Apple Pie Choux au craquelin

Creaming butter and sugar together then add the flour.  If the mixture is too soft place it into the freezer for few minutes for the butter to harden a bit.

When the craquelin dough harden a bit, roll it out between two perforated « air » baking mat into 2 mm thick then place the rolled out sheet into the freezer with perforated « air » baking mat on it for minimum an hour. If at any point, during rolling the dough, it gets too sticky, place it into the freezer for a minute or two then continue rolling until reaches 2mm of thickness.

Continue with the choux pastry by sifting flour then measure and set aside

Place butter, water, milk, salt and sugar into a saucepan over medium heat

As soon as the mixture starts to boil remove from heat, add the flour in one go and whisk vigorously with a Rubber spatula until it forms one smooth ball and flour bits are not visible

Place the saucepan back to the stove and cook the dough for about 3 min over medium heat mixing constantly. It is ready when a sort of skin forms on the bottom up the saucepan

Transfer the dough into a bowl and let it cool down slightly before mixing the egg in. Only add a small amount of egg at a time, consistently whisking after each addition. You should reach a consistency which is not too runny, not too firm but just fine to pipe. Pls see tips above

Pipe 20 equal sized buns on the baking mat leaving enough space in between them, as they will puff, then place the tray into the freezer for 10 min at least

Pre-heat oven to 200 C / 392 F

Take the craquelin sheet out from the freezer and with the help of a cookie cutter cut out 20 circles, slightly larger in diameter than the choux buns you just piped

Take the choux buns out of the freezer and place one craquelin disk on each of them. The craquelin disk should be frozen and very firm at this point, which makes the process of cutting as well as placing them on top of the choux bun easy

Pop the tray with the choux buns back to the freezer for 15 min

Lower oven temperature to 170 C / 338 F and bake the choux for 40 min. Do not open the oven door in the first 30 min. If you are baking it the first time it is a good idea to take one choux bun out of the oven at 40 min and check its consistency. If it is golden in colour, nicely puffed up, does not deflate on room temperature and the middle of the ball is not raw (it is ok if it’s a bit wet, it will dry while cooling down) then it is considered to be done

Cool either on the perforated air mat or if baked on parchment papaer, then cool them on cooling rack

Peel and cut apples into small pieces, then measure

In a saucepan mix apple with sugar, lemon juice and your chosen spice, then cook for about 5 minutes. Let is come to room temp before using it

Whip mascarpone, very cold heavy cream and icing sugar with an Electric hand mixer. until smooth and fluffy, about one or two minutes. Once it has reached the right consistency, do not over beat as it can become runny

Cut the top of each choux bun

Fill choux buns with the Apple Pie filling

Prepare the whipped mascarpone frosting as per instructions and pipe on top of each choux bun, I am using Wilton 1m piping nozzle.

Decorate the choux buns with some further Apple pie filling in the middle of the frosting

They can be stored in the fridge for a day however choux buns are best served straight after filling