Your favourite treats without the guilt! Raspberry and chocolate choux buns

By Gee Charman For Weekend

Published: 17:31 EST, 7 August 2015 | Updated: 17:31 EST, 7 August 2015

Using ingenious alternatives to sugar and fat, Gee Charman serves up healthy versions of classic puds

If you like profiteroles, these buns are for you. Instead of being filled with whipped cream, they are packed with fresh raspberries and a low-fat chocolate pastry cream. 

If you want to make the buns in advance, do not fill them but store the hollow buns in an airtight container – they’ll keep for a few days.

Makes 24 (65 calories each)

• 40g (1½oz) butter
• 1tsp caster sugar
• 60g (2¼oz) plain flour
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1tsp icing sugar, sifted, for dusting

For the chocolate and raspberry filling

• 350ml (12fl oz) skimmed milk
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 2tbsp caster sugar
• 1tbsp cocoa powder, sifted
• 40g (1½oz) cornflour
• 250g (9oz) raspberries

Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan 180°C/gas 6 and line 2 baking trays with baking paper. To make the choux pastry, put the butter and caster sugar in a saucepan with 150ml (5fl oz) water and bring to the boil over a medium heat. 

Tip in the flour and beat with a wooden spoon for 1 minute until the mixture is smooth and comes away from the sides of the pan to form a ball. Take the pan off the heat and gradually beat in enough of the egg until the mixture is soft enough to drop off the spoon in lumps. 

Put 24 teaspoonfuls of the mixture on the prepared baking trays, leaving a 4cm (1½in) gap around each one. Run your hands under the tap, then flick them over the buns to dampen them. 

Bake for 10 minutes, then turn the oven up to 220°C/fan 200°C/gas 7 and bake for a further 15 minutes until golden brown. Use a skewer to make a small hole in the bottom of each bun, then turn them upside down (bottoms up) on a wire rack to cool, allowing steam to escape and prevent them from going soggy.

Meanwhile, make the filling. Put the milkand vanilla extract in a saucepan over a medium heat until lukewarm. In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs, sugar, cocoa powder and cornflour, then gradually whisk in the warm milk. 

Pour the mixture into a clean saucepan and put over a gentle heat. Stir continuously until it starts to thicken, whisking to get rid of any lumps. Once it starts to bubble, cook for 30 seconds then remove from the heat and spoon into a bowl.

Cover the surface with clingfilm to stop it forming a ‘skin’ and leave to cool. When the choux pastry and pastry cream are both cold, put the pastry cream into a piping bag fitted with a 1.5cm (¾in) plain nozzle. 

Use a serrated knife to cut open the buns, as though you were opening a bread roll. Pipe the pastry cream onto the bottom half of each bun, top with a few raspberries, then replace the tops and dust with icing sugar to serve.

Extracted from Guilt-Free Baking by Gee Charman © Gee Charman 2015, published by Nourish Books, £16.99. Offer price £12.74 (25% discount) until 22 August. Pre-order at mailbookshop.co.uk, p&p is free on orders over £12. Photography by Matt Russell.