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Botanical Chouxnuts

Published: Updated:
Celebrity recipe
Total Time
1h 30m
Prep Time
1h
Bake Time
30m
Serves 15
Serves 15
intermediate
A little effort

About the bake

When choux pastry meets doughnut, magical things happen. These tasty botanical chouxnuts are light and airy and baked, not fried.

They're a bit like an éclair, but piped in a circle to look like a doughnut. Our friend Juliet Sear from 'Juliet Bakes' on ITV, has created this recipe which was taken from her book ‘Botanical Baking’. These chouxnuts are perfect for an afternoon tea or to celebrate something special, like a birthday.​

If you enjoyed this recipe, give our eclair recipe a try!

16 ingredients19 steps
  • Vegetarian

Method

  1. Step 1

    Preheat the oven to 190˚C (375˚F) and prepare two baking trays with baking parchment.

  2. Step 2

    In a pan heat the water, sugar, salt and butter until completely melted.

  3. Step 3

    Add the flour and beat well on the heat for 4–5 minutes until the dough comes away from the pan edges easily.

  4. Step 4

    Transfer the dough into a bowl and leave it to cool for 2–3 minutes.

  5. Step 5

    Slowly add the egg bit-by-bit, beating well until the choux is the right consistency. It should be stiff, but it should easily drop off a spoon.

  6. Step 6

    Put the choux paste into a piping bag with a medium to large round nozzle.

  7. Step 7

    Draw around a circular cutter (size of your choice) onto the parchment paper, flip the paper over and then pipe the circles of choux following the guide circles.

    chouxnuts-piping.jpg
  8. Step 8

    Place the trays into the oven; spray some water onto the base of the oven before shutting the door (this creates a steamy environment in the oven which helps the pastry to rise).

  9. Step 9

    Bake for 25–35 minutes. Do not open the door of the oven until at least 25 minutes into baking otherwise the chouxnuts will collapse.

  10. Step 10

    Transfer the chouxnuts to a wire rack to cool. Make a small hole in the base of each chouxnut with a small knife or skewer to let the steam out and leave upside down on the wire rack to cool completely.

  11. Step 11

    To make the crème pâtissière, first beat the egg yolks and sugar with the vanilla and the flours until pale and thickened.

  12. Step 12

    Heat the milk in a pan until just boiling, whisk the milk into the egg mix and then pour it back into the pan.

  13. Step 13

    Heat the mixture stirring continuously until it is thick and boiling.

  14. Step 14

    Take it off the heat and pour it onto a tray and cover with cling film making sure the cling film is touching the crème pâtissière to stop a skin forming.

  15. Step 15

    Once the crème pâtissière has cooled, in a bowl whisk 300ml (10fl oz) of double cream with the icing sugar and vanilla to soft peak stage (this is a Chantilly cream). Gently mix the crème pâtissière into the Chantilly cream until smooth, light and fluffy to make your Crème Diplomat filling.

    If you want to do a quicker version of these, you can simply fill the chouxnuts with Chantilly cream. They will be lovely and fresh, but the Crème Diplomat is a delicious custardy filling that is very special indeed.

  16. Step 16

    Poke a hole into the base of your chouxnuts with a small knife and then pipe in the cream until you can feel that the chouxnuts are full. You can feel them getting heavy in your hand.

    chouxnuts-pipe2.jpg
  17. Step 17

    Leave the chouxnuts to one side.

  18. Step 18

    To make the fondant, weigh 300g (10oz) fondant icing sugar and slowly add water 1 tsp at a time until you have a thick icing consistency. I added a little cream colouring to the fondant at this stage, but you could leave it white.

  19. Step 19

    Using a piping bag, pipe a ring of icing onto the chouxnuts and tap them on the surface to help the icing settle. Then decorate with edible flowers of your choice.

    These are best eaten fresh but will keep in the fridge for 2 days, but the pastry will lose its crispness.

    chouxnut-decorate.jpg

Ingredients

  • For the Chantilly Cream, Base for Crème Diplomat

    • 300mlDouble cream (heavy) 
    • 2 tbspSilver Spoon Icing Sugar 
    • 2 tspNielsen-Massey Vanilla Bean Paste 
  • For the Creme Patissiere

    • 4Egg yolks 
    • 60gBillington's Unrefined Golden Caster Sugar 
    • 25gAllinson's plain white flour 
    • 2 tspCornflour 
    • 280mlMilk 
  • For the Choux Pastry

    • 225mlWater 
    • 110gButter 
    • 130gAllinson's plain white flour 
    • 225gFree range egg 
    • PinchSalt 
    • 2 tbspSilver Spoon Caster Sugar 
  • For the Fondant Topping

    • 300gSilver spoon fondant icing sugar 
    • I used creamWater & food colouring of your choice 

Utensils

  • 2x Baking trays
  • Baking parchment
  • Sauce pan
  • Large piping bag
  • Medium to large round piping nozzle
  • Circle for drawing round (i used a few cookie cutters)

Nutritional information per 106g serving

  • Energy 341cal
  • Fat 19g
  • of which Saturates 11g
  • Carbohydrates 38g
  • of which Sugars 29g
  • Protein 4.7g
  • Salt 0.24g

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