by Janet
75g Strong white Flour
50g Butter
125ml milk or water
2 large or 3 medium eggs
- Greased flat baking tray or line with non-stick baking parchment.
- Sieve flour on to sheet of paper or shallow bowl.
- Heat milk/water and butter. When boiling remove from heat and add flour all at once.
- Mix with wooden spoon until panard is smooth and leaves side of pan clean. Do not overbeat.
- Cool panard to blood heat. Beat eggs and then beat them gradually into the panard and beat
- whole mixture vigorously until it is smooth, glossy and stiff enough to stand in peaks. All the egg may not be needed. If too much egg is added the buns will not rise properly and lose shape.
- Use a piping bag to pipe out round buns. Or use a
spoon. - Cook in pre-heated oven 220C for about 30-35 minutes until really crisp at the side – if in doubt cook a little longer.
- Make a hole in the base or side of buns.
- Fill when completely cold with whipped cream or creme patisserie. When baked really crisp, unfilled choux buns will keep for weeks in a tin.
Choux Swans
Round buns cut in half horizontally and the top layer cut in half to form wings. Fill with creme patisserie. Pipe some choux into figure 2 to form head and neck of swan. Bake at same time as buns. Dust with sieved icing sugar. You can also make a larger swan filled with cream and fresh fruit.
Photo by Two Helmets Cooking