Cream puffs are small pastries made using choux pastry (pâte à choux). This pastry has neutral flavour and when baked, it puffs up in the oven creating pastries with an empty middle, which is suitable for different fillings. Usually cream puffs are made with sweet cream filling, but they can also be made with a savoury filling. This pastry is quite versatile and it can be a time saver when preparing for a party to only bake a batch of cream puffs and fill them with different fillings for a variety. Additionally cream puffs can be baked in advance and filled shortly before it’s time to eat them.
Ingredients
- 250 g (8.82 oz) water
- 120 g (4.2 oz) unsalted butter
- 240 g (2 cups) all-purpose flour
- 5 eggs
- a pinch of salt
Directions
- Set the oven to heat to 200° C or 430° F.
- Insert parchment paper or a silicone baking mat in a baking tray and dust with a bit of flour.
- Put the water to heat on the stove on medium low heat and add to it salt and butter.
- When the butter has melted, slowly add the flour while continuously stirring with a wooden spoon till everything is well integrated and shapes a dough ball, which does not stick to the pot. Remove the pot from the stove and let the dough cool a little.
- When the dough is still warm, but fine to touch, add eggs one by one, mixing in the batter well. After adding eggs, the batter should be smooth, but not runny. When you lift a spoon, the dough should form something like a triangle when slowly falling from the spoon.
- Put the batter in a piping bag and shape the puffs on the baking tray. You can also use a teaspoon to put the batter on the baking tray.
- Bake the puffs till they have grown and are slightly brown. Make sure to not open the oven door the first 15 minutes of baking, otherwise the puffs might collapse or not grow. The puffs usually take about 30 to 40 minutes to bake.
- Let the puffs cool before filling and enjoy!
Filling options
- For a sweet filling you can whip and mix together:
- 100 g (3.5 oz) whipping cream
- 2.5 tbsp sugar
- 50 g (1.8 oz) cottage cheese or ricotta
- 1 tsp orange zest
- For a savoury filling make cheese salad, using:
- 1 hard boiled egg (grated)
- 1 boiled carrot (grated)
- 100 g (0.4 cups) shredded cheese
- 2 garlic cloves (chopped)
- a few tbsp of mayonnaise and greek yoghurt
- salt and black pepper (to taste)
Notes
- Fill the puffs only shortly before eating as otherwise they will soak up the moisture from the filling and become soft.
- For best results, measure ingredients with a scale. All recipes are made with weighed ingredients using grams. Cup measurements are provided for your convenience.