Pate a choux has been a workhorse of the French culinary canon since the 1500s, serving as the foundation for a number of airy pastries, including gougeres, profiteroles, eclairs, and beignets. But my favorite use for the eggy dough is as the base of a somewhat lesser-known puffed delicacy: gnocchi a la Parisienne.
It’s a real game changer for gnocchi lovers. Mixing a light dough for Italian potato gnocchi and individually shaping each dumpling requires practice—an artist’s touch, even—for airy results, but replacing the dough with pate a choux promises tender, ethereal puffs, even if you’re a newbie.
That’s because instead of crafting each of the gnocchi by hand from potato-rich dough, you just pipe pate a choux—which is naturally light—directly into simmering water while cutting off short lengths with a knife. The gnocchi are guaranteed
