Gluten Free Chouquettes Three Ways

These sugar topped gluten free choux pastry puffs are best enjoyed hot from the oven, glistening and warm!

Yield: 3 dozen
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 20 min

Gluten Free Chouquettes

On a rainy afternoon, with Eartha Kitt belting Je Cherche un Homme through my iPod, I made these delightful sugar puffs or chouquettes. Let me tell me about these little sugary domes of pleasure: they have the pour to right wrongs; to diffuse a tense situation like the best negotiator.

On the day in question, one of a relentless string of rainy days, Callum (the 2 year old) and I were going stir crazy with cabin fever and driving one another mad in the process; so we baked. And the pure expression of delight on his face as he took his first bite of a warm-from-the-oven sugar puff was enough to melt my heart and instantly make me forgive him for whatever havoc he terrorized me with earlier in the day.

See what I mean? Peacemakers. I'm telling you, these chouquettes are powerful; don't underestimate them! You may know from my Cool Whip injected profiteroles or my eclairs dipped in chilli chocolate and filled with spiced cream that I've got a bit of a thing for choux pastry. Both my triple chocolate eclairs and my white chocolate and maple caramel eclairs echo this obsession.

But I wanted to try my hand at gluten free choux. I'll admit, I approached this task with a slight air of trepidation. One of things gluten does in baking, is provide structure and gives baked goods texture. In a similar ilk, one requirement for perfect pate a choux is choux with structure enough that the profiteroles or eclairs retain their shape and don't deflate as soon as the oven is switched off!

Ingredients:

For the chouquettes
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 medium eggs
85 grams sweet rice flour
85 grams tapioca flour
100 grams unsalted butter, softened
170 mls/6 ounces water
170 mls/6 ounces milk
confectioner's sugar/icing sugar
chouquette sugar
confetti candy sprinkles
chocolate chips





**Notes**

• Gluten in traditional choux helps the choux to retain its shape, so it is important that you cook the choux fully.
• With gluten free choux, it is doubly important. If the inside of your profiteroles, chouquettes or eclairs is spongy and soft, they will deflate. Be sure to do step 12; it will make all the difference in perfectly peaked puffs and shapeless choux. 
• The sugar used in chouquettes is known by a variety of names. The container of it that I brought back from France with me is labelled "Sucre a chouquettes" or sugar for chouquettes. Chouquette sugar is also used in a lot of European baking, mostly to decorate the tops of pannetone, cakes and biscuits. Chouquette sugar is unique because it is so dense, it doesn't melt easily during baking.
• Alternative names for sugar for chouquettes (if you find any of these at your local supermarket or baking supply shop, you can use them):
• pearl sugar
• nib sugar
• hail sugar
• crystal sugar
• coarse sugar 
• Belgian waffle pearl sugar
  

Gluten Free Chouquettes

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 200c/400f.
2. Place the butter, sugar, water and salt in a pan and bring to the boil.
3. Remove the pan from the heat as soon as it starts to boil.
4. Stir in the flour using a wooden spoon until the dough comes together to form a ball. This step takes about 2 minutes.
5. Transfer the ball to a large bowl and stir constantly with a wooden spoon to cool down the dough. Alternatively, you can let it rest on its own for a few minutes.
6. Add one egg to the slightly cooled dough and stir. The dough will begin to separate and look like it's all going wrong, but this is what you want. If you keep stirring, the choux will absorb the egg and the dough will come together again and form a ball.
7. Add the second egg and repeat the process until the dough forms a ball again.
8. Spoon the choux into a piping bag and pipe three-tiered mounds onto a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper or silicone.
9. Dip your finger in water and pat down the tips of the mounds.
10. Sprinkle over the confectioner's sugar, giving each chouquette a good coating. By the time you've finished them all, the sugar should have dissolved on the first one started with..
11. Scatter over the chouquette sugar, chocolate chips and candy confetti sprinkles. You may need to press the chouquette sugar into place on the puffs as they have a tendency to roll off. Finish everything off with a dusting of icing sugar.
12. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until the puffs feel light and airy when you pick them up. You want to make sure they are completely cooked through. So, after 20 minutes,take one and pierce the side with a knife. Take a peek inside. If it still looks doughy, they need a few more minutes. If it only looks slightly doughy, pierce all of the chouquettes and place them back in the oven with the door slightly ajar. Switch the oven off and leave them there until the oven is considerably cooler. They should cook perfectly.