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oday I’m making gluten free pistachio and raspberry choux craquelin. Why gluten free? Well, I have lots of friends who don’t eat gluten, and – since I love them, I wanted to make them happy, simple as that!
How to Make Gluten Free Choux Craquelin?
If you have already learned how to make regular choux pastry, this is going to be piece of cake for you – just follow my instructions carefully! First thing first, since I want to make gluten-free choux pastry instead of wheat flour I’m using rice flour, which is naturally gluten free.
Next, the other choux pastry ingredients are the same – water, milk, butter, salt, sugar, and eggs – no surprises there! One thing is different though – once you bring the mixture of water, milk, butter, salt and sugar to a boil, you will add rice flour and mix to combine. For regular choux pastry you would put this back on the stove, but not when making gluten free choux pastry! Just mix in the flour, and take a break. Very important step is – once you mix in the flour, just wait until the mixture cools down until it becomes lukewarm. Only then you should start gradually adding eggs to your choux – not a moment sooner! Finally, once you add the eggs, you are good to go – actually, you’re good to pipe. ;) Now, regarding piping – a short explanation; you will have to pipe choux in two sizes, one that will be 5cm (2″) in diameter, and another where you’ll make 2.5cm (1″) blobs. Now, I can already hear you say:”Man, that is a drag, how will I measure my blobs precisely?!” Well, I got you covered – I have prepared templates that you can print, place under your parchment paper and simply pipe away – isn’t that just awesome? Templates for piping are here:
DOWNLOAD TEMPLATES
Choux Craquelin Inside the Choux Craquelin
No, I haven’t gone crazy yet, at least I don’t think so! I’ve decided to make two sizes of choux craquelin. I filled my smaller choux craquelin with raspberry gel, and I inserted it into the large choux craquelin. So, when you start eating, you will find unexpected tangy surprise in the middle! Delish! If you like this concept, check my triple chocolate choux craquelin, it also has yummy surprise in the middle!
How to Make Pistachio Ganache ?
First I like to make light white chocolate ganache, which means that I put more cream than I usually do when making regular ganache. To prevent it from being too runny, I also pop a couple of grams of gelatin into the cream, and then I add some pistachio paste. Blend the mixture with immersion blender and put it in the fridge for a couple of hours. The result – prefectly creamy, delicious and pipeable pistachio ganache. Yummy!
Pistachio – a Miracle Nut
Now, a few words about pistachios. Pistachios are seeds that grow on a small tree originating from Central Asia and the Middle East. They are a great source of healthy fats, fiber, protein, antioxidants, and various nutrients, including vitamin B6. Actually, 1oz (30g) of pistachios has the same amount of protein as one whole egg! Wow! Also, scientific evidence suggests that eating 50 grams (about 1.5oz) of nuts such as pistachios, lowers the bad cholesterol and may reduce the risk of heart disease. Yummy and healthy, I like that! Oh, there is something else – now listen to this: antioxidants are really, really good guys, we all know that, right? Did you know that pistachios owe their beautiful, distinctive color, you know – that warm green with just a touch of purple hue, to antioxidants? Yes, it’s crazy right? Yummy, and healthy, and beautiful!
Oh, there is one more thing – some sources say that breaking the pistachio shells is a great workout for your thumbs, and also helps develop hand-eye coordination! Haha, just kidding! Anyway, let’s practice our hand-eye coordination by making ourselves some gluten free pistachio and raspberry choux craquelin!
