This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe is from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking with Dorie and is one I was interested in trying out – cinnamon puffs are basically chouquettes with a hint of cinnamon. Chouquettes are empty cream puffs sprinkled in pearl sugar (< affiliate link to the closest product I could find to the one I use which I source in France, Béghin Say brand) – a basic choux pastry recipe – that is a beloved after-school snack in France.
Dorie’s recipe for choux pastry has changed a little over the years – she uses an extra egg white in this recipe and bakes them at a much lower temperature than in the past (and than I do). Choux pastry likes a very hot oven – I start mine at 425˚F and lower it to 400˚F when the puffs go in. Dorie’s recipe calls for baking them at 350˚F and for a longer time (her tiny sized puffs bake for 25 minutes – mine which were much bigger baked the same amount of time at a higher temperature). Then propping the oven door open and letting them “dry” out a little.
I made a couple of changes to this recipe, based on my experience with choux pastry over the years… (sorry Dorie, I know my oven and my ingredients!). Dorie’s cup of flour weighs 136g. Mine weighs 150g so I didn’t use the extra egg white as it would have made the dough too runny. I made 1/4 of the recipe and used a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop (< affiliate link but if you don’t own a cookie scoop or a number of them, you should!) to make roughly 10 chouquette-sized puffs. Dorie’s full recipe calls for making teaspoon-sized puffs and makes 100! Ain’t nobody got time to make 100 teaspoon-sized puffs (well, I didn’t anyway) and even quartering the recipe, I felt I would rather have more substantial puffs. Also: A tablespoon-sized puff IS a mouthful, no?
And yes, I baked these in a hotter oven – 425˚F to pre-heat then 400˚F for 25 minutes (a formula I know well!). Maybe when I have more time I will make smaller puffs and bake them at a lower temp but this worked for me last weekend (and it was the third batch of choux I made in less than 24 hours – I taught an online birthday party to make profiteroles and then had a bakealong with a group of friends who met working our way through Around my French Table from 2010 – 2015 and who have kept in touch ever since!).
(yes, we made gougères – which was our first recipe from Around my French Table and we tried Dorie’s latest iteration from baking with Dorie!)
Anyway, back to our puffs….
Despite the fact that they only have a tiny bit of cinnamon in them, they do bake up smelling like cinnamon and you can taste it in the finished puffs. An interesting take on the chouquette, for sure – kind of like a lighter donut bite?
Get the recipe for One-bite cinnamon puffs on p 220 of Baking with Dorie.
Buy Baking with Dorie and join us baking through the book!
Buy Baking with Dorie on Amazon (this link should bring you to the Amazon store geographically closest to you) or for free worldwide shipping, buy from The Book Depository. Then join us over on Tuesdays with Dorie and bake your way through the book!
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Disclosure: I was provided with a copy of “Baking with Dorie” for review purposes. I was not asked to write about the book, nor am I being compensated for doing so. All opinions 100% my own.
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These were so good, weren’t they
I love all your photos and I wish I could find some of that sugar you have pictured…I’m still on the search. So interesting to see how you adjusted the recipe, I learn so much when people share all of that…you are such a pro. I can’t wait to make these, and I think I love the look of yours and how you made them, so I’m thinking I will go that route with the scoop, too.
I love the golden brown color your puffs have.
So I love the puffs…but what I really LOVE is the zoom baking group!! That is awesome! I was in the wrong cookbook at the time I guess hahaha. I was doing Baking with Julia!
Your little puffs look so cute! I look forward to making these. And thanks for organising the bake along on the weekend- it was fun to hear everyone as well as seeing them and baking along as a group.
I am with you, I just can’t imagine making anything teaspoon sized! They look delicious.
Your puffs look beautiful. I can’t wait to try this recipe. Thanks so much for your hints and tricks. They will come in handy when I bake, because I too will reduce the recipe.
Sounds like you have a lot of experience with choux dough. Your recipe looks like it came out perfect.
Adorbs! I’ll probably follow your lead on size and temp when I make them.