French pancakes made from choux pastry

Pour milk into a saucepan or pot and dissolve butter in it.

Bring the liquid to a boil, add a pinch of salt and vanillin, as well as sugar.

While the milk with butter is boiling, sift the high-quality wheat flour using a sieve or a special sieve cup, you can also use a colander with cheesecloth.

Take a bowl of sifted flour in your left hand and a wooden spatula in your right. Quickly pour ALL the flour into the boiling milk with butter and vigorously mix the future dough. At first, the dough will be uneven, stiff and lumpy. Do not stop stirring, and you will see that it will become smooth, glossy, soft, and will also easily come off the bottom of the saucepan. All actions with the dough should be done over low heat.

When the dough slides along the bottom of the saucepan and looks as shown in the photo, turn off the heat. Remove the saucepan from the heat and let the dough cool slightly. Assess the temperature of the brewed flour. Dip a finger in the dough, and if it is hot, but tolerable (you don't want to immediately take your finger out of the dough), you can add eggs.

The most important thing now is not to overdo it with the number of eggs when kneading the choux pastry. According to the recipe, you need to take 3-4 eggs. However, since their sizes are not the same for everyone, some may use three eggs while others use all four. Now, beat one egg into the dough and mix it with a spatula. Then add the second and third eggs in turn.

Now check the consistency of the dough. If a thick, wide ribbon forms on the wooden spatula, the eggs are enough. If the dough is lumpy, doesn't slide off the spatula, and holds onto it firmly, you can add the last fourth egg.

Heat about four tablespoons of butter in a frying pan. Place the choux pastry on the pan. Use no more than one tablespoon of dough per fritter. Set the heat to the lowest setting. Fry the fritters slowly, do not rush to increase the heat. Let the dough rise well during frying, and when one side is golden brown, flip it to the other side and fry it on low heat as well.

You can fry the French fritters without a lid, then they will have a crispy crust. If you cover the items with a lid, they will rise even more and resemble pastries.

Serve the French fritters made from choux pastry with whatever your heart desires: jam, preserves, sour cream, berry sauce, condensed milk. As an option, you can add orange zest to the dough. But I personally prefer them just plain vanilla-like pastries. This recipe for tender, airy, and unbelievably delicious fritters can easily become your favorite.