Choux with Chantilly & Caramel

A very simple dessert today, but one that will certainly be a crowd-pleaser at the table: caramel & whipped cream choux! I chose to flavor them with vanilla, but you can also fill them with plain caramel and whipped cream, or flavor them with coffee or chocolate, hazelnut, orange blossom… let your desires (and your cupboards) do the talking!

Equipment:
Whisk
Perforated baking sheet
Small round piping nozzle 14mm
Round cookie cutters
Piping bags

Ingredients:
I used Norohy vanilla from Valrhona: code ILETAITUNGATEAU for 20% discount on the entire site (affiliate).

Preparation time: 1 hour + 30 minutes cooking time
For a dozen individual choux:

Caramel:

150g granulated sugar
100g heavy cream
45g salted butter
Optional: vanilla powder / vanilla pod / vanilla extract

You will have too much caramel, you can reduce the amount if you wish, but be careful not to make too small an amount which would make it difficult to mix.

Prepare a dry caramel with the sugar.
Simultaneously, heat the cream with the vanilla.
When the caramel has a lovely amber color, deglaze it gradually with the hot cream and mix well.

Off the heat, add the butter cut into small pieces and blend the caramel. Let it cool completely.

Craquelin:

40g soft unsalted butter
50g brown sugar
50g flour

Mix the soft butter with the sugar and the flour, then roll the craquelin thinly between two sheets of parchment paper.

Cut out circles about 4 to 5cm in diameter (or according to the size of your choux), then place it in the freezer.

Choux pastry:

65g water
85g whole milk
2g salt
2g granulated sugar
60g butter
80g flour
125g whole eggs

Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Bring water, milk, salt, sugar, and butter to a boil.

Off the heat, add the sifted flour all at once.

Put back on the heat and dry the dough over low heat using a spatula for a few minutes until a thin film forms at the bottom of the pan.

Place the dough in a bowl (or in the stand mixer bowl) and mix a little to cool it down before incorporating the eggs, slightly beaten, little by little at medium speed. Wait for the dough to become homogeneous before each addition.
Stop mixing when the dough has a satiny appearance: the trail of a line drawn with the finger in the dough should close.

Pour the choux pastry into a piping bag fitted with a small round or plain nozzle, then pipe choux onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Cover the choux with a disc of craquelin, then bake them in the preheated oven at 180°C for 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool.

Vanilla whipped cream:

400g heavy cream with 35% fat
40g icing sugar 
Vanilla powder / vanilla pod / vanilla extract 

Whip the heavy cream; when it starts to be firmly whipped, add the icing sugar and vanilla and whip again until you obtain a whipped cream texture. 

Pour the whipped cream into a piping bag fitted with a small round nozzle. 
Cut the tops off the choux, pipe a little caramel at the bottom. 

Then pipe whipped cream, followed by more caramel in the center of the whipped cream. 

Cover with the choux tops, dust with icing sugar, and finally enjoy!