What are Cream Puffs (Choux Pastry)
Choux pastry, or pâte à choux is a famous pastry from France that is prepared from a butter and flour dough. It doesn’t need any baking powder or baking soda or yeast. On baking the dough puffs beautifully creating a pocket inside for filling. This Cream Puff recipe is full proof, and you will find airy pockets in every single one of these puffs.
5 ingredients
5 ingredients are all it needs to prepare these easy choux pastry:
ButterMilkWaterFlourSugar
All you need to do is mix to make a dough and then pipe to a baking sheet. But there is this one step you must be careful about when making the Choux Pastry!
How to prepare the Choux Pastry?
In a pan melt the butter with water, milk and sugar. Then add the flour and keep mixing until it comes together into a dough. Let it cool down a little (this is the KEY PART) then add one egg at a time and whisk to make the shiny dough, that is not too runny or too thick. Once that is done, you pipe and bake.
Consistency of the dough is critical
For the perfectly risen and puffed cream puffs, the consistency of the dough is critical. If the dough is too runny, then the choux buns will not puff, and you will get a pretty much flat buns. If the dough is too thick, then it will be dense inside, and you will not get any pockets to fill the choux buns. This recipe for cream puffs is perfect, and I have been baking these cream puffs for several years now.
How to store ?
You can store the unfilled cream puffs in an airtight container for 3 days at room temperature. You can also freeze these for 3 months. Freshly baked choux buns come out crispy on the outside but as it sits at room temperature, it will turn a little soft BUT not mushy. Keep that in mind. For re-heating, just cake at 300F preheated oven for 10 minutes.
More Desserts To Try
Filling the cream puffs:
You can think of multiple ways to fill this little delight! My favorite is mascarpone cheese with strawberries. But you can use variety different kind of creamy filling. Fill it with ice cream and pour some chocolate drizzle on top! You can also try savory filling with cream cheese and smoked salmon.
