Nicola Lamb’s crullers
- Published: 2 May 24
- Updated: 8 Jul 24
You may not have heard of crullers but, trust us, you’re going to love them. More substantial than a choux bun, lighter (and much quicker) than a doughnut, these elegant pastries have grooves that are ideal for holding a flavourful glaze or topping.
Expert pastry chef Nicola Lamb explains the tricks and techniques needed to achieve cruller perfection – see Tips below for more. Recipe taken from her book Sift (Ebury Press £30) and tested by delicious.
“Airy and slightly gooey inside, crullers are the cool sisters of the doughnut family,” says Nicola. “Try tossing in different flavoured sugars or switching the glaze. You can also use different nozzles to mix up the final look of the cruller – the wider the tip, the more dramatic the result. How about piping different shapes and squiggles – alphabet crullers, anyone?”
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Makes 8 -
Hands-on time 1 hour, plus setting
Before you start
You’ll need some specialist kit for this recipe: a probe thermometer, a piping bag with a 1.5-2cm fluted nozzle, and some heatproof tongs.
Nutrition
- Calories
- 124kcals
- Fat
- 9g (4.2g saturated)
- Protein
- 3.1g
- Carbohydrates
- 7.5g (0.8g sugars)
- Fibre
- 0.5g
- Salt
- 0.3g
FAQs
What are crullers?
Crullers are elegant pastries with grooves that hold a flavourful glaze or topping. More substantial than a choux bun, lighter (and quicker) than a doughnut.
delicious. tips
Nicola’s tips
• Using strong white bread flour will give you a more defined choux with a slightly crisper crust. This is good for crullers, éclairs and anything that needs to have a defined shape. For choux buns, plain flour will work well.
• You may need a little more/less egg than the recipe states to get to the consistency required. The paste needs to be smooth, shiny, thick and pipeable – if you lift up a dollop on a spatula and turn it sideways, it should slowly drop off. If it’s too stiff, add a little more egg (10g at a time) until it’s right.
• When you put the choux into the piping bag, do your best to squish and squash it to remove as many air bubbles as possible. Air bubbles and gaps may come back later to bite you when piping, plus these gaps will be imprinted into the choux. And if the choux is piped unevenly, remember this will bake into the final shape, so it’s important to try to be as even as possible. Choux can be re-piped as many times as you like, so feel free to practise.
• When it comes to choux, the freezer is your friend. You can either bake your choux, then freeze the baked shells and refresh at 170°C fan/gas 5 oven for 5 minutes when you want to fill, or you can pipe your choux, freeze, then bake from frozen. Choux paste can also be frozen, then defrosted overnight. It can discolour slightly but that’s fine.
How to pipe like a pro
• I’m afraid piping is a skill that has no shortcuts: it’s something that can only be learned with time. If you’re keen to improve, practising with a readily available and cost-effective ingredient like vegetable shortening is a worthwhile task. Whether you’re piping decorations on a tart or choux paste for éclairs, the most important factor is even pressure and avoiding air bubbles.
• Although I don’t use them all the time, having various piping tips/nozzles is useful. These are a good thing to put on gift lists! I like to have wide star tips for piping biscuits, narrow/many-toothed star tips for éclairs, a St Honoré tip for fancy piping (you can fake this by cutting your piping bag at an angle) – and, of course, a Bismarck tip for filling doughnuts and, in fact, everything.