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While working in the outer suburbs of Chicago in the last few years, I often found myself at a Barnes & Noble or Borders bookstore during lunch, not only because I have a fondness for bookshops but mostly because I discovered that living and working in Switzerland had had a big influence on my lunch-time eating habits.
Unlike the Australians and Americans who often grab a quick sandwich or heat up leftovers to eat at their desk, the Swiss tend towards a leisurely a 2-3 course hot lunch, followed by a customary coffee before heading back to their desks once their lunch hour (or two) is up. This is not to say that the Swiss are dwindling away their time during office hours; lunch breaks are mandatory by law and most people often use their hour for business chit-chat or networking, and enjoy a good meal in the process.
It is also commonplace to lunch with your colleagues at the work canteen, so it is a culture which fosters social interaction amongst employees, even if you might only end up talking about work or engaging in polite chatter over your meal. I have to admit that I enjoy the Swiss approach to lunching and one often feels that the lunch break was in fact a break.
But as a visitor to the offices in the US, lunch was often a lonely experience for me. Several colleagues often went out of their way to lunch with me now and then, but I got the feeling early on that most tended to work through their lunch hours, that anything more than 15 minutes was only reserved for the odd occasion, like when a visiting colleague was in town. But as I often worked in the US for about a month at a time, I couldn’t expect a leisurely lunch everyday. Yet it didn’t feel right to sit in front of my computer with a styrofoam cup of soup and a plastic spoon when I was so used to sitting down to a proper meal with proper cutlery (or, as they say in the US, silverware).
So on those days when I found myself alone at lunch, I would hop into the car and drive to one of the many malls nearby for some amusement. I didn’t mind so much hanging out on my own as it was rather an adventure to explore the mid-west while working there. And so I often found myself at a bookshop where I would grab a quick snack at their in-store coffee shop, and flick through books which I would never find back in Zurich, like the complete Paula Deen collection. Or the rather unusual semi-homemade offers by Sandra Lee. I must confess to having a soft spot for American cooking.
One American writer who I love, though not just for his American recipes, is David Lebovitz. As a faithful follower of his blog for some years, I absolutely adore his wit and sense of humour and love reading about his adventures of living and cooking in Paris. So when I saw a copy of his book, The Sweet Life in Paris, I knew that it would be a good book to keep me company, not least on the flight back home.
The Sweet Life in Paris is a humourous account of David Lebovitz’s move to the City of Light, with lots of insightful tips (or are they warnings?) for anyone who might want to visit or perhaps move to Paris, from the appropriate attire to wear when going downstairs to take out your garbage, on how to persuade the employees at the immigration office to renew your visa, to the ever-important etiquette of working your way around a cheese platter.
Many times throughout the book, I had to stop and wonder if Lebovitz was writing about Paris or Zurich. There were many chapters where the similarities made me chuckle out loud and one particular chapter was where he was talking about les bousculeurs, people who bump into you and try to knock you over as they compete for your spot on the footpath. His description of les bousculeurs in Paris is exactly my experience of Paris, but also London, New York and … Zurich.
Despite being a much smaller city than Paris, Zurich can feel surprisingly crowded at times, not from people who rudely brush your shoulders from different directions, but from people who are unaware of the concept of personal space. It is not uncommon to be standing at the tram stop, alone with not another soul in sight for miles, when suddenly another person will appear and decide that they want to stand in exactly the same spot where you are, prompting you to shuffle a few footsteps sideways or simply move elsewhere as they position themselves. Worse is when they decide to stand directly behind you, so intimately close that they may as well give you a bear hug.
There have been many occasions at the supermarket when I have stood in front of the shelves, my arm out-stretched as I run my fingers along the various choices presented before me. Yet a Swiss is likely to interpret that space between my nose and the shelf as more than sufficient for them to step into, oblivious to the fact that I was trying to look at the same product which they are now standing in front of. The first time this happened, I was shocked by such rudeness. The second time, I wondered if I was invisible. By the third time, I had learnt enough Swiss German to politely tell them off.
