Pastry Puffs (Pate a Choux)
1 cup flour or 1 cup Trader Joe’s Gluten Free flour + ½ tsp xanthan gum or 1 cup America’s Test Kitchen Gluten Free flour blend + ½ tsp xanthan gum or 1 cup of your favorite GF flour blend + ½ tsp xanthan gum (omit if your blend already has this)
Pinch salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup water
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into chunks (if you only have salted butter, just eliminate the pinch of salt)
4 large eggs, room temperature
Whisk together flour, xanthan gum, salt, & baking powder. Set aside.
In pan larger than you think you need, heat water & butter over medium-high heat to rolling boil.
Turn heat to low & pour dry ingredients in all at once & stir vigorously until completely incorporated.
Dump warm dough into mixing bowl. Beat for 1-2 minutes to cool dough. (Dough will be weirdly spongy & shiny – don’t worry, it’s supposed to be like that!)
On medium speed, add eggs, one at a time, beating dough after each egg until it is completely incorporated. Dough may break apart when you first add an egg, just keep beating, it will come back together.
Once all eggs are mixed in, beat on medium-high for about a minute until dough is smooth.
Drop by about ½ tablespoon size for mini puffs or about 2 tablespoon (or larger) size for larger puffs on baking sheet covered with parchment. If you need to re-shape them a little, just wet your fingers a little & shape (the dough is pretty sticky, so you really need your fingers to be a little wet). Or if you want them to be more perfect in shape, place the dough in a pastry bag & pipe them onto the pan.
I used a teaspoon to drop these onto the baking sheet.
Bake in oven pre-heated to 400° for 25-30 minutes. They should be a nice light golden brown.
When done, turn oven off, pierce each puff with the tip of a sharp knife to allow steam to escape, return pan to oven. Leave oven door open a little bit & allow oven to cool completely. (If you need the oven for something else, you can also cool the puffs on a wire rack on the counter.)
Puffs on left made with Trader Joe’s GF Flour. Puffs on right made with America’s Test Kitchen GF flour blend. There really wasn’t any difference in taste, but the ones made with ATK’s flour had a much nicer texture.
If you are using a pastry bag to squirt in filling, just place the tip in side slit you made to allow for steam escape. Or if you can just cut the puff in half horizontally. I find a bread knife works best, but any sharp knife will work.
If the puff isn’t really hollow, just pull out the soft dough from the center & discard.
Sometimes there is a little gooey dough left in the middle.
Inside of puff a little cleaner after pulling out extra dough.
Fill cooled puffs shortly before serving. (Otherwise they may get a little soggy.)
Sweet filling & topping ideas:
Whipping Cream
Cinnamon Whipping Cream (just add a little cinnamon to whipping cream)
Custard Cream
Ice Cream or Gelato
Berries (whatever your favorite is)
Chocolate or Caramel Sauce
Fruit Sauce
Powdered Sugar
Cinnamon
Shaved/Grated Chocolate
Savory filling ideas:
Crab, Chicken, Shrimp or Tuna Salad
Soft Cheese Combo (Brie, Whipped Feta, whatever your favorite is)
Notes:
You can use these puffs for both sweet (dessert) or savory (appetizer). I like this recipe because it’s surprisingly easy! Also it’s very versatile & you can make it your own with different fillings!
They can be made mini for a bite-size dessert or mini appetizers. Or they can also be made larger for a larger serving sized dessert & filled with the same fillings as the minis, or as a light meal filled with a savory filling.
These are best eaten the day you make them, but you can store them in an airtight container for a day or two. If you are storing them, don’t fill them until you are ready to serve. To freshen up the stored puffs, you can crisp them unfilled by placing them on a baking sheet in the oven at 450° for 10 minutes.