Homemade cream puffs are a simple but elegant dessert perfect for any occasion. The combination of textures in the cream puffs makes them so addictive! The pastries are light, airy, and crisp, with a creamy, velvety custard filling. These little treats are sure to impress your family and friends.
While this recipe has several steps, it’s actually very achievable! Making choux pastry, also known as pâte à choux dough, intimidates many bakers at first, but it’s pretty straightforward. All you need are a few simple ingredients, some patience, and my tips and tricks, and you’ll have the technique mastered quickly! For more French baking recipes, try my petit fours recipe, macarons recipe, or mille feuille recipe.
Ingredients
Milk and heavy cream — use full-fat milk and heavy cream for the best flavor, body, and texture in the pastry cream filling.
Vanilla bean — split the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds to add flavor and beautiful specks to the filling.
Sugar — you need granulated sugar for both the vanilla pastry cream and the choux pastry.
Cornstarch — this helps thicken the cream filling.
Salt — salt rounds out the flavors in the cream puffs.
Eggs — you need eggs for both the cream filling and pastry.
Butter — use unsalted butter, as salted butter does not have the same amount of salt across different brands. Since salt is added separately, using salted butter will likely cause them to turn out salty.
Flour — you just need all-purpose flour to make choux pastry.
Confectioners’ sugar — dust the cream puffs with powdered sugar before serving for a simple yet elegant presentation.
Equipment Needed
Wooden spoon and saucepan — you need this to make the choux pastry. Definitely opt for a wooden spoon because you need something sturdy that also won’t transmit heat. Make sure the pan is wider than it is tall so you have room to mix the dough.
Stand mixer — fit the stand mixer with a paddle attachment. You can also use a hand mixer in a pinch, but because the dough is so thick to start, a stand mixer is ideal.
Two large pastry bags — you need 1 pastry bag for piping the choux pastry dough and 1 for the pastry cream. Use 12-inch pastry bags if possible.
Large round tip and star tip — you’ll need the large round tip to pipe the pastry dough and a star tip to pipe the cream filling into the cream puff shells. Use tips that have roughly a ½-inch diameter opening at the point.
How To Make Cream Puffs
1. To make the pastry cream filling, combine the milk, ½ cup heavy cream, and vanilla seeds in a medium saucepan and place on medium-high heat, whisking occasionally. Bring to a boil, then immediately turn off the heat and set aside.
2. Whisk the sugar, cornstarch, and salt together in a large bowl. Add the egg yolks and whisk until pale yellow and smooth. Slowly whisk in the hot milk mixture and then strain the mixture into a saucepan.
3. Cook the egg yolk mixture over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until thickened to a custard-like consistency and just starting to bubble. Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter until fully melted and combined. Transfer the custard to a large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours or up to 2 days.
4. To make the choux pastry dough, bring the water, butter, sugar, and salt to a boil over medium-high heat in a large saucepan. When it boils, immediately take the pan off the heat.
5. Add all of the flour at once and stir with a wooden spoon until all of the flour is incorporated. Return to medium heat and cook, stirring, for about 60 seconds.
6. Add the flour mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat at medium speed for about 2 minutes to cool the mixture down. It will still be warm after this process. With the mixer running, add 3 eggs, one at a time, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl between each egg.
Mix until the dough is smooth and glossy and the eggs are completely incorporated. The dough should be thick but fall slowly and steadily from the beater when lifted out of the bowl. If the dough is still clinging to the beater, lightly beat the remaining 1 egg and mix in a little at a time until incorporated and the dough is falling from the beater.
7. Transfer the dough to a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip. Pipe dollops roughly 2 inches in diameter and 1 inch high onto a large sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Lightly wet a finger and tap down the spike on top. Bake the choux pastry in the preheated oven at 425°F for about 20 minutes or until the dough is golden brown and appears dry.
Remove the baking sheet from the oven. Carefully poke holes in the side or bottom of each puff by inserting the tip of a small knife about halfway into the puff. Return the choux pastry to the oven and bake for another 3 minutes. Remove and let cool completely on the baking sheet.
8. Beat the remaining 1 cup of heavy cream in a large bowl until stiff peaks form. Fold the whipped cream into the chilled vanilla custard. Transfer the pastry cream filling to a piping bag fitted with a large star tip. Cut off the tops of the cooled puffs with a serrated knife and pipe the cream filling into each pastry puff. Place the top back on and lightly dust with confectioners’ sugar. Enjoy!
Why Did My Cream Puffs Deflate?
