Recipe: Chouquettes

1 make a choux pastry following steps 1 to 4 of chef patrick's recipe
2/follow step 5 of the choux pastry recipe but making large (not too large) balls well spaced apart (they puff up during cooking). When you press on the piping bag to push out the dough, after tightening and twisting the top of the bag (not too full) like wringing out a dishcloth, make sure the piping tip almost touches the baking sheet and lift it a little as the dough comes out (the technique is difficult to explain in writing but it's very easy). When the raw choux are piped onto the sheet, flatten with the tines of a fork the point left by the piping bag but without crushing the dough.
3/sprinkle a little powdered sugar and scatter pearl sugar on the raw choux, without pressing, without pressing.
4/bake in a preheated oven. Be careful with cooking, bake for 1 minute at 220°(th6/7) then leave the door slightly open with a cork and lower your oven to 200°(th6) for another 15 minutes. Personally, I bake them half the time with the oven closed and the second half with the door slightly open (to let the steam escape which would otherwise soften the choux). To prevent the heat loss from opening the oven affecting the choux closest to the door more, make sure the baking sheet is at the back of the oven.
5/let cool before removing the choux and eating them still slightly warm