Crab and Cheese Puffs

17/11/2023

Crab and cheese puffs are a sophisticated and flavorful appetizer. Preparing this dish requires a choux pastry as a base for the puffs followed by a delicious filling of crab and cheese. Let’s see how to prepare them.

Ingredients

For the choux pastry:

125 ml of water
50 g of butter
A pinch of salt
75 g of flour
2 large eggs

For the filling:

200 g of crab meat, shredded
100 g of soft cheese (such as Philadelphia or ricotta)
2 tablespoons of chopped scallion
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
1 tablespoon of chopped fresh dill
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Prepare the choux pastry: bring the water, butter, and a pinch of salt to a boil in a pot. Remove the mixture from the heat and pour in all the flour, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon. Return the pot to the heat and cook the dough, stirring, until it comes away from the sides of the pot.
Remove the pot from the heat and let the dough cool slightly. Add the eggs, one at a time, incorporating each completely before adding the next.
Preheat the oven to 200 °C. Using a pastry bag, form small puffs on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake them for about 20-25 minutes, or until they are golden. Allow the puffs to cool before cutting off the top part.
While the puffs are baking, prepare the filling by mixing together the crab meat, cheese, chopped scallion, lemon juice, and dill. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Once the puffs are cool, remove the little lids and fill them with the crab and cheese filling.

Curiosity

Puffs, originally created as French patisserie sweets, have now become famous all over the world and are perfectly suited to savory variations like the one we propose. Crab and cheese wonderfully combine, creating a tantalizing appetizer that will win over your guests.

If you want to give an Italian twist to this dish, you might try replacing the crab meat with good quality canned tuna and add some ricotta to the mix for an alternative but still very tasty filling.