This month’s gluten-free ratio rally is hosted by Erin Swing of The Sensitive Epicure. I was super excited when I heard the assignment was a light and fluffy pastry called pâte à choux!

This type of dough is most commonly used in the making of cream puffs, éclairs, and even beignets and is simply made using butter, liquid, flour, and eggs. This type of recipe is perfect for the ratio rally because of the simplicity in ingredients. Rulman (the god of ratios) uses the following flour:liquid:egg:fat ratio for pâte à choux: 1:2:2:1.

Now as far as preparation goes, I’m going to give you a little secret about making gluten-free cream puffs. There is NO secret. You make them exactly the same way a gluten-filled one is made. That’s right! NO TRICKS PEOPLE!

Last year at a food blogger picnic, I was fortunate enough to meet some wonderful bloggers, among them Shauna and Danny  (and Lu!) of gluten-free girl and the chef.

The bakery had just opened and we were experimenting with making gluten-free cream puffs. I brought them to the picnic and asked Shauna what they needed.

“Nothing. Stop experimenting;  you are done.”

I was a bit taken aback by her response at first. I do have a tendency to overanalyze and overtweak recipes in pursuit of perfection. But I think her answer was exactly what I needed. Since then, we have left our recipe mostly intact and instead experimented with different fillings, most of which are some form of pastry cream (the last one we did was an almond and hemp milk pastry cream, but still a pastry cream).

I wanted to step away from that comfort zone and experiment a bit for this post. I love smooth red bean paste, also known as koshi-an and have wanted to make it from scratch for a while now. I thought the cream puffs might just be the perfect vessel to deliver the velvety koshi-an filling.

Cream Puff (Pâte à Choux) Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 cup non-fat milk (you can use water if you prefer, but stay away from the higher fat milks)
• 1 stick of butter
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 cup (114 g) gluten-free flour mix of your choosing
• 4 large eggs

Directions

Bring the milk, butter, sugar, and salt to a simmer over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium, add the flour, and salt and stir rapidly. Stir until the dough comes together and turns glossy, about 2 minutes. The dough temperature should be about 140 degrees F. Transfer the dough to the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or to a bowl if you’re using a hand mixer. Add the eggs one at a time, beating rapidly until each is fully incorporated in the dough. The dough will go from shiny to flat, slippery to furry, when the eggs are fully in. Refrigerate the dough for up to a day if you do not intend to use it immediately.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Fill the pastry bag or a ziplock bag with the end snipped off with the dough. Pipe the dough onto the baking sheet in 1-1.5 in circles. Using a wet finger tip smooth down the tips.

Place puffs in the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Do NOT open the oven door while puffs are cooking. Doing so may cause them to fall. Reduce the temperature to 300 degrees F, and continue baking for another 8 to 10 minutes.

Transfer puffs to a cooling rack and use a toothpick to pierce bottoms. This allows steam to release as the cream puffs cool. Once they are cool, use a pastry bag fitted with a piping tip to fill the cream puffs. Give the cream puff a little poke in a crease, and then squeeze in the filling. If you do not have a pastry bag/tip, you can use a sharp serrated knife to cut the cream puffs in half, and just spoon the filling in.

Koshi-An (Smooth Red Bean Paste)

Ingredients

• 5 cups water
• 1 cup azuki beans, soaked overnight in water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• pinch of salt

Directions

Rinse beans. Bring water to a boil and add beans. Reduce temperature, and simmer beans for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until beans are soft. Strain beans, and use a ricer or a mesh sieve to  separate the skins from the beans. Discard skins. Use a cheesecloth to squeeze out excess water from the mashed beans. Transfer the beans, sugar, and salt to a pan and heat on medium low. Stir until sugar and salt are dissolved. Store in an airtight jar for up to a week.

Can’t get enough gluten-free pâte à choux recipes? Check out what the other ratio rally-ers made!

• Amanda of Gluten Free Maui | Earl Grey Cream Puffs
• Amie of The Healthy Apple | Pate Choux with Creamy Macadamia Icing
• Caleigh of Gluten Free[k] | Savoury Paris-Brest
• Caneel of Mama Me Gluten Free | Key Lime Cream Puffs
• Claire of Gluten Freedom | Chocolate Eclairs
• Gretchen of kumquat | Cheddar Gougères with Dates and Pine Nuts | A Danish Puff
• Erin Swing of The Sensitive Epicure | Gougeres with Herbed Goat Cheese Filling
• Irvin of Eat the Love | White Cheddar Gougeres with Goat Cheese Filling
• Jenn of Jenn Cuisine | Gruyère & Herbed Gougères
• Lisa of Gluten Free Canteen | Cracked Pepper & Cheese Gougères
• Mary Fran of Frannycakes | Marillenknodel with ginger and cardamom sugar & chai cream puffs
• Meaghan of The Wicked Good Vegan | Cardamom and Rose Water Cream Puffs (with Rad Whip!)
• Meg of Gluten-Free Boulangerie | Chouquettes
• Pete & Kelli of No Gluten, No Problem | Almond Choux Florentines
• Rachel of The Crispy Cook | Cream Puffs Filled with Coffee Cream
• Robyn of Chocswirl | Gruyere & Parmesan Gougeres with Sage & Thyme 
• Sea of Book of Yum | Rose Vanilla Cream Puffs and Vanilla Eclairs
• Silvana of Silvana’s Kitchen | Gluten-Free Spinach Gnocchi Parm
• T.R.of No One Likes Crumbley Cookies | Beignets
• Tara of A Baking Life | Parmesan & Black Pepper Gougères and Frangipane Puffs

Related posts:

1. the conclusion of our two night ahi tuna feast: green tea vanilla bean soufflés
2. cocoa cabernet popovers with almond syrup
3. lemon vanilla popovers with minnesota raspberries
4. nina’s hot milk cake
5. amaretto soaked cherry and almond scones