Cream Puffs

Cream puffs (aka profiteroles) are the perfect crowd-pleasing treat because absolutely everybody loves them. The pastry shells can be baked and frozen up to a month ahead of time, and the filling can be made and refrigerated a day or two ahead. When you’re ready to serve them, just whip up a batch of whipped cream, fold it into the pastry cream, and spoon or pipe it into the empty pastry shells. Finish with a quick sprinkling of confectioner’s sugar and get ready to be the hit of the party.

We'll start by making the pastry which is technically called pate a choux (sounds like pot-ah-shoo).

In a 4-quart nonstick saucepan, heat water, milk, butter, salt, and sugar until it boils.

While you're waiting for the mixture to boil, have the flour and eggs ready to go.

Okay, the milk mixture is just starting to boil - time to add the flour.

Add all the flour at once...

And stir vigorously until all the liquid is absorbed.

When all the liquid is absorbed, continue stirring constantly...

Until a smooth paste forms and pulls away from the sides of the pan.  We're not quite there yet, but almost.

Just a few more moments and we're done.  Remove the pan from the heat and transfer the dough to the bowl of a stand mixer.

Using a flat paddle (one with silicone fins works particularly well), add the eggs, mixing one at a time, until no traces of raw egg remains. If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can stir the eggs in by hand - it’ll take some time, but you can do it.

Transfer the mixture to a large pastry bag fitted with a large star tip (here).  I like to use disposable bags (like these).  Using a star tip helps the pastry dough expand evenly in the oven.

I piped long skinny shapes for eclairs as well as round mounds for cream puffs, but didn’t get photos of the cream puff mounds - oops. You’ll figure it out though.

When the mounds are done baking, allow them to cool slightly, turn each puff upside down, poke a hole in the bottom with a paring knife or skewer, and allow excess steam to escape. Allow them to cool completely before cutting the pastry shells in half and proceeding with the recipe.

Note: if you plan to freeze the puffs for use later, flash freeze the cooled, uncut pastry shells for about an hour, then transfer to an airtight freezer-safe container for up to a month. Thaw overnight, in the refrigerator, inside the airtight container.

To assemble, cut the pastry shell puffs in half with a serrated knife and fill with a mixture made of 50% pastry cream and 50% sweetened whipped cream. You can spoon the mixture in, or you can use a pastry bag fitted with a pasty tip as shown.

Once filled, sprinkle with a dusting of confectioner’s sugar and serve immediately. Enjoy!

Items I used to make this recipe:

(affiliate links)

• All-Clad nonstick 4-quart saucepan https://amzn.to/46pID22

• BeaterBlade https://amzn.to/3Xym1bO

• disposable pastry bags https://amzn.to/3JxwldZ

• large star tip https://amzn.to/3HJk3MI

• silicone half sheet pan liner https://amzn.to/3NRPWZ7

• half sheet pan https://amzn.to/3XtXFj4

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Cream Puffs

makes about 20

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

Pastry Shells:

• 1/2 cup water

• 1/2 cup whole milk

• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter

• 1 teaspoon table salt

• 2 teaspoons granulated sugar

• 1 cup all purpose flour

• 5 large eggs

• confectioner's sugar for dusting

Filling (equal parts of each):

• pastry cream (recipe here)

• whipped cream (recipe here)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450F and place rack in center position.

2. In a 4-quart nonstick saucepan, heat the milk, water, butter, salt, and sugar until it boils.

3. Immediately add the flour and stir vigorously until all the liquid is absorbed by the flour and a paste forms; continue stirring constantly until the paste dries out and forms a ball that cleans the sides of the pan.

4. Transfer the paste to the bowl of a stand mixer or food processor and allow it to cool for a couple of minutes. 

5. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until each is fully incorporated.

6. Transfer paste to a large disposable pastry bag that has been fitted with a large star tip (I used this one).

7. Pipe the paste into 3-inch round by 1-inch tall mounds on a silpat lined sheet pan; dust with confectioner's sugar.

8. Bake in 450F oven for 5 minutes, then reduce heat to 350F and continue baking for 25 to 30 minutes more.  

9. Remove from oven and allow to rest until they're cool enough to handle, then poke a couple of vent holes in the bottom and allow to cool completely.

10. When completely cool, fill with a mixture of 1 part pastry cream and 1 part sweetened whipped cream.

Note

• I like to sprinkle the top of my cream puffs with confectioners’s sugar, but they’re great glazed in chocolate like an eclair (glaze recipe here).

Eclairs

I can honestly say, eclairs rank very high on my list of favorite desserts.  When I was young, I'd buy them from a bakery, but I now I know how to bake them from scratch at home.  Let me walk you through the process.   

We'll start by making the pastry which is technically called pate a choux (sounds like pot-ah-shoo).