Gluten Free Pistachio and Raspberry Choux Craquelin Recipe
by:Tereza Alabanda,The Pastry Maestra
PRINT PDF (EN) ISPIŠI PDF (HR) DOWNLOAD TEMPLATESPrep. time : 30 minutes
Cook time : 45 minutes
Ready in 75 minutes plus cooling
Level : Advanced
Ingredients: Gluten Free Craquelin:- Butter 75g (2.6oz)
- Light brown sugar 90g (3.2oz)
- Rice flour 90g (3.2oz)
- Water 100g (3.5oz)
- Mlik 100g (3.5oz)
- Sugar 10g (1Tbsp)
- Salt 4g (1Tsp)
- Butter 80g (2.8oz)
- Rice flour 120g (4.2oz)
- Eggs 150g (5.3oz)
- Raspberry puree 150g (5.3oz)
- Water 150g (5.3oz)
- Sugar 50g (1.8oz)
- Agar agar powder 4g (2Tsp)
- White chocolate 140g (5oz)
- Gelatin 6g (1.5Tsp)
- Glucose Syrup 10g (1Tbsp)
- Vanilla powder to taste
- Cream 35% 500g (17.6oz)
- Pistachio paste 80g (2.8oz)
- Chopped pistachios and fresh raspberries for decorating
- To make gluten free craquelin put softened butter into a bowl. Add light brown sugar and mix to combine. Then, add rice flour and mix with a silicone spatula until you get uniform mixture. Put craquelin onto a piece of parchment paper. First spread it lightly with your fingers. Then, put another piece of parchment paper onto the craquelin, and roll it out to 2mm (1/12″) thickness using an adjustable rolling pin. Roll from the center towards one end, at the same time holding the opposite side of the paper, so it doesn’t slide. Put everything in the freezer for about 15 minutes.
- To make gluten free choux pastry put milk, water, butter, salt and sugar into a saucepan, and bring the mixture to a boil. Put rice flour into a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, and pour boiling mixture into the flour. Mix on medium speed until combined. When the mixture cools down, gradually add eggs, mixing well after each addition. It is very important that you don’t add eggs while the mixture is still hot, because it will become too runny! The choux mixture should be creamy, soft and shiny.
- Prepare two baking pans. Put one template onto each pan (one with larger circles, and one with smaller ones), and line them with parchment paper. Put choux mixture into a piping bag fitted with 12mm (1/2″) tip, and pipe blobs 5cm (2″) in diameter onto the larger template. Pipe smaller blobs – 2.5 (1″) in diameter, using a piping bag fitted with 6mm (1/4″) tip.
- Take chilled craquelin out from the freezer, and cut out larger discs for large blobs, and smaller discs for small blobs using round cutters. The diameter of cutters should be 5cm (2″) and 2.5cm (1″) respectively. Place craquelin discs onto the choux pastry blobs using a small spatula.
- Preheat your oven to 200°C (400°F), put your choux craquelin in the oven and immediately lower the temperature to 180°C (350°F). Bake larger choux for about 30 minutes, and smaller choux for about 15 minutes, until nicely browned and puffed. Then, leave them to cool down completely.
- To make raspberry gel put sugar into a bowl. Add agar-agar powder and stir well with a whisk. Then, put raspberry puree, water, and sugar and agar-agar mixture into a saucepan. Stir to combine. Cook this mixture until it boils, stirring well to prevent it from burning. Allow it to boil for about one minute, and then, remove the pan from the stove. Transfer the mixture into a measuring cup, and cover it with cling film. Put in the fridge until it cools down completely.
- To make pistachio ganache soak gelatin in cold water. As soon as the gelatin softens take it out and squeeze to get rid of the excess water. Put cream into a bowl, and add glucose syrup and vanilla powder. Heat up this in the microwave. Then, add soaked gelatin and stir until it melts. Put white chocolate into a bowl, and strain hot cream into the chocolate. Blend the mixture with immersion blender until it becomes uniform. Then add pistachio paste and blend the mixture once more. Cover it with cling film, and leave it in the fridge for a couple of hours.
- When raspberry gel is cold and set, blend it with immersion blender until you get smooth gel. Put raspberry gel into a piping bag fitted with 1mm (3/64″) tip, and carefully puncture and fill your small choux craquelin with it. Cut off the top of your larger choux shells using serrated knife.
- Put pistachio ganache into a piping bag fitted with star tip, and pipe a middle sized blob into the bottom part of your choux shells. Then, insert your smaller choux, filled with raspberry gel, into the ganache blob. Pipe some more ganache all around and over the smaller choux until it is completely covered.
- To decorate the top part of your choux shells pipe one small blob of ganache on the top using a piping bag fitted with 6mm (about 1/4″) tip. Then, sprinkle some chopped pistachios onto the ganache. Insert one fresh raspberry in the middle. Place the whole ensemble onto the ganache. Finally, pipe some raspberry gel dots all around the ganache.
- There, your lovely gluten free pistachio and raspberry choux craquelin is done! Enjoy!
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