Homemade cream puffs made with a tender choux pastry shell and silky vanilla pastry cream filling that requires no pudding mixes or shortcuts. The pastry cream needs 2-4 hours chilling but can be made a day ahead, making this an elegant yet approachable French dessert.
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Combine cream, milk, ⅓ cup (67g) sugar, vanilla bean, and salt in a medium-sized heavy bottomed saucepan. Place on stovetop over medium heat. Stir frequently until sugar is dissolved and mixture comes to a simmer. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes (stir occasionally).
Meanwhile, in a separate large bowl, whisk together egg yolks and 3 Tablespoons of sugar. Whisk vigorously for about 15 seconds, until sugar is beginning to dissolve.
Sprinkle cornstarch over egg/sugar mixture and whisk until combined and slightly thickened.
Once your cream mixture has cooled, slowly drizzle about ⅓ cup of the cream mixture into the egg mixture while whisking constantly (this will temper your eggs and gradually adding the heated cream will prevent them from cooking!). Slowly, while still whisking, drizzle in the remainder of your cream mixture until the cream and egg mixture are completely combined.
Pour mixture back into saucepan and return to stovetop over medium heat. Whisk frequently until thickened.
Remove from heat and pour mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a heatproof bowl (vanilla bean should be caught by the strainer and should be discarded now).
Whisk in butter, one piece at a time until completely combined. If you didn’t use a vanilla bean, stir in the vanilla extract at this point, too.
Place plastic wrap directly in contact with the surface of the pastry cream to keep a skin from forming. Allow to cool at room temperature for about 30 minutes or until near room temperature, then transfer to the refrigerator to chill for at least 2-4 hours. Meanwhile, prepare your choux pastry.
Preheat oven to 400F (200C) and line a large baking sheet or two smaller baking sheets² with parchment paper. Set aside.
Combine water, butter, and salt in a medium-sized heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat and bring to a rolling boil.
Once mixture is boiling, add flour and turn down heat to medium/low. Stir continuously with a spatula until moisture is absorbed and mixture forms a ball that pulls away from the sides of the pot.
Remove from heat and stir for several minutes to cool down the mixture. Add eggs, one at a time, stirring very well after each addition until mixture is smooth and velvety.
Transfer mixture to a piping bag (or to a large Ziploc bag with one corner snipped) and pipe onto prepared baking sheets by mounds about 2” wide by 1” tall, spacing each mound at least 1 ½ inches apart. Lightly dampen your fingers with cold water and gently press down any peaks on the pastry mounds.
Transfer to 400F (200C) oven and bake for 30 minutes or until cream puffs appear dry and light golden brown.
Remove from oven and use a sharp knife to pierce the lower center of each cream puff, inserting knife about halfway into cream puff (be careful, cream puffs will be hot!)³. Replace each puff on baking sheet and return to oven. Turn off oven and let pastry sit in the oven with the oven door cracked for another 10 minutes.
Once 10 minutes has passed, remove from oven and allow to cool completely on baking sheet.Allow to cool completely before piping with pastry cream.
To fill with cream, place pastry cream in a piping bag fitted with a small tip (I used a Wilton 5). Insert piping tip into each cream puff and fill until pastry cream is beginning to come out the hole.
Lightly dust the top of each cream puff with powdered sugar just before serving (the sugar will dissolve in the refrigerator if not served right away).
Enjoy! Store cream puffs in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2-3 days or freeze for several weeks.
Store filled cream puffs in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2-3 days, or freeze unfilled puffs for several weeks; thaw and fill before serving.
piping bag (or large Ziploc bag with corner snipped) · fine mesh strainer · heavy-bottomed saucepans
Pastry cream must chill for at least 2-4 hours in the refrigerator before filling. It can also be made a day or two in advance and stored covered.
Piercing the center with a knife halfway through the puff releases steam, helping them dry out completely and creating a crisp shell. This also makes them easier to fill.
Yes. Store filled cream puffs in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2-3 days, or freeze unfilled puffs for several weeks. Dust with powdered sugar just before serving.
After stirring in eggs one at a time over medium-low heat, the mixture should be smooth, velvety, and hold its shape when piped. It should pull away cleanly from the saucepan sides.
Straining removes the vanilla bean and any lumps or cooked egg bits, ensuring a smooth, silky pastry cream with no texture issues.