In a 4-quart nonstick saucepan, heat water, milk, butter, salt, and sugar until it boils.

While you're waiting for the mixture to boil, have the flour and eggs ready to go.

Okay, the milk mixture is just starting to boil - time to add the flour.

Add all the flour at once...

And stir vigorously until all the liquid is absorbed.

When all the liquid is absorbed, continue stirring constantly...

Until a smooth paste forms and pulls away from the sides of the pan.  We're not quite there yet, but almost.

Just a few more moments and we're done.  Remove the pan from the heat.

Transfer the paste to the bowl of a stand mixer or food processor.

Add the eggs, mixing one at a time, until no traces of raw egg remains. You can use the flat paddle attachment if you don’t have one of these nifty BeaterBlade attachments.

Transfer the mixture to a large pastry bag fitted with a large star tip (like this one).  I like to use disposable bags (like these).  Using a star tip helps the pastry dough expand evenly in the oven.

Pipe the eclairs on a silpat lined half sheet pan.

Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar and bake.

They'll puff up during baking, which creates a hollow space in the center.  

That hollow space is just begging to be filled with creamy vanilla pastry cream (recipe here).

But before we can fill the pastry shells, we need to turn them upside down and poke a few holes in the bottoms.  I used a chopstick to poke the holes.  The holes will allow excess steam to escape as the shells cool, and they'll be where we pipe the pastry cream filling inside.

Place the pastry cream in a large pastry bag fitted with a bismark tip.  Squeeze the filling into room temperature shells - fill them up completely.

Use an offset spatula to scrape away any excess pastry cream.

To make the ganache, heat cream and chocolate together, whisking to combine.  Dip the tops of each eclair into the ganache and allow to set. 

Serve them as is, or place them in paper wrappers.  Just grab a standard cupcake wrapper and flatten it out a bit. Greaseproof liners are my favorite.

Like this.

Then place the eclairs on the wrapper and serve. 

Items used to make this recipe:

(affiliate links)

• All-Clad nonstick 4-quart saucepan https://amzn.to/3JhkjTN

• BeaterBlade https://amzn.to/3Lmdbaw

• disposable pastry bags https://amzn.to/360wbLt

• large star tip https://amzn.to/3LcyQSi

• silpat liner https://amzn.to/3rBj0ZS

• half sheet pan https://amzn.to/34HN38V

• bismark tip https://amzn.to/34oUuCl

• offset spatula https://amzn.to/3rBjpvm

• greaseproof cupcake liners https://amzn.to/3Lh6INX

• really good quality dark chocolate https://amzn.to/3Jb24iG

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Eclairs

makes about 20 eclairs (3 to 4 inches long)

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

Pastry Shells:

• 1/2 cup water

• 1/2 cup whole milk

• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter

• 1 teaspoon table salt

• 2 teaspoons granulated sugar

• 1 cup all purpose flour

• 5 large eggs

• confectioner's sugar for dusting

Filling:

• pastry cream (recipe here)

Ganache Topping:

• 8 ounces dark chocolate (really good quality)

• 8 ounces heavy cream

Directions

TO MAKE THE PASTRY SHELLS:

1. Preheat oven to 450F and place rack in center position.

2. In a 4-quart nonstick saucepan, heat the milk, water, butter, salt, and sugar until it boils.

3. Immediately add the flour and stir vigorously until all the liquid is absorbed by the flour and a paste forms; continue stirring constantly until the paste dries out and forms a ball that cleans the sides of the pan.

4. Transfer the paste to the bowl of a stand mixer or food processor and allow it to cool for a couple of minutes.

5. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until each is fully incorporated.

6. Transfer paste to a large disposable pastry bag that has been fitted with a large star tip (I used Ateco #826).

7. Pipe the paste into 3 or 4-inch lengths on a silpat lined sheet pan; dust with confectioner's sugar.

8. Bake in 450F oven for 5 minutes, then reduce heat to 350F and continue baking for 25 to 30 minutes more.

9. Remove from oven and allow to rest until they're cool enough to handle, then poke a couple of vent holes in the bottom and allow to cool completely.

10. When completely cool, use a pastry bag fitted with a bismarck tip to fill pastry shells with vanilla pastry cream through the vent holes (my recipe can be found here); scrape away any excess pastry cream from the vent holes.

TO MAKE THE GANACHE TOPPING:

1. Place chopped chocolate in a medium bowl.

2. In a small heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat cream over medium heat until it just begins to boil.

3. Pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate and rest for several minutes; whisk to combine fully and use immediately.

TO ASSEMBLE:

1. Dip the top of each pastry cream filled shell in the ganache; turn right side up and place on a flattened out cupcake liner or on a serving platter.

adapted from pastry chef Bruno Albouze