand mixer or use an electric hand whisk.
6. The mixture might separate at first, but keep mixing, and the dough will come together and eventually reach a silky, glossy, and pipeable consistency.
7. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a round nozzle tip and pipe choux buns evenly onto baking trays lined with parchment paper or a perforated “air” baking mat. This recipe makes 20 cream puffs.

💡 Top Tip: You may not need all of the egg; use the “V test” to know when the dough is ready. Stop adding egg when the dough slowly falls down from the paddle attachment in a V shape. Slowly is key here; it should not be too runny, so stop adding egg before it gets to this stage.

2. How to make the craquelin disk

1. Cream the room temperature butter and sugar together in a bowl with an electric hand whisk for a few minutes, and then add the sifted flour.
2. Continue to cream the mixture for a few more minutes until fully incorporated. If the mixture is too soft, then place it into the freezer for a few minutes for the butter to harden a bit before proceeding to the rolling out stage.
3. Place the craquelin dough between two silicone baking mats (or pieces of parchment paper), and roll out to a 2mm thickness. Place the sheet into the freezer for a minimum of one hour until it is completely frozen and firm.

💡 Top Tip: The choux buns will puff and expand in the oven, so a craquelin disk with a slightly larger diameter is needed to be able to fully cover each crispy cream puff (see images).

3. How to bake the choux au craquelin

1. Use a cookie cutter to cut circles out of the craquelin dough and place them on top of the piped choux buns. Try to work as quickly as possible so that the craquelin disks don't melt on top of the choux buns.
2. Place the choux au craquelin back into the freezer for 15 minutes before baking.
3. Preheat the oven to 200C/392F (no fan)
4. Turn the oven temperature down to 170C / 338F (no fan) before putting them in.
5. Bake the choux au craquelin for 40 minutes.
6. Take one crispy cream puff out at 40 minutes, and wait for a minute to see whether it collapses. If not, the choux au craquelin are ready.

💡 Top Tip: Do not open the oven door in the first 30 minutes under any circumstances, or the choux buns might collapse.

4. How to fill choux au craquelin

1. Let the choux ay craquelin buns fully come to room temperature.
2. Fill a piping bag with your chosen filling for choux au craquelin.
3. Make a small hole in the bottom or cut off the top of the crispy cream puffs and pip the filling in.
4. You can fill crispy cream puffs with one cream, or a combination of cream and jelly, or cream and fruit, or even cream and a crunchy layer. Be adventurous!

👩‍🍳 Storage & Freezing

Store un-filled choux buns at room temperature in an air-tight container for up to 2-3 days. Allow them to come back to room temperature first. After the choux buns are filled, they should be eaten straight away or kept in the fridge for a maximum of 12-24 hours.

Both the craquelin topping and the choux buns should be frozen separately and assembled before baking if you are making them ahead of time. I do not recommend freezing choux au craquelin once baked, as the craquelin won´t stay crispy, and similarly, I do not recommend freezing filled choux au craquelin.

📚 Flavor variations and substitutions

This is a very precise recipe, and as such, making substitutions is harder to do. It is possible to use rice flour to make the crispy cream puffs recipe gluten-free, but the recipe will need some adjustments.

You can, however, flavor or color the craquelin disk with either food coloring or colorful ingredients. For example, consider adding matcha, freeze-dried raspberry, cocoa powder, or even black sesame seeds.

Make sure you take the amount into consideration and whether it is a dry or wet ingredient and balance that out. For example, if you use 5 grams of matcha powder, reduce the amount of flour in the craquelin dough by the same amount.

I have a whole section of baking guides to help you learn more about the science of baking and make substitutions and swaps where possible.