While Lebovitz offers an explanation for why the Parisians behave like moving atoms, it is a baffling mystery why the Swiss insist on standing so close to strangers when space is not an issue in Zurich (best described as a small village when compared to Paris) and no one here is in a hurry to get anywhere (the public transport system is so efficient that one doesn’t have a good excuse to be late).
I am always impartial to a book which is dotted with recipes throughout, and David’s recipes at the end of each chapter often had me hungry by the start of the next chapter. One recipe which I was especially excited to try were his Chocolate Chip Cream Puffs. The name alone suggested something heavenly to me, but upon reading the list of ingredients and the instructions, I realised that there was no cream … I’m guessing that Americans must call profiteroles cream puffs, even in the absence of a cream filling. In the world of French pâtisserie, a profiterole without a filling is called a chouquette, both being made from the same choux pastry. Despite the brief confusion, I was still won over by the recipe, particularly since I had never tried a chouquette with chocolate chips. I figured that it could only taste good.
Good? These Chocolate Chip Chouquettes were absolutely delicious!!! The idea of making choux pastry might sound daunting to some, but it is fairly quick and easy to make, and you would be almost halfway from making the most delicious dessert, Profiteroles. But these chouquettes are the easy, no-fuss alternative for a quick snack.
I followed Lebovitz’s recipe pretty closely but I am always for making life easier in the kitchen, so I used my KitchenAid to do most of the heavy work in making the choux pastry. I also used a piping bag to make smallish chouquettes which only required 13-15 minutes in the oven. My pearl sugar must also be much smaller than what Lebovitz uses; he describes pearl sugar as being roughly the size of small peas but the pearl sugar which I use (Hagelzucker in German or sucre en grains in French) is much smaller and finer. Pearl sugar is essentially small chunks of sugar which are great for sprinkling over breads, brioches and biscuits as they do not melt in the oven. They are quite popular in Scandinavian cooking so you might find some at your local Ikea store.
Lebovitz also gives the handy advice of waiting for the dough to cool down completely before stirring through the chocolate chips, otherwise they will melt at the slightest hint of heat. I did as instructed, and even though I thought the dough had cooled down sufficiently, I was wrong as some of the chocolate chips started to melt as I was stirring them through. Not a disaster but it does change the colour of the dough a little.
A chocolate-studded chouquette sprinkled with pearl sugar makes for a lovely and addictive afternoon treat. I can’t wait to make these again!
Chocolate Chip Chouquettes
Ingredients
- 250 ml (1 cup) water
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 90 g (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
- 135 g (1 cup) plain flour, (all-purpose flour)
- 4 large eggs
- 85 g (½ cup) dark chocolate chips
- 60 g (½ cup) pearl sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F (without fan).
- Line a baking sheet with baking paper.
- In a small saucepan, heat the water with the salt, sugar and butter until the butter has melted and the water begins to boil.
- Remove the pan from the heat and quickly stir in the flour until the mixture comes together into a smooth ball.
- Tip the mixture into the bowl of an electric stand mixer and beat it a little to release some of the heat.
- Allow the mixture to cool for about 2 minutes. Using the flat paddle attachment, beat in the eggs, one at a time, until the dough is thick, smooth and shiny.
- Alternatively, you can do steps 5 and 6 by hand but it will require a bit of upperbody workout.
- Leave the mixture to cool completely, otherwise the chocolate chips will melt.
- Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Fill a piping bag, fitted with a 1 cm round nozzle, with the dough and pipe small balls of dough onto the baking sheet.
- Generously sprinkle with pearl sugar and bake for 13 to 15 minutes, or until they are puffed and golden.
Kitchen Notes
- OVEN TEMPERATURES
All recipes on this website state temperatures for a regular oven (i.e. a conventional oven without fan). If you have a convection oven with a fan, please consult the manufacturer’s handbook on how to adjust the temperature and baking time accordingly. - CONVERSIONS
To convert from cups to grams, and vice-versa, please see this handy Conversion Chart for Basic Ingredients.
