Cream Puffs

Pâte à choux has to be the most versatile dough in baking. It’s the base for profiteroles (aka cream puffs), eclairs, gougères and french crullers (my fave!). It also requires a lot of technique and know how. The ratio of eggs, water, butter and flour is the most important part of baking pâte à choux. It is two parts eggs and water to one part butter and flour by weight. I weighed out all the ingredients and measured them to get the US standard measurement for those who don’t have a kitchen scale. Just follow my tips and you’ll be on your way to cream puff heaven!

Through trial and error I’ve come up with a fail proof recipe for pâte à choux. One trick is to mist the baking sheet with water before baking. The steam aids in making the pâte à choux golden brown and aids in helping them puff up. There are no leavening ingredients in pâte à choux . The rising agent in pâte à choux is actually steam. As the pastry bakes the steam generated from the water puffs up and hollows out the pastry. Also do not open the oven door while they are baking! The temperature drops and the pressure built up by the steam can be lost, leaving you with either soggy or dense pastry that you can’t fill.

I decided to make cream puff with my pâte à choux since they’re easier to make and you don’t have to deal with trying to pipe straight lines like you would for eclairs or Paris-brest. You can fill cream puffs with whipped cream or pastry cream, your choice. I decided to opt for the lighter, fluffier whipped cream and topped it with cherries and blueberries. They turned out amazing and they were a hit at the  mommy meet-up I bought these to for a potluck.

Cream Puffs

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• Total Time: 50 minutes
• Yield: 1 dozen cream puffs 1x

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Ingredients

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Pâte à choux

• ½ cup water
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• ½ cup all purpose flour
• 3 eggs, divided

Whipped Cream

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 3 tbsp powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
• summer fruit/berries

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Instructions

Pâte à choux

1. Pre-heat oven to 425 F.
2. In a small heavy bottom saucepan on medium heat, add water, butter and sugar.
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4. Once the mixture is boiling, add flour and stir with a spatula. Stir until a there is a thin coating of dough on the saucepan.
5. 
6. Spoon dough into a large bowl. Stir for 1 minute to cool. Add two eggs, one at a time, mixing in between each addition. It might look like it’s curdled, but keep mixing, it’ll eventually come together!
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8. Spoon dough into a piping bag and pipe 3 inch circles on a parchment- lined baking sheet. Brush each choux pastry with egg wash. If you had any points you can use the brush to sooth out the choux. Using a spray bottle, mist the baking sheet with water once or twice. You can also dip you hand in water and flick droplets onto the baking sheet if you don’t have a spray bottle.
9. Bake at 425 F for 12 minutes, then turn the heat down to 375 F and bake an additional 25 minutes or until the choux pastry is golden brown. Do not open the oven door while they bake, you want the heat to dry out the center of the eclairs. Once baked, poke a hole on the underside of each choux pastry and let cool.
10. 

Whipped Cream

1. Fit and mixer with a whisk. Add all the ingredients in the mixing bowl and whisk on high until stiff peaks. Fill a piping bag with the whipped cream and set aside until ready to assemble.

Assemble

1. Cut the top off each choux pastry and fill the bottom halves with whipped cream and berries/fruit. Place the other half on top and dust with additional powdered sugar. Enjoy!
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• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 40 minutes

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