Low Carb & Sugar Free Diplomat Cream Puffs. 2g carbs each.
Sounds ever so posh, doesn’t it? Too good to be true? I totally understand your scepticism. I had to pinch myself after I made them and tasted them. They are impossibly good for words to describe.
Yep. You guessed it. This is my keto recreation of yet another classic of the high-end pastry world.
Let’s say you go to Italy or France. You enter a patisserie (or even a coffee bar if you’re in Italy) and you stare at tray after tray of amazing, fine-patisserie, dainty creations. You then try what appear to be elegant, mini eclairs filled with custard and topped with a bit of chocolate. One morsel. And you’re immediately taken to food heaven. Not what you expected. At all. But a million times better.
Now I’ve got you salivating, the bad news: if you’re after a throw-into-a-bowl-then-mix-and-bake recipe, you may as well move on to another web page. My Low Carb & Sugar Free Diplomat Cream Puffs require zero baking skills, as long as you follow each step with military precision. But it does mean preparing 3 separate elements plus drying and cooling time. So if you want something on-the-fly and dirt-simple, I’m afraid this isn’t it.
How to Make Low Carb & Sugar Free Diplomat Cream Puffs
If you’ve tried other recipes for choux buns, cream puffs or eclairs, you’ve probably been disappointed. I bet you ended up with stodgy, dense ‘cakes’ that are nowhere close to pâte à choux. Some recipes even require ‘scooping’ out the raw dough in the middle before adding fillings. Jeeez!
Mine, on the other hand, are just like choux pastry, but obviously without wheat poison flour. Thin, light, crispy outside, soft inside, with a stretchy and hollow centre. Exactly as they should be. Follow each step in the recipe precisely, and I guarantee that you’ll be amazed.
What Is Diplomat Cream?
Crème Diplomate (as it is called in France) is a vanilla-y and custard-y cream that you use to fill a cooked pastry shell. Light and delicate, it is created by combining its two more famous siblings: Creme Pâtissière and Chantilly Cream. So, put simply, it is a custard mixed with sweetened + flavoured whipped cream. Totally gorgeous.
Chocolate Topping
The ganache I use as topping for the puffs is the easiest element. No precision required here. You can even change ingredients to suit your preference. Or you can simply drizzle some melted dark chocolate over the puffs. Whatever floats your boat. I love my 100% cocoa chocolate, but it’s way too bitter for me to enjoy on its own, so I do things to it to make it more palatable. You don’t have to, unless you want to.
Do You Really Need Metric Weighing Scales?
Yes!!!! You absolutely, 100%, most definitely do. I put a note in every recipe about accuracy and metric measures, yet I keep being asked how to convert to volume measures. I cannot say this enough: cups and spoons are NEVER accurate. Conversions may work when large quantities are being used and accuracy doesn’t matter. But when you involve small amounts of whatever it is, you simply CANNOT expect a workable metric to volume swap.
Just Google “what is 15 grams in spoons/cups“. Even the web juggernaut who has an answer for everything finds it impossible. It will give you suggestions and charts that are approximate. Why? Because a gram is always a gram, but a spoon or cup of something depends on what that something is, how coarse or chunky it is, how well you packed it into your spoon or cup, and whether you filled it exactly to the level or slightly heaped.
I’m sure you can sense my frustration…
Ready to begin? Steady your scales. Ready. Bake!
Enjoy!
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- Yield: 6
- Serving: 1
- Calories: 191
- Fat: 19g
- Net Carbs: 2g
- Protein: 3g
- 50ml water
- 1 large egg (50g weighed without shell - lightly beaten)
- 20g unsalted butter
- ⅛ tsp pure stevia powder (U.S. option HERE)
- ⅛ tsp xanthan gum (U.S. option HERE)
- 10g lupin flour (U.S. option HERE) (world-wide delivery option HERE - use code QUEENKETO5 at checkout for discount)
- 10g arrowroot flour (U.S. option HERE)
- 150g double cream
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 tsp vanilla paste (U.S. option HERE) (or seeds of 1 vanilla pod - U.S. option HERE) (you can Make your Own vanilla paste easily)
- ¼ tsp pure stevia powder (U.S. option HERE)
- 1 TBSP erythritol (U.S. option HERE)
- ½ tsp unflavoured gelatine powder
- 1 TBSP Sukrin Icing 'sugar' (U.S. alternative HERE) (or Make Your Own)
- a few drops of vanilla extract (U.S. option HERE)
- 1 TBSP Diplomat cream
- 10g (1 square) unsweetened 100% dark chocolate (U.S. option HERE)
- 1 tsp Sukrin Icing 'sugar' (U.S. alternative HERE)
- 1 tsp (5g) liquid coconut oil (you may need a little more, or none at all, depending on the chocolate you choose) (U.S. option HERE)
- sift and mix dry ingredients.
