Even though the holiday season is over, we were still feeling fancy and had an abundance of smoked salmon (recent Costco run!) and this recipe was born. The smoked salmon and cream cheese mixture has the perfect amount of seasoning – it’s tangy, slightly spicy, with a zing from the mustard. The celery adds that needed crunch and is just the right balance to the salmon. Combine it with the choux buns and it’s a party in each bite, and you don’t need to tell us twice to party!
Salmon Canapés
Ingredients
Filling
- 5 oz smoked salmon coarsely chopped
- 4 oz full-fat cream cheese
- ½ tsp Dijon mustard
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp crushed red pepper
- ½ tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tbsp heavy whipping cream
- 2 tbsp chives finely chopped
- 2 tbsp celery finely chopped
Choux Buns
- ½ cup water
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 2-3 eggs plus 1 egg for egg wash
Instructions
- Add the salmon, cream cheese, mustard, garlic powder, crushed red pepper, and black pepper to a food processor and pulse about 10 times, scraping down the sides.
- Add the heavy whipping cream to the mixture and pulse a couple more times until the salmon is finely chopped and everything is incorporated, but not like a paste.
- Remove the salmon mixture to a bowl and add the chives and celery and mix well. Fill a piping bag fitted with a large star shaped piping tip with the salmon mixture and set in the fridge while you prepare the pastry.
- Preheat the oven to 425 F and prepare two baking sheets by lining them with parchment paper.
- In a medium saucepan, heat the water, butter, and salt over medium-low heat until the butter is melted. Then increase the heat to medium-high and let the mixture come to a boil.
- When the mixture is at a boil, take the pan off of the stovetop. Add all of the flour to the butter-water mixture at once and stir vigorously until all the flour is incorporated, 30 to 60 seconds.
- Return the pan to the stovetop, reduce the heat to medium, and cook and stir the mixture to let some of the moisture evaporate, about 30 seconds.
- Transfer the mixture to either a stand-mixer bowl or a regular bowl. Using either the paddle attachment of a stand-mixer or a hand-mixer, mix the dough at medium speed. While the mixer is running and working one egg at a time, add two of the eggs. Between each egg, stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Mix until the dough is smooth and glossy and the eggs are completely incorporated. The dough should be thick but should fall from the paddle or beaters slowly and steadily when they are lifted out of the bowl. One quick test is the V-test: when the paddle is lifted from the bowl and most of the dough has fallen off, the remaining dough on the paddle will form a V-shape. If the dough is too thick and still clinging to the paddle, add the remaining egg and mix until it’s incorporated.
- Using a pastry bag, fitted with a large, plain tip. Pipe the dough onto the baking sheets, in 1-inch diameter rounds or balls. Make sure to keep at least an inch of space between each ball since the buns will puff up.
- Whisk the remaining egg with 1 ½ tsp of water and brush the top of each ball with the egg wash to smooth down the points. You may not need to use all of the egg wash.
- Bake the buns for 10 minutes and then reduce the heat to 375 F and bake until the buns are puffed up and golden brown, about 15 minutes more. Minimize how often you open the oven door since you don’t want the buns to deflate while baking.
- Once the buns are golden brown, turn off the oven and open the oven door and let the buns cool to room temperature while in the oven. Cooling the buns in the oven slowly, allows them to dry out from the inside so they don’t become soggy.
- Once the buns are at room temperature, remove them from the oven and slice each bun in half horizontally (to make each bun like a sandwich).
- Pipe about 1-2 tbsp of the salmon mixture into each bun and place the top half of the bun on the salmon. Top the buns with minced chives and serve at room temperature.
