Keto Italian Bignè (Choux Puffs) like no other!
Beautifully light and airy. Just like the ‘real’ ones you see in Italian patisseries. But with only 8.8g carbs in the entire batch.
When you deliver these delicious Bignè to your guests, they’ll be amazed to taste a Keto-friendly treat that looks and taste so incredibly good.
With Choux pastry, practice makes perfect. Make them now, then save the recipe for Christmas or those special occasions when you really want to impress with your culinary skills.
How to Make Keto Italian Bignè (Choux Puffs)
Keto choux pastry dough isn’t complicated at all, but can be tricky.
Not enough egg = dough will be too dense = insufficient rise and wet in the centre.
Too much egg = the batter will spread out flat = either won’t rise, or will rise and then deflate due to excess moisture.
Classic choux is way more fail-proof, because wheat is very forgiving, and because the gluten does all the work. There’s no gluten in my keto version, so it’s important to have precise amounts of ingredients. And since we’re talking tiny quantities, metric scales are absolutely essential.
The process is exactly the same that you would follow for classic choux. Heat water and butter, tip in the mixed dry ingredients, cook for a minute or so, cool, add egg, pipe onto parchment paper, and bake.
It really is that simple. But precision is key.
I have to confess that even my keto choux don’t always turn out perfect. I am so OCD that I weigh ingredients twice, as scales can be off by a gram or two if not resting on a totally flat surface. Yet same ingredients, same process, same oven temperature and duration will create perfect choux only 80% of the time. That’s 1 fail in every 5!!! And trust me when I tell you that I’ve baked these choux hundreds of times.
It’s one of those life mysteries that will never be solved. But don’t be put off by this confession. When it works, it’s a patisserie dream come true. When it fails… try again. Even professional chefs have a hard time with choux, so stay positive and have another go.
Here is a useful instructional post for perfect choux.
♦ Check out my 6 delicious pastry cream options ♦
Enjoy!
You can save this recipe or any recipe you ♥ to your Yummly collection. Scroll past the recipe box and you’ll see the button ↓
Keto Italian Bignè (Choux Puffs)
Ingredients
- 50 g water
- 20 g butter - unsalted
- 1 tsp erythritol (U.S. option HERE)
- 10 g arrowroot flour (U.S. option HERE)
- 10 g lupin flour (U.S. option HERE)
- ⅛ tsp xanthan gum (U.S. option HERE)
- 50 g egg - from 1 large egg weighing 65g with shell on
Instructions
- heat water, butter, and erythritol over medium-high heat.50 g water, 20 g butter, 1 tsp erythritol
- weigh and mix remaining dry ingredients.10 g arrowroot flour, 10 g lupin flour, ⅛ tsp xanthan gum
- when water begins to boil, remove it from heat source, tip in dry ingredients all at once and immediately combine with a flexible spatula.
- place the pot back over low heat and cook for 1 minute, until the paste becomes a doughy mass that comes away from the pan, and a film is visible on the bottom of the pan.
- transfer the dough to a glass mixing bowl, spread it out with the spatula and leave it to cool for a few minutes.
- set aside an oven rack with a sheet of non-stick parchment paper over it - it might be useful to draw 6cm lines x6 to help you pipe each choux equally.
- prepare a sac à poche in a glass (see photo in blog post ⬆️).
- pre-heat oven to 190 °C static.
- crack the egg in a small bowl over your scales and check the weight.50 g egg
- beat it lightly and (if it weighed more than 50g) discard the excess.
- using your flexible spatula, incorporate the beaten egg a little at a time, whipping with a very low-speed stick whisk (or vigorously with a manual one) until the batter is smooth and the blades leave sticky trails.
- fill the sac à poche, snip the end so as to have a large (3cm) opening and pipe 6 equal cylinders (about 5cm in length) - the batter will ooze out of the sac à poche opening, so move quickly from one to the next, leaving space in between to allow for a bit of spread.
- bake for 10 mins, then reduce oven temperature to 170 °C static and continue to bake for another 20 minutes.
- at the end of baking time, slide the baking rack out and quickly make a slit on the side of each choux, using a skewer or cake tester.
- slide the rack back in and leave to dry further with the residual heat, door fully open.
- once cool, slice horizontally and fill with whipped cream, Chantilly cream, mascarpone cream, crème pâtissière, diplomat cream, or any other type of cream you like; top with melted chocolate, a chocolate sauce, icing 'sugar', or cocoa powder. (see Notes below)
Notes
Nutrition
QueenKETO is a participant in Amazon’s affiliate advertising program. Clicking on a product or ad will re-direct you to the Amazon site. For your purchases, I may receive a small fee, which helps buffer the cost of maintaining and improving this site, at no extra cost to you.
I need more practice but feel encouraged from your detailed instructions. Thank you!
Well done for trying! Choux pastry is a challenge even for elite chefs.
Hi, I was wondering if arrowroot could possibly be substituted for tapioca flour?
My apologies if it’s a dumb question. Thank you for the recipe, I am excited to make it!
Hi Snitta, tapioca substitution for arrowroot should work – same quantity.
I haven’t tested this, but only because I tend to work with arrowroot. It would be great to know how the puffs tun out using tapioca instead. Please come back here and let us know!
Thanks….a question: when you click on the link (US), it takes you to arrowroot powder, not flour…..is this correct?
Hi, yes, it’s the same thing.