Hi,
I love your blog, the scrumptious photos, and your commentary on living in Switzerland as an expat. Your take on the little cultural nuances (personal space in Switzerland as in today’s blog), is spot-on. I found the same personal space differences to be true in Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. All the time–in supermarkets, elevators, sidewalks, public transport. My rationalization of this phenomena was that I was sensitive to it because I came from a place with wide open spaces.
By the way, we also call silverware, cutlery in America. Maybe it is a regional or dialectal difference.
Looking forward to reading more of your fabulous blog!
Stacey
Hi Stacey,
Thanks for your lovely message!
You’ve made a good point, that personal space is perhaps understood differently in different cultures and if you come from a country with wide, open spaces, the concept of personal space is better understood. Usually when I ask someone to not stand so close to me, or just merely speak up to say, “Hello! You just pushed me aside!”, the Swiss will look at me with an expression that they haven’t done anything wrong. On the one hand, I have to respect the local culture but it’s hard when you feel like people are always touching you or rudely pushing you over.
And it’s good to know that some Americans understand what “cutlery” means 🙂 There were a few occasions when I had to ask the waiter for some cutlery and they never understood what I meant until I used my hands to act out a knife and fork, to which they would reply, “Oh, you mean silverware?” LOL!!
Thanks for popping by 🙂
Ah yes, the lack of concept of personal space and it’s interpretation as rudeness. I can’t bare to be crowded in an otherwise empty area and indeed, I would learn the language just to tell such a person where to go Thanh! To be scouse about it – it “does my ‘ead in”! Brilliant read this post, let alone the looks of the recipe which punctuates it as you go along. It’s hard to say but I think I like your “travel” writing type posts the most!
Oh it’s hard because the Swiss are actually really polite and friendly people, so I don’t think they mean to be rude when they stand so close that we may as well hold hands. But as I certainly look like a foreigner, when I ask for some space, they probably think that I’m the strange one!
Living in Switzerland is actually really pleasant but this would have to be the one rather minor thing which often irritates me. It’s not my favourite moment when I am standing on the tram and someone will stand so close that they will rest their hand on my handbag. In any other country, you would accuse them of being a pickpocket, but not in Switzerland!
These are so pretty! Love this idea!
I grew up in the Chicago suburbs, in Lake County, on the Wisconsin border. Whereabouts were you working? What a small world!
Hi Kristin,
I was working mostly in Schaumburg. There’s not much to the area except for a really large shopping mall and lots and lots of chain restaurants! But I do miss Portillo’s 🙂 And the people in Schaumburg were incredibly nice and hospitable – I quite miss working with them.
I loved the way you put out your recipes in a photo with the recipe typed in. I decided to try it myself ofcourse with the help of a friend. It seems so much neater now. But since I am still on wordpress, my text space /photograph space is too less compared to yours. So the size of my photographs on the blog is lot lesser. Nevertheless I am happy with the way it looks given the wordpress limitations.
I love to read about cultural similarities and differences and always try to remember them when i am travelling. THese days I don’t get to travel too much but I still love to read up. Thanks for giving your readers a dope about how the Swiss behave and react to personal space. This is the softer side of education which comes only from experience. I had a similar experience in Stockholm and found it difficult to tell people off, because as such Swedish people disarmed you with their dazzling smile. They were the most polite and gentle people I have ever come across. So even if they invaded my personal space, I had to grin and bear, cause they were so nice. Americans on the other hand ( had worked in the US for sometime too) value personal space very strictly and then again it gets difficult being an Asian to judge what was appropriate to ask. Americans are not most receptive to personal questions even if you have been colleagues for sometime. These are such delicate cultural issues but most interesting. Thanks for your insight.
Oh yes, I saw your most recent post and love the recipe page! If you have a WordPress-hosted blog, it could be that there are some limitations on the size of your photos. I’m not too sure because I have a self-hosted blog.
You’ve raised some really interesting points – it’s so interesting when you get to work and interact with people from different cultures, isn’t it?
The Swiss, like the Swedish, are really friendly and polite people so I don’t think they are ever intentionally rude. They probably think people like me are weird for insisting on a bit of personal space, LOL!
