Cream Puffs

Tricks for making pâte à choux and baking it into éclairs or cream puffs

• The quantity of eggs you use can vary for this type of recipe, but you'll need between 4 and 5 eggs. I usually use four and a half large eggs, so not 4 eggs and not 5 eggs, but something in the middle. Use too little egg, and they won't rise properly, and too much egg, they will rise and fall. For this batch, I unfortunately had a mix of large and extra-large eggs, and my choux ended up a tad on the eggy side if you ask me.
• Do not, I repeat DO NOT, open the oven door as these bake until they have fully puffed and are starting to brown or you risk them collapsing into eggy pancakes.
• You can make them by hand, which is a serious arm workout, or you can test using the stand mixer to save. I highly recommend using the mixer to beat the dough and incorporate the eggs.
• Practice makes perfect and the more you make this recipe, the better you'll get at it!

What to make with pâte à choux

• gougères, which is the French baking term for pâte à choux mixed with cheese. So if you'd like savoury puffs, omit the whipped cream and add cheese to the pâte à choux before piping and baking it.
• éclairs, which are piped into longer shapes and filled with vanilla pastry cream and dipped in chocolate for the classic éclair, or filled with a coffee flavoured pastry cream and dipped in a coffee glaze for an "éclair au café".
• profitéroles, which are puffs of pâte à choux filled with a scoop of ice cream instead of the whipped cream, and then they are served with chocolate sauce. For profitéroles, you can use store-bought ice cream or homemade, like vanilla bean ice cream or even cardamom ice cream.
• croquembouche, which are pastry cream-filled puffs of pâte à choux dipped in caramel and stacked to create a tower of them.

Frequently asked questions

• Why didn't my cream puffs rise?
• How far in advance can you fill them?
• How long do the unfilled cream puffs last?

Cream Puffs

Ingredients

• 125 mL water
• 125 mL whole milk (3.25% fat)
• 115 grams unsalted butter
• 3.75 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 10 grams granulated sugar
• 167 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 4–5 large egg(s)

• 500 mL whipping cream (35% fat)
• 50 grams icing sugar, plus more for sprinkling on the finished cream puffs
• 5 mL pure vanilla extract
• 15 mL raspberry jam (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment.
2. In a saucepan, heat together the water, milk, butter, salt and sugar. Bring the mixture to a rolling boil.
3. Remove the pan from the heat and dump in all the flour. Quickly mix it in with a wooden spoon, then place the saucepan back on the heat to dry the dough. The dough will form a uniform, slightly shiny mass when it's cooked enough.
4. Transfer the dough to the bowl of the stand mixer and beat with the paddle attachment till it's cool.
5. Add 3 eggs at once, and beat them in until they have completely disappeared.
6. Add the 4th egg and beat it in. If the pâte à choux doesn't have a pipeable consistency (soft but firm) and doesn't form a "bec d'oiseau" (a curved beak shape on the end of a spoon), then add another half egg.
7. Scoop the pâte à choux with a ¾ oz scoop onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing an inch apart. Brush with the remaining half egg, and then bake for a good 15 min at 400°F until the choux have puffed and are starting to brown, quickly open the door just a crack to release steam, then shut it and lower the temperature to 375°F for another 10 minutes to finish the baking.
8. Transfer to a rack to cool.

1. Whip the cream to soft peaks with the whisk attachment of a stand mixer.
2. Add the icing sugar and vanilla, and finish whipping.
3. To a piping bag fitted with a star piping tip, streak a little raspberry jam down the inside and then fill with whipping cream.
4. Slice the cooled choux puffs to open them and pipe the cream in the hole of the base. Finish with the top half and sprinkle with icing sugar before serving.

Notes