First make the craquelin mixture. Place the butter, sugar and vanilla into the bowl of a stand mixer and using the paddle attachment, mix until well combined. Add in the sifted flour and mix until the mixture comes together. The mixture will have a crumbly texture. Use your hands to bring the mixture together into a ball.

Place the dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper and roll the dough as thin as possible, about 1mm and place in the freezer. The craquelin needs to be hard before you can cut rounds.

When the dough is set hard, remove from the freezer and cut 2.5" discs. These are the craqeilin tops.

Place the discs back into the freezer until baking. Note: These discs can be made in advance.

Preheat the oven to 182F (360C).

Using a 2” cutter, draw circle templates on a large piece of parchment paper.  Reverse the parchment paper and place on a baking tray.

To make the choux pastry, Place the water in a large pot and bring to a warm temperature. Whisk in the milk powder. Add the sugar and salt and mix.  Add the butter and then turn the heat to high and bring the mixture to a boil.

At boil, turn the heat off and stir in the flour with a plastic spatula to form a paste.

Return the pot to medium heat and cook the mixture for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. A film will appear on the bottom of the pot as the mixture cooks. Do not rush this step, it is important the mixture is cooked for two minutes.

After two minutes, transfer the mixture to a stand mixer bowl with the paddle attachment and begin to mix on 2nd speed, allowing the mixture to begin to cool down.

Add the eggs in 3 additions, scraping down the sides of the bowl in between. Continue to mix until the pastry is smooth and forms a “beard”, the dough hangs in a beard shape from the base of the paddle when held up.

Transfer the mixture to a piping bag with a 1/2" round tip and pipe domes onto the templates.

Place a frozen disc of craquelin on top of each choux.

Bake choux for 30 minutes until golden brown and the shell is hard to touch. Turn the oven off but leave the choux in the oven to continue to dry out for 1 hour.  If there is any moisture retained inside the choux, they will collapse as they cool.

After 1 hour, remove the choux from the oven, then cool completely on a wire rack before filling.

Close to serving time, whisk the cream to firm peaks. Add in sifted icing sugar and vanilla and whisk.

Fill a piping bag with the cream. Using a small piping tip, poke a hole in the bottom of each choux bun. Fill the buns with the cream until they are full and heavy.

Just before serving, dust the choux buns with icing sugar.

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