My experience of working with Americans is that they are very down to earth, much like the Australians. So I always found that by the end of the first meeting, they would know all about my personal history and I would know twice as much about theirs! The same, however, cannot be said about the Swiss. It took perhaps 3 years before I even learnt the names of my colleagues’ spouses and any non-work chit-chat was never about our personal lives. If I ever asked a Swiss colleague how their weekend was, their reply would simply be “It was good.” Ask an Australian or American the same question and you will receive a rather detailed report of what they got up to. It takes time to earn the trust of a Swiss and once they open up to you, they are invaluable friends 🙂
David Lebovitz is fantastic and I follow his blog too. Love the chocolate chip chouquettes. Choux Pastry intimidates me and I have tried making eclairs once and they flopped and since then I haven’t tried them again.
I make choux pastry quite often and I think the key is to make sure that you cook them for long enough so that they become golden, otherwise they will deflate once out of the oven. Also, for profiteroles and éclairs, you should pierce the underside with a cake skewer to let out some of the steam while they are cooling. This also helps to ensure that they don’t go soggy.
Hopefully you will give choux pastry another go soon 🙂
Hi Thanh,
I accidentally (….and thank God for it) stumbled upon your blog last week (when I started a blog of my own) and since then I have visited your blog post everyday. I am loving every bit and corner of it!!! First of all the name ‘Eat little bird’ ….its the CUTEST blog name I have come across till now. The whole blog page is very neatly laid out. The pictures of recipes on your blog are such a compelling visual treat that any body will be motivated to try it out. Liked your book review very much,I too am a big fan of Nigella Lawson and David Lebovitz.
The home page illustrations are just wonderful. The gorgeous female walking in her stilettos looks very stylish and portrays today’s women, She looks adorable on ‘about me’ page too!
Will definitely make Chocolate chip chouquettes very soon. I have tried making Choux Buns with cream once (from the The Art of French Baking by Ginette Mathiot).
Looking forward to seeing more of your recipes and reviews.
Spicy Saffron
Hello,
Thank you so much for your lovely message! It makes me so happy to read that you enjoy visiting my blog and all of the bits and pieces 🙂
I think Megan Hess did a brilliant job with the illustrations on my blog and I’m so glad you like them. You are also one of the few people to comment on the name of my blog – the name has a real personal meaning for me and I’m glad that you find it catchy 🙂
I have been cooking and baking a bit from Ginette Mathiot’s books so look out for some of her recipes here soon! And I wish you all the best with your new blog. I’ve had a quick peek and some of your recipes sound delicious!
How pretty 😀 And hey, I’m in Chicago too!
Your mention of David Lebovitz’s memoir has made me want to go buy it! I read a few pages on the Amazon preview and it looks like a great read.
Hi Angela,
I should have gone into more depth about David Lebovitz’s book but it is truly a great read – I was laughing most of the way through the book, in much the same way as when reading his blog posts. If you have an interest in travel memoirs, you will enjoy this book.
Looks and sounds delicious. How many does the recipe yield?
Hello,
I didn’t specify how many chouquettes this recipe produces because much depends on how big you make them. David Lebovitz’s recipe doesn’t call for a piping bag – he instead suggests dolloping small mounds of dough on the baking sheet which would produce much bigger chouquettes than mine, and which would require more time to bake in the oven. If you are piping chouquettes a size smaller than a golf ball, you should get about 35-40 from this recipe. Sounds like a lot but they disappear quickly!
These look amazing! I’ll have to look out for this book, I really like David’s blog 🙂
Hi Nicola! If you enjoy David’s blog, you will love his book 🙂 I think there are some parts of the book which appeared originally in his blog but it’s all enjoyable reading.
Another gorgeous recipe Thanh! I’ve been intimated by choux pastry so have yet to try it, but you’ve inspired me. And I know what you mean about personal space, I can’t stand it when people invade on that, but I guess in such crowded cities it’s a way of life. Thankfully it’s not something we have to deal with often here, except from rude people.
If I can make choux pastry work, anyone can! 😉
Yes, I sort of miss the wide, open spaces in Australia but you encounter rude people everywhere, unfortunately. The difficulty is when you think they are being rude but it is normal behaviour for them! But such is the life of an expat!