🎓 Expert tips to make choux au craquelin

1. Always weigh your ingredients using a digital scale for precision.
2. The cooking process of the panade is finished when a thin skin starts forming on the bottom of the saucepan.
3. While mixing the egg into the pate choux dough, the egg should be at room temperature and pre-whisked.
4. You might find that after piping the choux buns, there are small peaks on top of the choux buns, feel free to press them down gently with a wet fingertip.
5. If the craquelin mixture is too soft, it will be sticky and not be possible to roll out. Similarly, if the mixture is too cold, it won´t be possible to roll it out because it will break.
6. It is essential to freeze the buns with the craquelin disks on top of them before baking to achieve an even rise without cracks.
7. Check you're baking at the right temperature by using a digital oven thermometer. Preheat your oven to 10C / 50F degrees hotter than the recipe states, and turn it down to the right temperature once the crispy cream puffs are in the oven.

👩‍🍳 Troubleshooting choux au craquelin

Here are some common problems that can arise when baking choux au craquelin and how to fix them.

1. The flour forms lumps when cooking the choux dough

Sift the flour before mixing it into the rest of the ingredients. Also, remove the saucepan from the heat, then add the flour quickly in one go, then whisk it vigorously (very important) until it forms one smooth ball and the white flour bits are not visible.

2. The choux pastry dough is too solid to pipe

Mix in more beaten egg. Add the egg slowly, only a small amount at a time. Wait for it to be incorporated and check the consistency before adding more. The choux dough is ready when the dough falls off the paddle/whisk very slowly in a V shape.

3. The piped choux buns do not hold their shape

Your choux sounds like it is too runny, with too much egg. Sadly, you cannot fix the dough at this point by adding more flour; it won´t work. Start the recipe again, and pay close attention to how much egg you add to the mixture.

4. The craquelin is too sticky to roll out

Chill the craquelin dough. Baking is 90% playing with temperature and utilizing it for our benefit. The butter in the dough will harden in the fridge, making it more solid and easier to roll out.

5. The craquelin is too hard to roll out

The dough needs to warm up slightly. Leave it on the kitchen counter at room temperature for a few minutes.

6. The choux buns do not rise in the oven

This is most likely due to your oven not being hot enough; check it with an oven thermometer. It could also be that your dough was too wet, and the choux buns are baking more like a pancake without rising properly. This means that the mixture needed a lower amount of beaten egg.

7. The choux buns deflate after baking

The choux buns needed longer in the oven. I bake the choux buns for 40 minutes, but all ovens vary. Take one out at 40 minutes, and wait for a minute to see whether it collapses; if not, it is very likely that they are well baked, and you can take the rest out. Also, make sure you do not open the oven door during baking.

8. My choux buns have huge cracks on the top

This could be due to several issues. First, make sure your oven temperature is even. Do not change the oven temp suddenly, and do not open the oven door during baking. It could also be inappropriate piping techniques, as applying uneven pressure while piping can also cause cracks in the choux pastry. Finally, the oven temperature can be too high. Do not use the fan setting, and check the temperature using an oven thermometer.

9. The craquelin layer is baked unevenly on the buns

Make sure you are using the right kind of sugar; cane sugar will give you the best results. It can also be down to the choux buns rising too quickly; check that the oven temperature is not too high.

10. The Choux au craquelins are not hollow inside

If they are too flat, it is down to too much egg in the recipe. If you have a nice rise on your choux buns, but they are not hollow enough inside, it is most likely due to your flour not having enough protein. Even if you use bread flour, try a few different ones, e.g., 12, 13, or 14% protein content, and find the one that gives you the best result.

🥣  Equipment notes

Weigh ingredients using a digital scale and combine ingredients using a rubber spatula and an electric hand whisk or stand mixer.

Pipe choux buns using a piping bag onto a perforated “air” baking mat to bake these choux au craquelin (it's also great for tarts and cookies, too). The heat spreads evenly throughout the mat’s surface, guaranteeing a perfect, even bake. Alternatively, line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Use a rolling pin to roll craquelin dough between two silicone baking mats, and you can use them in the future for rolling out “sticky” doughs like pie dough and tart dough, or I even use them to roll the dough for babka.

Use a Digital oven thermometer to always bake your easy choux au craquelin at the right temperature.

❓ Recipe FAQs

👩‍🍳 Choux pastry filling ideas

🌟 More Choux pastry recipes