On my quest to create a keto donut, I stumbled upon a variety of keto choux recipes. Now, I don’t know about you, but some of my favorite bakeries in Greece all make a variety of cream filled choux, dipped in anything from a hard candy shell to dusted with powdered sugar.
What is a choux you ask? It is a French pastry dough that is made on your stove top. You simmer water together with butter, and stir in your flour. You continue to stir until you form a ball of dough. It is later baked at a very high heat so that it will pull away from your parchment paper and puff up very quickly. Then you lower the heat to fully bake the inside. The result is light and airy, and it can be filled with anything from whipped cream to ice cream. It is the dough used for eclairs too! I even think it would also be wonderful to try this as a savory treat, and use it for finger sandwiches.
Some with ground hazelnuts.
So how in the world do you make this keto? In my search I found that most keto chefs agree on a mixture of super fine almond flour and coconut flour for the best results. However nut flours lack gluten. I know that in my other baking, when I want to create some elasticity I might need a combination of a little psyllium husk and xanthan gum. These will create that gluten effect you need in this pastry. And because the sweetness really comes from the filling, you need very little sweetener for the actual pastry dough.
As I did not have any ingredients on hand that would create a cream to fill these with, I simply dipped them in sugar free chocolate. I was actually looking for a donut recipe to begin with!
Ingredients:
2/3 cups super fine almond flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
1 tbsp ground psyllium husk
1 tsp xanthan gum
1 cups water
1/4 cup butter
1 pinch of pure powered monk fruit (I use Julian Bakery) (or 2 tsp of your favorite sweetener)
1/4 tsp of salt
3 eggs (room temperature is best)
1tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
lemon or orange zest for added fragrance
A little freshly grated nutmeg
Directions:
Preheat your over to 425 F.
In a small bowl, mix the almond flour, coconut flour, xanthan gum and psyllium husk well. Set aside. In a medium pot, bring the water, butter, salt and sweetener to a boil. Lower the heat and begin to stir in the dry ingredients, adding a little at a time. Continue to stir until the dough pulls away from the sides and forms a ball. Remove it from the pot and place it in a mixing bowl. Let it cool for about 15 minutes. You are going to beat in the eggs and do not want them to scramble!
If you forgot to bring your eggs to room temperature and they are ice cold, don’t fret! You can easily warm them up by placing them into a bowl of warm water. It will bring down the temperature enough for you to be able to use them in this recipe.
Now using your stand or a hand mixer, beat in the eggs one at a time. Add in your baking powder, vanilla extract and the orange or lemon zest. Beat on high for 4 more minutes. Then let it is rest. Resting your dough is important so that it doesn’t deflate on you.
Fill a piping bag (or a ziplock bag works too) with your dough. Cut the bottom corner and start piping out the dough onto a parchment lined pan. Now you can form circles for cream puffs or making elongated shapes for eclairs. And you can make these as large or small as you want. I wanted them to be the size of donut holes, so I pipped them out to be around 2 inches long.
Bake them at 425 F for 15-20 minutes, depending on the size. Do not open the door to check on them. You don’t want to create a draft as it will also deflate your choux. Then lower the temperature to 350 F and bake for another 15-20 minutes. If you need to check on them, wait at least 20 minutes from your starting time, as they are sensitive! If your choux have browned quickly, then tent them with a little aluminum or parchment for the remainder of the cooking time.
Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool on the pan.
If you intend on serving them cream filled, definitely wait till they are at room temperature so that you don’t melt the cream. You can cut them in half and fill them with ice cream, a silky bavarian cream or whipped cream. Perhaps a ganache would be lovely! Dust them with powdered sugar (if not low carb/keto) or with your favorite powdered sugar free sweetener.
I just melted my favorite sugar free chocolate chips and dipped them. Then I placed them in the refrigerator to set.
Perfect with coffee!
Kali Oreksi!
on xenia street 
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