I love chouquettes, and even if I like so much David Lebovitz, the recipe I have for these is from Rachel Khoo. Anyway, I save also your version, to compare with the other. I have to choose one, I want to try them, cos it’s a nice bite 😉
Have you tried Rachel Khoo’s recipe for chouquettes? I was going to try them the other day but once I got out all of the ingredients, I felt like making profiteroles instead for a fancy dessert that evening 🙂 Hopefully I will try her recipe soon so I can compare.
I have tried Rachel’s recipe, and they’re delicious!! I can understand you made profiteroles!! For me, it’s like see pâte à choux and is difficult not to make them! I love them with ice cream (even if I read here that, before travelling to Europe, you eat them with pastry cream, if I don’t remember wrong. Your story was funny 😉
I’ll compare difference between Rachel and David recipes, I want to taste this also, cos yours looks really nice!!
Sorry for my english :S
Oh then I must try Rachel’s recipe if you think they were delicious! 🙂 I found David’s recipe to be very good because you have chocolate chips throughout the pastry which, I think, made them taste and look really good.
P.S. no need to apologise for your English! It’s perfect 🙂
I peep into David Lebovitz’s blog every now and then (was quite helpful when I trying to figure out the various types of flour over here in France) and I just added his book to my wishlist. Loved reading your post and love love the pics. I’ve never had chouquettes studded with choc chips so I’d be glad to try this one out. I love the suggestion of dolloping out tiny mounds because the pastry bag and I don’t really get along that well 😉
Do you have any idea what pearl sugar would be called in French?
Hi Rushi! I’m usually not very good with a piping bag either, but as chouquettes and profiteroles do not require any special piping, I find these manageable, which says a lot 🙂
Pearl sugar is labelled as sucre en grains in French in Switzerland, so I assume it is called something similar in France. Hopefully it is readily available where you live as these chouquettes are really delicious!
Merci beaucoup Thanh. I shall have a look around during the weekend 🙂
These look fantastic!!!
David Lebovitz is my favorite too, I like his approach to food…
thanks for sharing another absolutely delicious and divine looking recipe…
David does certainly have a way with food and words. I always enjoy his blog posts and his recipes are just as great 🙂
Thanh, I love this recipe and I loved reading this post! I too am a David Lebovitz fan yet I don’t own his book…this will be my next purchase methinks!
Thanks, Anna! Strange but I never thought to buy any of David’s books because, well, he posts so regularly on his blog. But The Sweet Life in Paris is a wonderful read and there are many recipes in there which I still want to try. It’s worth adding to your collection 🙂
I love this story. I can relate so well, with my travels and living abroad. In North America, we definitely live in a hustle-bustle environment. I am quite confused however with how people get the motivation to go back to work after a 2 hour lunch. I would most likely need a nap 🙂
It takes a little getting use to 😉 Sometimes the lunch break can interrupt your rhythm at work if you are working intensively on something, but mostly it works well as a refreshing break, provided that you don’t eat too much! A 2 hour lunch is not too common (or you wouldn’t want to admit to it too frequently!), but I think most Swiss take a good 40-60 minutes for their lunch each day.
I have cornered a bit of the evening for catching up on your recent posts Thanh and really, couldn’t be a better start than these golden, puffed beauties! How utterly tempting they look 🙂 Gorgeous, tempting, inviting photos! I could reach out and grab one, or at least that’s what it feels like 🙂
I have thoroughly enjoyed the multiple direction but interweaving topics in this one post Thanh. Wonderfully written 🙂
On my to-do list.
Thanks, Carrie! Lovely to see you around here … I was wondering where you were 😉
Given that you have never tried a profiterole or éclair, I think these chouquettes are a good introduction to choux pastry. Enjoy!
Shameful isn’t it? Am such a chicken to try it as well, I know how flappy I get about anything that even remotely resembles ‘technical’. Particularly with pastry. However, must feel the fear and do it anyways…especially if I get these babies in the end..will let you know how I get on 🙂
Crikey, you have mothing to fear! For someone who is churning out beautiful loaves of bread, most which you had never seen or tasted before, choux pastry would be a walk in the park for you 😉
I agree! Go for it Carrie, and thank you for introducing me to this lovely blog.
