Paris is for me a totem. An emblem of all that's good, and elegant, and desirable. I believe that someday I'll live there, I'll rent an apartment the size of a shoe box in a fashionable neighbourhood that's full of cafes and gorgeous people. I'll have a neighbourhood patisserie that is famous for its brown butter chouquettes (pronounced shoo-kett), bites of pate choux studded with nuggets of bright, white pearl sugar that people buy by the dozen. Till then, it will just have to be Paris in my Nigerian kitchen.
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<br />I first tried chouquettes in-situ, in Paris 4 years ago, buying them in a bag and loving them. The leftovers stayed at the bottom of my bag, and ended up squashed - to tell you how light and airy these choux buns are.
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<br />This recipe is inspired by Clotilde's of Chocolate & Zucchini plain sugar version, and since her's were baked in Paris, my dream.....there is no better beginning. I've used milk instead of water alone, and infused it with notes of orange tea and caramel from brown butter, and brown sugar.
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<br />I got my pearl sugar (French, sucre perlé) at G. Detou in Paris. Pearl sugar, sometimes called nib sugar is made of large, lentil-sized sugar bits which stay crunchy when baked. Clotilde suggests crushing sugar cubes as a substitute; or using Demerera or Turbinado, chopped caramelized nuts, or chocolate chips.

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