The oven temperature was too low. Be sure to preheat the oven to 425°F well before adding the choux pastry dough. They need the intense heat to rise and stay puffy. Opening the oven door to check on them can also cause the cream puffs to deflate because every time you open the door, cool air rushes in, and the oven temperature drops. Wait until the baking time is almost done to check them at all.
You did not poke them to release the steam. If steam is trapped in the puffs, they will soften and collapse as they cool.
They were underbaked. The pastry needs to be golden brown and dry. There should not be any underbaked, moist areas. To ensure they are dried out, you can turn off the oven and leave them in there with the door cracked open about 6 inches and let them cool.
What Filling Should I Use?
I prefer using French pastry cream in cream puffs. You can read my pastry cream recipe for all of my tips and tricks, so it turns out perfect every time!
If you prefer a lighter filling, you can use sweetened whipped cream or chantilly cream (like the frosting from my chantilly cake recipe). Or, fill them with vanilla ice cream!
Variations
- Top with a chocolate glaze like I use on my eclairs or profiteroles!
- Flavor the filling: Stir ¼ – ½ cup of chocolate ganache, dulce de leche, or strawberry jam into the pastry cream after it’s chilled.
- Hide a berry or truffle in the center! Pipe a little pastry cream in the bottom of the puff. Add a raspberry, quartered strawberry, or a soft chocolate truffle, and then pipe more pastry cream on top.
How to Store
For the perfect cream puffs, enjoy them within a few hours of assembly. If you have any leftovers, store them in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
Pro Tips For Making This Recipe
- Use a scale to measure the dry ingredients. Flour, in particular, is easily mismeasured when using a measuring cup. For a reliable choux, measure the flour by weight. If you don’t have a scale, fluff the flour in its container, spoon it into a measuring cup, and level off the top with a knife.
- Use room temperature eggs. Make sure the eggs for the choux pastry come to room temperature so they can blend effortlessly, and you can avoid over-mixing. Place your eggs in a bowl of warm tap water if they are cold.
- When adding the eggs to the choux pastry dough, make sure the flour mixture is warm but not piping hot. You do not want the egg yolks to cook from the heat.
- The number of eggs you’ll need for the choux pastry varies. The size of the yolks, the humidity of your kitchen, or even a bit of extra flour will affect the number of eggs you need. Hold off on adding the last egg to see if your dough needs it. Only add enough eggs for your dough to be shiny, thick, and smooth.
- Pat the points of the piped dough before baking. Gently tapping the tops of the piped dough to pat down the spike prevents the tip from burning and makes a more uniformly shaped puff.
- For more color on the choux pastry during baking, brush the tops of the dough lightly with an egg wash before baking. For an egg wash, beat an egg lightly with 1 teaspoon of milk.
- Let the choux pastry cool before adding the filling. If you rush the process, the heat will melt the filling.
Frequently Asked Questions
For the best texture, assemble the cream puffs when you’re ready to serve or within a few hours of serving at most. You can make the shells 2 days ahead of time. Allow the unfilled shells to cool and store them in an airtight container at room temperature until you’re ready to fill them. The cream puff shells will not be as crisp as immediately after baking, but you can re-crisp them in a 300°F oven for about 5 to 10 minutes.
You can make the pastry cream (before adding the whipped cream) up to 2 days in advance, as well, and store it in the refrigerator. To prevent a skin from forming, cover the surface of the pastry cream directly with plastic wrap.
Yes. But if you plan to freeze cream puffs, pipe less filling. You want just enough so that when you add the top of the pastry back on, the cream is covered fully. This is because it will weep slightly when defrosted. Keep in mind that once frozen, they lose the crispy texture, but they still taste delicious.
Flash-freeze the cream puffs on a lined sheet pan until solid, about 30 minutes. Then, transfer them to a freezer-safe container and store them in the freezer until ready to enjoy. Thaw frozen cream puffs for a few hours in the refrigerator.
Try stirring a couple of tablespoons of powdered freeze-dried strawberries or raspberries into the filling for a delicious fruity flavor in the cream puffs! You could also leave out the vanilla beans and instead add 1–2 teaspoons of your favorite flavoring or ground spices to the cream or even mix it into the choux pastry when you add the eggs.
If you love this recipe try these out!
If you’ve tried this cream puffs recipe, then don’t forget to rate it and let me know how you got on in the comments below. I love hearing from you!
