2025! The Year of Choux!

my goal for this year is to work on my cream puffs, eclairs, and all things choux pastry

hello and happy new year!! like everyone else, i’m thinking of my new year resolutions. one thing i’ve done for the past few years is choose one resolution to be food focused. it’s my way of motivating myself to build on my skillset. i also love how it becomes a mini deep dive throughout the year.

2023 was the Year of the (roasted) Chicken and simultaneously the Year of Pie - what a year! i really committed and became much more confident with both dishes by the end. my grand finale was hosting thanksgiving where i made 2 roasted chickens and 2 different pies!

chai caramel pie from t-day 2023

2024 was the Year of the Donut, which i kind of bailed on after a few batches of donuts. oopsie! donuts were fun, but the amount of oil needed for frying + the time commitment with rising the dough + rolling and cutting was all a bit more involved than i had the energy for this year. also, leftovers didn’t hold up very well so sometimes there was a bit of waste involved, which i always try to avoid.

donuts from march 2024

this brings me to 2025… the Year of Choux! it’s pronounced ‘shoo’ for anyone curious. you may be unfamiliar with the term, but choux is a type of pastry dough used for many different treats! i’m really excited to make this my goal to conquer this year because there are so many options of pastries to make with choux dough.

i could go savory with gougeres, which is choux dough with cheese shredded into it, then baked, creating cheese puffs. more commonly known is the well-loved cream puff! the bready base of a cream puff is choux dough. the same dough is also used to make eclairs! choux dough is pretty magical when you think about it. some other items that are made with the same dough are: gateau st honore, religieuse, paris-brest, karpatka, and crullers!!! talk about options!

gougeres from thanksgiving 2023 - an appetizer best served hot from the oven

my plan is to start simple with the classic choux bun aka cream puff aka profiterole, and work my way up from there. i’ve made choux a few times in the past, but i want to start at the beginning. i’m looking forward to finding my favorite recipe, and sharing any tips and tricks i learn along the way on here. if you’re thinking choux pastry doesn’t hold up well for leftovers, you’d be right BUT i know that i can freeze unbaked cream puffs/eclairs so that’s a huge plus.

i made myself a little vision board for my Year of Choux, featuring all the different pastries that can be made. my goal is to finish out the year with a grand finale of a croquembouche - the tall tower of cream puffs held together with caramel! a feat of engineering and baking. will it end in disaster with myself covered in caramel burns? maybe! but it’s something i’ve dreamed of making so i’m taking the challenge head-on this year.

i’ll be sharing my experiences, recipes and more along the way of this little choux journey. of course, all of my content won’t be focused on this, but it’s nice to have a goal to work towards throughout the year. consider this a heads up to my friends and family, there will be lots of these pastries at events in 2025 lol. unless i bail like i did donuts then we can all collectively forget about this newsletter together!

if you have a resolution for 2025, food focused or not, i’d love to hear about it! please send any choux recipe favorites or tips & tricks my way as well. talk to you all next week! may your 2025 be much better than 2024 <3