Every child in France loves chouquettes, those golden little puffs topped with sugar grains. They´re sold at every bakery, the perfect little treat between lunchtime and dinner, or when forces are about to swoon on the playground. I adore them, too, especially when sliced and filled with whipped cream, then reminding of their larger German cousin, the `wind bag` (Windbeutel). Though you can reheat them, chouquettes are the better the fresher they are, which is why I started baking them at home for goûter, the afternoon snack, or instead of pancakes for a late weekend breakfast. But no matter what cream filling I came up with – and I really tried – my kids prefer request the plain ones, always, with a particular affinity to those with the most sugar grains on them.( Sometimes I even have the slightest suspicion their love for chouquettes is basically all about the sugar grains.)
So you see, there are the chouquette purists on one side, and then there´s me who likes them flavored with anything from coffee to pistachio, on the other (my husband is in both teams here). To make us all happy, I either make regular chouquettes, some with cream, some without; or I make chouquettes with marzipan in the batter – think gougères, the cheese enriched puffs from Burgundy, but sweet. Given my soft spot for marzipan, I don´t use it nearly enough, and finely grated, it adds almond-y sweetness and depth in flavor without making the batter too heavy to puff up in the oven. Which is the main purpose in the life of a chouquette anyway: to puff up, look golden, and disappear in no time, preferably while warm and straight from the cooling rack.
Classic or with my little German touch, in that all puffs are one and the same.
Marzipan chouquettes (makes about 24 ping pong ball sized puffs):
120 ml milk
120 ml water
40 g butter
125 g sifted AP flour
3 eggs + 1 for the egg wash
150 g grated marzipan
10 ml orange blossom water
1 pinch salt
zest from 1 organic orange
slivered almonds to sprinkle on top
Grate the marzipan, sift the flour.
In a medium saucepan, bring milk with water, orange flower water, orange zest and salted butter to boil. Reduce heat to low, add sifted flour in one go, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon to avoid lumps. Stir to dry the batter until it roughly forms a ball, and no longer sticks to the bottom and sides of the saucepan. This will take about 3 minutes.
Remove saucepan from the heat. Break in the eggs one at a time, stirring until fully incorporated, then add the next. Finally, stir in the grated marzipan.
Fill the batter into a piping bag fitted with a large nozzle. In a circular movement, pipe little domes onto a parchment paper lined baking tray, keeping in mind they will puff up in the oven. Brush with egg wash, sprinkle with slivered almonds.
Bake for 25-30 minutes in a preheated oven at 180°C/350°F. Leave to cool on a wire rack. Generously dust with confectioner´s sugar to serve.
Classic chouquettes (makes about 30):
165 ml milk
165 ml water
1 tsp of orange blossom water, optional
100 g butter
2 tbsp sugar
1 pinch salt
175 g flour, sifted
4 eggs
1 egg wash
handful of sugar grains
For instructions, see recipe above. Baking time is 35 min at 180°C/350°F
mamangerie.com 
I, too, am a devotee of the chouquette and I don’t have the excuse of small children when snaffling a couple with my baguette in the morning. The baker’s wife is indulgent when I look sheepish and tells me that they are essential for everyone’s well-being. But your home-made ones … oh my oh my – I need to try and make every variety you have described – I positively swooning here! And Wind Bags! I love this name. Though of course in England a Wind Bag is actually a person who can’t stop talking …. after this lengthy comment I could aptly be called one 😉
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I had no idea about the connotation of the word wind bag in English – in German, the equivalent would be Plaudertasche (“chatting bag” if translated literally) 😉
Always a pleasure to hear from you !
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I won’t rest until I get the opportunity to drop Plaudertasche casually into the conversation!
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:-))) Then I´d love to see the face of your colloquists!
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I love chouquettes too, as do my daughters. It’s amazing how fast we can go through a bag of them from the boulangerie And Wind Bags! That’s amazing, just the name makes me want to eat them!
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A batch of chouquettes is heaven!! We have them all the time, too…. 😉
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I love chouquettes. My bakery makes the lightest, fluffiest ones imaginable so this is one thing I never make but I might have to try your marzipan version.
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You´re right, Nadia, if I had found perfect ones at the bakery I wouldn´t have started baking them myself. But a warm chouquette is quite an unbeatable delight, so I make them 2, 3 times a week!
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They look really nice and well cooked! And I like marzipan 🙂
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MArzipan is a little underrepresented in French baking, so I thought why not add it to a French classic like chouquettes!
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I’ve never heard of these! The marzipan and orange water sound magnificent together. And those roses are beautiful!!
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The rose petals were an idea of my little son! I had left the room for a moment, came back and saw his pretty arrangement. Chouquettes “sprinkled” with rose petals – I just had to take a photo 😉
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Oh my goodness! That’s such a sweet story!
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honestly: when I saw it, I almost cried . You have kids, so you know I´m not exaggerating.
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Of course not!
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I love chouquettes too, but have never tried the marzipan ones – will definitely have a go😊
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Wonderful! Let me know how the recipe worked for you!
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Fabulous. That marzipan version sounds a bit like a mini-croissant aux amandes, which in my opinion is one of the best things on the planet. I adore the classic chouquettes as well, so I guess I’d be on both sides too!
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Thank you so much, Darya! How I love croissant aux amends, too. The marzipanchouquettes are not as buttery (but perhaps I should add more butter next time:-)) ,but compared to regular chouquettes a little richer in taste and texture. Plus they smell so good!
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Your flavors sound delicious together! Thanks so much for sharing. I’m working on eclairs this weekend so I might as well try these while I’m at it!
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Hello and thank you for leaving such a lovely note! Hope you´re having great fun with your éclair project, I adore them! Would be so glad if you had a little left over batter to try the marzipan chouquettes! Have a wonderful sunday filled with the scent (and taste) of éclairs! Sabine
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Meine Mutter hat Windbeutel gebacken und sie dann mit Sahne gefüllt. Auch ich mag Marzipan sehr gerne und werde dieses Rezept mal ausprobieren.
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Das freut mich sehr , Gerlinde! Windbeutel mit Sahne , das war etwas, was auf keiner “anständigen” Kaffeetafel fehlen durfte, stimmt´s?
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Oh my. Marzipan! And I love the “wind bags” name.
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Compared to the lovely “chouquette” though, I find wind bag not very flattering 😉
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Yum. Sounds delicious. The photos are delicious!
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thank you so much! Sometimes I have the impression that the more I love the food myself, the prettier it will look on a photo: some kind of delicious superstition perhaps.
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Ha. Or the opposite of me, the more I love the food, the worse the pictures look because I am so impatient for it to “get in my belly!”
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