Ravneet Gill’s Crullers

Method

Step 1
For the cherry jam, add the frozen cherries and sugar to a small pan and heat until the sugar dissolves. Turn the heat up high and boil until the mixture reaches 105°C/221°F on the thermometer, around 5 minutes.

Step 2
Pour into a shallow container and chill until needed.

Step 3
For the choux pastry, combine the flour, salt and sugar in a bowl.

Step 4
In a small saucepan, heat the water, evaporated milk and butter gently. Once the butter melts, increase the heat to high and bring to the boil.

Step 5
Quickly add the flour, salt and sugar to the pan and beat vigorously until the flour is all incorporated and the dough comes away cleanly from the sides of the pan.

Step 6
Tip the dough into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.

Step 7
Turn the stand mixer on low and beat the dough slowly for a minute or so to allow to cool. Gradually add enough egg to make a smooth glossy dough. You may not need all the egg. The dough should drop very slowly when lifted.

Step 8
Spoon the dough into a piping bag fitted with an open star nozzle. Pipe two small circles of dough onto two of the pre-cut parchment squares. Place carefully in the air fryer and cook for 12 minutes on 180°C/356°F.

Step 9
Once cooked, carefully remove the crullers from the air fryer basket. You may need tongs to do this. Allow to cool a little before slicing in half.

Step 10
Return the bases to the air fryer and cook for a further 2 minutes on 160°C/320°F to dry out. Set aside to cool.

Step 11
Repeat with the remaining dough to make 4 x crullers.

Step 12
For the filling, beat the cream, mascarpone, icing sugar and almond extract together until it forms soft peaks then transfer to a piping bag.

Step 13
Pipe the filling over the base of each cruller, gently spoon the jam over the cream and then sandwich with the cruller lids.

Step 14
Dust with a little icing sugar, then finish with a blob of the filling and a cocktail cherry.