- bring water and butter to a rolling boil, remove from heat, immediately tip in dry ingredients, and whisk to combine.
- return to the heat and keep stirring with a spatula until the mixture comes away from the sides of the pan and forms a ball (about 1 min).
- transfer it to a Pyrex or similar mixing bowl, and allow it cool, while you pre-heat the oven to 190°C static.
- when the mixture is barely warm, add egg a little at a time whilst beating vigorously with a manual balloon whisk until you see trails and the stiff paste very reluctantly drops from a height.
- spoon or pipe 6 equal mounds onto a lined baking rack lined with non-stick parchment paper (don't use a silicone mat).
- bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 170°C static and bake for a further 20 minutes.
- turn oven off, make an air slit in each puff and leave them in the oven to dry further, door fully open.
- when completely cool, split the puffs in half horizontally and fill.
- using a medium Pyrex or similar mixing bowl, whisk egg yolk with stevia powder and erythritol until pale and fluffy, then stir in gelatine powder.
- heat up 100g of the cream with vanilla paste or seeds in a small, heavy base saucepan, until just below simmering point (when tiny bubbles start to form around the edge).
- slowly pour the hot cream over the egg yolk mix, whisking vigorously.
- transfer the mixture back into the saucepan, place it over medium heat and whisk until it thickens, at which point, remove it immediately from heat - it is imperative that you don't let the mixture reach simmering point, or the egg will separate and you'll have a curdled mess in your hands, instead of a lovely smooth custard.
- transfer the thickened custard (Crème Pâtissière) back to the mixing bowl and leave it to cool down, then place it in the coldest part of your fridge to set.
- refrigerate another mixing bowl, and use it to whip 50g of cream with icing sugar and vanilla extract until soft peaks forms.
- now combine the whipped cream (Chantilly) with the set Crème Pâtissière and your Crème Diplomate is ready.
- reserve 1 TBSP of the Diplomat cream and spoon the rest over 6 puff halves.
- place the remaining halves on top.
- chop the chocolate square and mix it with the reserved Diplomat cream, icing 'sugar' and coconut oil.
- warm up the mixture over a bain-marie or in the microwave, until liquid enough to be piped or drizzled.
- use the chocolate to decorate your puffs as you wish, then refrigerate them for 1-2 hours before serving.
Keep refrigerated for up to 3 days.
It's important that you measure accurately with Metric Kitchen Scales. For (U.S. option HERE).
I value your feedback! Please leave a comment below. And if you can, please share a photo of your masterpiece on social media with the hashtag #queenketo. Thank you! ♥
Tried this and finally had a hollow center in my keto choux pastry, as compared to using other recipes!! I could finally pipe in a decent amount of filling and not taste dough with it haha. However I did only have to add a much lesser amount of egg, about 35-40g. I made this recipe about 3 times now and every time I try to push my luck to add more eggs to be closer to the 55g stated in your recipe, the batter spreads on my baking tray after piping them and they become flat (although still hollow in the center). Should I just add the eggs based on looking at the consistency of the batter rather than try to follow the amount in your recipe? It’s just a little odd and worrisome that I only have to add so little eggs. Wondering if perhaps the brand of ingredients play a part, and I am living in Asia with hot and humid climate so I suppose that affects as well?
Hi Felix, yes you should be guided by the consistency rather than the egg weight, and you’re right, natural ingredients can vary in terms of absorbency, oil content, etc. and climate can play a part too. Glad you love them as much as I do! You might want to try my Eclairs… x
Absolutely amazing. Light, airy profiteroles. Absolutely delicious for a “lockdown can’t go anywhere anyway” treat.
Thank you for the comment, Mirth! Super happy that you enjoy them as much as I do.
Could you substitute the butter for coconut oil, and the double cream for whipped coconut cream?
Hi Fiona,
thank you for getting in touch.
Choux pastry won’t be choux pastry without butter. I’ve never tried to whip coconut cream, so I have no idea what consistency it would be and if it would work. That said, I guess you could try both swaps and see if it turns out OK, in which case, please report back, as other readers might find your test useful.
I wish you had given more specific instructions about the choux pastry…i am having trouble getting it the right consistency.
Hi Barbara, I’ve updated the instructions. Thank you for your feedback.
Hello,
Is there any substitute for the arrowroot starch and lupin powder?
Let me know,
Judy
No, they only work with those ingredients. I’ve tried other recipes for eclaire-type pastry that used different flours, but none of them worked for me, in the sense that they were not light and puffy enough. Sorry for the late reply – I’m actually on safari in South Africa with only sporadic access to internet.