This is one of our most popular dessert recipes and for good reason! This easy cream puff uses simple ingredients and only takes 20 minutes to make! The flaky puff pastry crust and real whipped cream filling make this cream puff a perfect party dessert!
I’ll show you how quick and easy they are to make.
Ingredients
Before starting this recipe, you’ll need the following ingredients:
1boxof Puff Pastry Sheets. I like to use the Pepperidge Farms brand. One box comes with 2 ready-to-bake sheets.
Real Whipped Cream Filling Ingredients:
To make the whipped cream filling, you’ll need:
1-pintof heavy whipping cream, 1teaspoonof vanilla extract, and 1/4cup ofconfectioners’ (powdered) sugar.
Equipment and Supplies Needed
We used the following equipment and supplies to make this recipe.
Cookie Cutter (I used snowflake shapes, but you can use whatever shape you want.)
Baking Sheet
Conventional Oven
Electric hand or stand mixer
Recipe Tips
This recipe is easy to make if you know the right tips and tricks! Here are my tips for ensuring your cream puffs come out perfectly.
Puff Pastry Tips
Make sure the puff pastry dough is chilled before working with it. Working with warm dough is sticky and messy. Plus, your shapes won’t cut out neatly.
When cutting out the puff pastry dough, be sure to place the sheet of dough on a floured surface. The flour will prevent the dough from sticking to the surface.
Whipped Cream Tips
Use a cold bowl to make the whipped cream.
Whenever you’re working with whipped cream, it should be kept cold. Therefore, when you’re not eating it or working with it, keep it refrigerated or chilled. If you let it get warm, it will start to melt.
Basic whipped cream is made using confectioners’ sugar, vanilla extract, and one pint of heavy whipping cream.
Mix all ingredients 2-3 minutes on high speed until soft, pillowy peaks form and hold their shape.
This cream puff recipe takes just 20 minutes to make and is ideal for wowing your guests with bakery-fresh bites.
Baking the Puff Pastry
The puff pastry shells are baked in the oven at 350°F.
Carefully cut out snowflakes and place them on a large baking sheet that’s lined with parchment paper. You don’t need to worry about spacing them apart too much, because they rise up, rather than sideways.
Once all snowflakes are cut out, re-roll the dough out and cut out more if needed.
Bake 10-12 minutes. Keep a close eye on them to make sure they don’t burn.
Allow to cool for 1-2 minutes, then carefully slice them in half with a bread knife.
If you want them to look fancy, use a piping bag to fill them with whipped cream. Otherwise, you can use a spoon to fill them.
Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar for a final touch!
Storage
If you want to store your cream puffs for later just follow these easy steps:
Place them in a storage tray with an airtight lid. If you don’t have one, use a baking sheet.
Always preheat your oven for a minimum of 15-20 minutes before baking, because Puff Pastry depends on even heat to rise and puff. Place pastries 1 inch apart. If you want a flaky thin and crispy pastry that's not very puffy, prick the unbaked Puff Pastry all over with a fork, which lets steam escape while baking.
There are multiple reasons why cream puffs may deflate. The first cause is undercooking. When preparing dough on the stovetop, be sure to keep cooking and stirring until a film forms on the bottom of the saucepan. Another cause of flat cream puffs is lowering the temperature during baking.
How to keep crisp and not soggy. I find that filled cream puffs will stay crisp when stored in the refrigerator uncovered for about 3 days. The refrigerator is cool but dry, so the shells don't get soggy.
Milk is too runny and will burn but you can add a little to your egg wash to make it a little thinner for coating. Melted butter also burns quite quickly. Egg wash is the most reliable because it coats the pastry evenly and doesn't run off.
In baking, many recipes call for an egg wash to be brushed on the baked goods before it goes into the oven. The purpose of this is to give the final product a golden brown color that is slightly shiny. Egg washes can make the final product look more professional, a bit crispier, or act as a binder."
If the puffs collapse it means there was too much moisture in them. So either you did not dry the dough enough, or they were not cooked enough. To avoid this I recommend drying the dough really well (see below) and cracking the door of the oven open when the choux are baked.
The Flour: Choux can be made with a range of wheat flour types. Some cooks prefer low-protein cake or pastry flour for the delicate choux puffs they can create, while others swear by high-protein bread flour for the sturdier choux it produces.
Choux pastries (i.e. cream puffs, eclairs, etc.) won't rise if the oven temperature is too low. For the pastries to rise properly, the temperature needs to be really high at first so that the steam builds up inside of the dough and causes them to rise and hollow out.
Potential reasons for each fault include insufficient cooling, eggs added too quickly, not beating the mixture enough, incorrect baking temperature or time, insufficient baking, and allowing the liquid to cool too much before adding flour.
Or cut a 3/4-inch slit in the tip of a disposable pastry bag or the bottom corner of a large ziplock bag. If piping isn't for you, you can spoon out the dough or use a cookie scoop — my favorite tool! If you use a 1/2-cup scoop, you'll get 10 to 12 puffs.
Cream puffs bigger than one's palm are not unusual these days. Profiteroles, though also round, tend to be slightly smaller (and daintier) as well as more uniform in size. They're designed to hold just the right amount of ice cream or other filling without becoming unwieldy.
It's important that the center of the dough be as dry as possible here, having an undercooked center is what causes the dough to deflate. A little bit of moisture is ok. For the final phase, turn the oven off and let them cool with the door ajar for 10-15 minutes.
If too much egg is added or if it is added too quickly, the Choux's ability to rise when baked will be affected. Similarly, if not enough egg is incorporated, it won't puff, causing it to be dense inside.
Do unfilled cream puffs need to be refrigerated? No - they should be kept in an airtight container. Once filled, (with cream) they need to be kept in the the refrigerator until you are ready to serve them. If kept, filled, in the fridge, they will go soft.
The secret is steam and hundreds of paper-thin layers of dough. Puff pastry starts out as a lean dough of just water and flour. This dough gets rolled, stretched, and folded with a healthy amount of butter again and again until all of those layers are formed.
Puff pastry does need some gluten development but, because of the amount of rolling out that will happen during lamination, it is very easy to overwork a dough which makes it incredibly hard to use and can cause a lot of shrinkage.
Egg wash is often used to make toppings on pastries stick. It's also used as a glaze to help the pastry achieve the perfect golden brown color and shine. Butter will not help toppings stick to pastry since it isn't a binder like an egg is, but butter can work in place of an egg wash for some foods.
Do I need to blind bake pastry cases when cooking with wet fillings? As a general rule, you do need to blind bake when cooking a dish with wet fillings. For example, if you're making a quiche or frangipane, blind baking the crust first will help ensure the pastry case stays buttery and retains its crunch.
Introduction: My name is Lakeisha Bayer VM, I am a brainy, kind, enchanting, healthy, lovely, clean, witty person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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