Choux pastry doughnuts - French crullers

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Fat Thursday, the favourite holiday of all Polish foodies, is on the horizon. That's why today I want to share a recipe for French crullers: delicious crispy nests of choux pastry. This time we'll decorate them with almond icing.


French crullers are savoury on their own and they go perfectly with the distinct almond notes of the icing. They are best eaten fresh, when the crust is crispy while the interior is soft and moist.

You'll find the list of ingredients, method and approximate nutritional value below.

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List of ingredients

French crullers

  • 200 g wheat flour
  • 250 ml water
  • 100 g butter
  • A small pinch of salt
  • 3 large eggs + 1 beaten egg (I've used 200 g eggs altogether)
  • 2 l rapeseed oil

Icing

  • 200 g icing sugar
  • 2.5 tbsp water
  • 2.5 tbsp Amaretto

Method

  1. Sift 200 g wheat flour through a fine sieve to remove any lumps that will make it harder to get a smooth choux pastry.
  2. Pour 250 ml water into a large, thick-bottomed pot. Add 100 g cubed butter and a small pinch of salt. Turn the heat under the pot on to medium. Stir through the water until salt and butter dissolve.
  3. When the liquid comes to a boil, turn off the heat, but keep the pot on the cooker. Put all of flour at once into the boiling liquid and stir energetically with a wooden spoon until a smooth, thick pastry forms. It should come away from the side of the pot easily. Keep stirring the pastry in the hot pot for around a minute. Be careful not to overheat the pastry, as butter may start separating. Transfer ready pastry into a large bowl and set it aside for around 15 minutes to cool.
  4. After 15 minutes pastry should be ready for the next step. Add 3 eggs to the pastry, one at a time, mixing each one in completely before the next one. Beat the last, 4th egg with a fork and add enough of it to get the right texture. It is impossible to know how much water evaporated from the pastry in the pot, which is why it's best to assess the pastry after the 3rd egg and add only part of the last egg if required. Ready pastry should be shiny, thick enough to hold shape, but fluid enough to be piped out of a bag.
  5. I'm using a 1M tip (large star-shaped tip) to pipe the pastry. Prepare 20 pieces of baking paper, 9 cm x 9 cm. Transfer pastry into a piping bag and push out a small nest onto each piece of baking paper. The recipe should be enough for 20 doughnuts, 8 cm in diameter.
  6. Take your doughnuts to a cooker and heat up rapeseed oil in a large pot. Oil temperature should be 180 deg C when you put the doughnuts in. I'd recommend using a kitchen thermometer: it is easy to keep oil at desired temperature this way. Put doughnuts into the oil, baking paper up, and fry them until golden, 3.5 minutes per side. You can remove the baking paper after the first minute. Once 3.5 minutes have passed, turn the doughnuts over carefully and fry for 3.5 minutes on the other side. Take ready doughnuts out of the pot. Place them on a plate lined with paper towels to remove excess fat, and transfer them onto a wire rack after a while to cool.
  7. Once all the doughnuts are ready, prepare the icing. Add around 2.5 tbsp water and 2.5 tbsp Amaretto in batches to 200 g icing sugar. Stir them together until thick but fluid icing forms. Once you get desired texture, transfer icing into a piping bag and decorate the doughnuts.
  8. Enjoy!

Approximate nutritional value

100 g

  • 465 kcal
  • Carbs: 48 g 
  • Fat: 27 g
  • Protein: 6 g
  • Fibre: 1 g

1 doughnut (recipe makes 20 doughnuts)

  • 163 kcal
  • Carbs: 17 g 
  • Fat: 10 g
  • Protein: 2 g
  • Fibre: 0 g

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