These look wonderful! I had not heard of pearl sugar before this post, ignoramus that I am. I am also going to pick up DL’s book! His and Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home To Yours have been on my list for a while.
If you love David Lebovitz’s writing, you will love this book 🙂 Plus, there are many recipes dotted throughout the book which means you will be returning to the book more than once. As for pearl sugar, I didn’t come across it until I moved to Switzerland where it is used on a small selection of breads and cakes. It is more popular in Scandinavian baking. It’s worth tracking down if you can find it.
Hello from a new blog reader! It is really beautiful, and I am enjoying exploring it. I have made choux pastry a few times over the years, and find it much easier than some people seem to think. However, I have always stuck to profiteroles and éclairs and not yet made chouquêttes, although I was tempted when I saw Rachel Khoo make them, as referrred to above. They actually seem a simpler option as they don’t require a filling and I love the idea of adding chocolate chips. I have finally tracked down some pearl sugar in the UK (Not in any supermarket currently but I found it on Bakery Bits online – under £4 for 500g and under £6 for 1KG – cheaper than Amazon which has it for under £2 but then charges about £9 postage to ship from Germany!). I look forward to making, and eating (!), them. Thank you for the recipe. I am now going to browse on your blog a little more!
Hi Amy! Lovely to have you here on my blog 🙂
Chouquettes are indeed a simpler alternative to profiteroles or éclairs as you don’t have to fill and ice them. In fact, chouquettes are so light and moreish that they also happen to be easier to eat! I guess a lot of people are afraid of making choux pastry because it is a bit unfamiliar, plus a bit fiddly if you have to use a piping bag. But I’ve often made chouquettes and gougères by simpling dolloping small mounds of pastry onto a baking tray and they still turn out great.
Thanks for the tip on where to find pearl sugar in the UK – I’m sure other readers will find this helpful 🙂 Have fun making these!
I must make these soon! They look awesome!
These are amazing.
Hello! I’m Emilly, and I’m 17. I first heard of chouquettes when I saw Rachel Khoo from Little Paris Kitchen make them. I live in America, so I wanted to look for a recipe with imperial measurements, whereas Rachel Khoo’s recipe was in metric measurements. I came across your blog and I’m so happy I did! I followed your recipe besides the chocolate chips which I omitted. As an amateur and aspiring baker, I was nervous that the chouquettes would not come out right the first time because I know they can be finicky. Fortunately, they came out fantastic on my first try!
Lacking a Kitchenaid, I mixed everything by hand which wasn’t too bad. A little elbow grease never hurt anybody! I also split the choux pastry in half; one half I sprinkled with pearl sugar and the other I sprinkled with Parmesan to make gougéres. They took about 20 minutes to cook completely, and when I took them out I poked a small hole with a toothpick in the side of each choquette/gougére and popped them back in the oven for a few minutes to make them extra crispy. They rose nicely, had a beautiful golden color to them, and they were so tasty! My family was very impressed. I’m very pleased with the turnout and I wanted to say thank you!
Hi Emily,
Thank you for your wonderful feedback! I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed this recipe and that it was a success, especially for your first attempt! So many people are put off by the idea of making choux pastry but I think it is fairly easy if you get the steps right.
My husband frequently makes gougères and he also does everything by hand. I once tried to make choux pastry by hand and it was a rather hard workout!
Thanks also for sharing your tips – I’m sure other readers will also find them helpful 🙂
I just made these! For one batch, I piped them onto the pan right after I finished the batter, and for the second batch, I chilled the dough before piping. The difference was drastic! The first batch was flat, and had the taste and texture of an underdone chocolate chip pancake. The second batch rose beautifully and was crispy on the outside, with light airiness in the middle. Chilling the dough is a must, in my opinion!
Looks delicious, see any reason I should not add some cream to serve. Mmmm
Sounds wonderful!!
A delicious meal! Easy to cook!! I want to try it is immediately! Thank you for great recipes!