Cream Puffs Recipe
Video
Equipment
- Large saucepan
- Stand or electric mixer
- Piping bags and tips
Ingredients
For the Cream Filling:
- 1½ cups whole milk (360mL)
- 1½ cups heavy cream (360mL)
- 1 vanilla bean split and seeds scraped
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar (133g)
- ¼ cup cornstarch (30g)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 6 large egg yolks
- 1 tablespoon cold unsalted butter
For the Choux Pastry:
- 1 cup water (240mL)
- ½ cup unsalted butter (113g)
- 1½ tablespoons granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (120g)
- 3 to 4 large eggs
- confectioner's sugar for dusting
Instructions
For the Filling:
- Combine the milk, ½ cup cream, and scraped vanilla seeds in a medium pot and place on medium-high heat whisking occasionally. Bring to a boil and immediately turn off the heat and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk the sugar, cornstarch, and salt together then add the egg yolks. Whisk until pale yellow and smooth. While whisking, slowly pour in ½ cup of the hot milk mixture until incorporated. Whisk in the remaining hot milk mixture. Pour the mixture through a strainer back into the saucepan.
- Cook the egg yolk mixture over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until thickened and just starting to bubble. The whisk should leave a defined trace when moved through the custard. Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter until fully melted and combined. Transfer the custard to a large bowl.
- Cover with plastic wrap, lightly pressing the plastic against the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Chill for at least 2 hours or until ready to serve. The custard can be made up to 2 days in advance.
For the Choux Pastry:
- Preheat the oven to 425F. Line a large sheet pan with parchment paper.
- In a large saucepan, bring the water, butter, sugar, and salt to a boil over medium-high heat. When it boils, immediately take the pan off the heat.
- Add all of the flour at once and stir hard with a wooden spoon until all of the flour is incorporated. Return to medium heat and cook, stirring for about 60 seconds.
- Scrape the mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (you can also use a hand mixer). Beat at medium speed for about 2 minutes to cool the mixture down. (it will still be warm.)
- With the mixer running, add 3 eggs, one at a time, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl between each egg. Mix until the dough is smooth and glossy and the eggs are completely incorporated. The dough should be thick but fall slowly and steadily from the beater when lifted out of the bowl. If the dough is still clinging to the beater, add the remaining 1 egg and mix until incorporated.
- Transfer the dough to a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip and pipe dollops roughly 2 inches in diameter and 1 inch high. Lightly wet a finger and tap down the spike on top. (For additional color during baking, you can brush the tops of the dough lightly with an egg wash.)
- Bake for about 20 minutes or until the dough is golden brown and appears dry. (Try not to open the oven door during the bake.) Remove the baking sheet from the oven. Carefully poke holes in the side of each puff by inserting the tip of a small knife about halfway into the puff. Return to the oven and bake for another 3 minutes. Remove and let cool completely on the baking sheet. (You can turn the oven off and leave the puffs in the oven with the door cracked open after baking if you’d like them to really dry out.)
For the Assembly:
- Place the remaining 1 cup cold cream from the filling in a large bowl and beat until stiff peaks form. Remove the custard from the fridge and whisk it to break it up and smooth the texture out. Fold the whipped cream into the custard. Transfer the filling to a piping bag fitted with a star tip
- Cut the tops of the cooled puffs off with a serrated knife. You can scoop out some of the softer strands inside, if desired. Pipe the cream filling into each pastry then place the cap on, and lightly dust with confectioners’ sugar. Cream puffs are best if enjoyed within a few hours of assembly. Any leftovers can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
Notes
- Use a scale to measure the dry ingredients. Flour, in particular, is easily mismeasured when using a measuring cup. For a reliable choux, measure the flour by weight. If you don’t have a scale, fluff the flour in its container, spoon it into a measuring cup, and level off the top with a knife.
- Use room temperature eggs. Make sure the eggs for the choux pastry come to room temperature so they can blend effortlessly, and you can avoid over-mixing. Place your eggs in a bowl of warm tap water if they are cold.
- When adding the eggs to the choux pastry dough, make sure the flour mixture is warm but not piping hot. You do not want the egg yolks to cook from the heat.
- The number of eggs you’ll need for the choux pastry varies. The size of the yolks, the humidity of your kitchen, or even a bit of extra flour will affect the number of eggs you need. Hold off on adding the last egg to see if your dough needs it. Only add enough eggs for your dough to be shiny, thick, and smooth.
- Pat the points of the piped dough before baking. Gently tapping the tops of the piped dough to pat down the spike prevents the tip from burning and makes a more uniformly shaped puff.
- For more color on the choux pastry during baking, brush the tops of the dough lightly with an egg wash before baking. For an egg wash, beat an egg lightly with 1 teaspoon of milk.
- Let the choux pastry cool before adding the filling. If you rush the process, the heat will melt the filling.
