Choux paste (
French pâte à choux say
"pot a shoo") is a paste made out of
water and/or
milk, flour, butter, and eggs. It is a versatile pastry that can be cooked in many ways. If piped with a
pastry bag and baked it can make
profiteroles or
eclairs, piped into hot oil it can make
churros or donuts, shaped into small portions and boiled it can make
gnocchi.
There are many recipes out there but the basic formula is one part of flour, to one part of liquid, to one part of eggs, and half part of butter. The liquids and butter are combined first and brought to a boil then taken off the heat. The flour is added all at once and is mixed until the resulting ball pulls away from the sides of the pan. Eggs are added little by little as fast as they can be absorbed. When all eggs have been mixed in the choux paste is ready for use.
The name means cabbage paste not because there is any cabbage in there but supposedly because profiteroles (unfilled cream puffs) look like tiny cabbages.