Choux pastry is the dough that is used to make delicious lionesses and profiteroles. Discover how to make it at home with this original and homemade recipe.
Also known by the popular name of cream puffs, lionesas consist of wonderful small cakes with a rounded shape, made with choux pastry, which tend to be filled with different creams.
It is common to confuse them with profiteroles. In fact, many use both names synonymously, but the reality is that Lyonnais is a derivative of profiteroles. What’s more, certain differences can be found between these two desserts: while the lionesses are usually served stuffed but divided in two, the profiterole is equally filling but keeps its rounded shape.
But they do have some characteristics in common. This is the case, for example, of the dough that is used to make both profiteroles and lionesses: the traditional choux pastry.
Originally they were filled with cream (hence the name of cream snacks), although today it is possible to find a wide variety of recipes in which the lionesses are filled with creams for very different tastes, such as pastry cream or pastry cream. Chocolate Ganache.
This time we want to learn how to make choux pastry, the dough that is precisely used to make profiteroles and lionesses. Do you dare to elaborate it? Take note.
Necessary ingredients (for 50 lionesses or profiteroles):
- 150 g of wheat flour
- 5 eggs
- 150g butter
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 l of water
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Preparation of choux pastry:
- Chop the butter and place it in a saucepan. Add the water and salt, and place the saucepan on the fire. When it starts to boil add the wheat flour at once and stir vigorously until it forms a ball.
- Then remove from heat. Add the eggs (one by one), the yeast, and work with the help of a wooden spatula. If you wish, you can use a hand mixer at medium speed (if it is more comfortable for you).
- Understand the oven and set the temperature to 180ºC. While the oven is heating up, butter the oven plate (you can use parchment paper, and butter the paper directly).
- Fill a sleeve with a curly wide nozzle and form round buttons of about 5-6 centimeters with the dough on the plate, separated from each other to prevent them from sticking.
- Bake the sweets in the oven for 45 minutes.
- After this time, let them cool. Ready! If you wish, you can fill them to taste.
What is choux pastry?
The so-called choux pastry is a tremendously popular type of dough preparation in French pastries, where it is common to use it to make different cakes, which tend to be eaten cold.
It is characterized by being a rather light dough, which, as we have seen throughout this recipe, is made using a series of basic ingredients, such as wheat flour, eggs, butter, water and salt.
In addition, it is also possible to include different ingredients with flavoring qualities in the preparation, such as cinnamon or vanilla essence.
