With only 3 ingredients and 5 minute prep time, craquelin is a common patisserie secret of adding a crunchy cookie topping to choux pastry cream puffs!
Choux au Craquelin. It sounds so fancy, but is actually a very simple recipe.
The literal translation of Craquelin means cracker, but when referring to French pastries Craquelin is a sweet and crunchy cookie topping that you add to pate a choux to give it a distinct sweet and crunchy texture. That's why it's often called choux au craquelin, or choux with craquelin.
It is quite literally a bakery secret – it was years before I realized what it was called and how simple it was to make.
Traditionally made with about a 1:1:1 ratio of brown sugar, butter, and flour, this a deliciously easy addition to cream puffs and bonus, it helps keep them from getting too soft too fast. My cream puffs have never been the same since.
Ingredients
- Sugar: Light Brown Sugar is preferred, but dark brown also work. I've heard of people using Demerara or Turbinado sugar, which have larger sugar crystals than regular brown sugar. You can also use granulated sugar.
- Butter: It typically calls for unsalted butter, but you use salted if that is what you have on hand.
- Flour: This recipe calls for all purpose flour. Some recipes use a mix of almond flour and all-purpose, but I've found all purpose flour works just fine.
How to Make Craquelin
This craquelin recipe is so simple!
Step 1: Cream Butter, Sugar, and Flour
Cream the softened butter and sugar for a minute or two. Then add the flour and mix another minute.
It will look crumbly at first, but keep mixing. If there is any unmixed butter, sugar, or flour, stop the mixer and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and then start mixing again.
After another minute or so, it will come together in a ball and clump in the middle. It should be smooth and fully combined.
Step 2: Roll Out Craquelin
Form the dough into a ball on a lightly floured surface. It helps to roll it out on parchment or wax paper so you can easily move the rolled dough to a pan to freeze. If you’re making ahead of time, tightly wrap the disk of dough in plastic wrap until you’re ready to use it.
Roll out the dough to about ¼ inch thick. Freeze for at least 30 minutes.
Step 3: Cut out Disks, Place on Choux Pastry
Once the dough is solid, use cookie cutters to cut out circles of craquelin disks to place on top of unbaked choux pastry. If the dough sticks to the cookie cutter, you can dip the cutter into a small bowl of flour before cutting the dough.
If the dough gets too soft, place back in the freezer for 5-10 minutes to firm up.
Step 4: Bake
Bake the choux pastries as directed, making sure the cream puffs are fully baked before removing from the oven.
Check out my Pâte à choux recipe for tips and tricks for perfect cream puffs. The main tips to remember when baking cream puffs are to not open the oven the first 25 minutes and to make sure they are completely cooked before removing from the oven. If they’re not fully baked, they can collapse after you remove from the oven. You can test if they’re done by removing just one from the oven and cutting it in half. It should be dry in the inside. If it's still wet, keep baking the rest of the Choux au Craquelin.
Tips for Making Craquelin
- The size of the cookie cutter circle will determine how much of the cream puff is covered with topping. The bigger the craquelin circle the more the cream puff that will be covered in craquelin. If you want just the top of the cream puff covered, use a smaller cookie cutter. If you want the whole cream puff covered with craquelin, make sure the craquelin disk is about as big as the piped cream puff itself.
- Make sure roll the dough to about ¼ in thick and freeze it for at least 30 minutes.
- Rolling the dough out on parchment or wax paper allows you to easily transfer the rolled dough to a pan to place in the freezer.
- The dough softens pretty quickly so if the dough gets too soft while cutting the circles, put it back in the freezer for 5-10 minutes to firm up.
- Make sure the cream puffs are fully cooked before removing from the oven. If they’re under baked, they can collapse after cooling.
- If making ahead of time, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and aluminum foil to keep from taking on any flavors from the freezer or fridge.
Flavors and Appearance Variations
- Black: add 1-2 tablespoons activated charcoal
- Chocolate: For chocolate flavor add 2 tbsp cocoa powder
- Matcha: Use 2 tbsp matcha powder
- Bright colors: you can also add food coloring to your craquelin for different colored topping. I prefer gel food coloring as they're brighter and won't alter the consistency of the dough.
- Lighter color: use granulated sugar instead of brown sugar.
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Craquelin
INGREDIENTS
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter softened
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- Choux Pastry
Tools:
- Mixer
- Parchment or slipmat
- Rolling pin
- Circle cookie cutters
Instructions
- Fit a standing mixer with a paddle attachment.
- Add softened butter and mix until flight and fluffy.
- Add brown sugar and flour and cream together until combined. It will ball in the middle of bowl.
- Place the mix onto a large piece of parchment that has been sprinkled with flour.
- Roll until about ¼ inch thick
- Place in the freezer for at least 30 minutes
- Once you're ready to cook your cream puffs, use the circle cookie cutter to cut circles and place them on top of the pate a choux. If too hard to cut, let defrost for a minute or two.
- Cook pate a choux as normally instructed.
- Violla! Cream puffs with a crunchy cookie top.
Notes
- The size of the cookie cutter circle will determine how much of the cream puff is covered with topping. The bigger the craquelin circle the more the cream puff that will be covered in craquelin. If you want just the top of the cream puff covered, use a smaller cookie cutter. If you want the whole cream puff covered with craquelin, make sure the craquelin disk is about as big as the piped cream puff itself.
- Make sure roll the dough to about ¼ in thick and freeze it for at least 30 minutes.
- Rolling the dough out on parchment or wax paper allows you to easily transfer the rolled dough to a pan to place in the freezer.
- The dough softens pretty quickly so if the dough gets too soft while cutting the circles, put it back in the freezer for 5-10 minutes to firm up.
- If making ahead of time, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and aluminum foil to keep from taking on any flavors from the freezer or fridge.
- Recipe altered from David Lebovitz
Going to try this recipe out, but I wasn’t sure if cream was missing from the ingredient list or if it was mistakenly included in the directions. I’m going to omit for today, but just wanted to check for next time! Tyia:)
Hi! Looking forward to making this recipe. Can I freeze the shaped and unbaked choux with the Craquelin ? If so, do I need to thaw them out before baking or can I bake them frozen and add a few more minutes? Thanks for your advice!
What a great recipe. I served mine with vanilla ice-cream and mango
I made this but was wondering if I can freeze it without filling them? Will it get soggy? Or should I just fill them and give them away? These are so good! That crunch!!
Yes you can freeze the baked cream puffs without filling them!
Hi! May I know how long will it be cruchy after I pipe the cream inside the choux. Because most of the time,the upper layer(craquelin) will start to soften after few hours. Is there any tip to make sure it will not turn soft and stay crunchy?
Hi, I’ve tried this recipe and yeah Mine deflated too. I tried other recipe with the same amount of sugar & flour but reduce the butter from 6 tablespoon to 4 tablespoon! The cream puff will stay put! Hope this helps!