INGREDIENTS

• ½ cup water
• ½ stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• A pinch of fine sea salt
• ½ cup flour
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons pearl sugar, or more to taste
• Assorted jams and preserves

PROCEDURE

Preheat the oven to 400°F.  In a medium saucepot, bring the water, butter, sugar, and salt to a boil in a covered pot over medium heat.  Take the pot off the heat, and dump in the flour.  Stir with a wooden spoon until completely incorporated.  Return the pot to medium-low heat and stir for 60 seconds, until the dough comes away from the sides of the pot and forms a ball.

Turn the dough out into a bowl, and add 1 egg at a time, stirring with a wooden spoon until the egg is completely incorporated.  The dough will be thick and sticky.  Use a tablespoon measure to place balls of dough on a parchment- or Silpat-lined baking sheet, spacing out the chouquettes.  Dip your finger in a bowl of water, and pat down any spikes in the dough that might burn.  Sprinkle with pearl sugar.

Bake 10 minutes at 400°F, then reduce the heat to 350°F for 30 additional minutes.  Take the chouquettes out of the oven, pierce the bottom of each pastry with a skewer, and cool on a wire rack.  The hole in the bottom allows the steam to escape without making the chouquette soggy.  Serve in a cloth-lined basket.

NOTE

If you can't find pearl sugar, do what I did here: put 12 sugar cubes in a freezer baggie and use a rolling pin to lightly smash them up.  Solution!