Never in a million years would would I have thought or attempted to make cream puffs. That is, until my roommate Bri made some adorable (and tasty) ones for a party she was attending. When I saw how easy they were to make I thought these would be a great, unique dessert to make for my family for our next holiday, so I gave it a try!
Pate a choux is a light pastry dough made from just a few ingredients and used for many European desserts such as profiteroles, eclairs, and cream puffs to name a few. People say that it's a tough dough to make but it's more labor-intensive than anything else. I do recommend making the pastry cream ahead of time since it needs to be refrigerated for at least 2 hours, and if you're thinking of getting ahead and baking these a few days in advance, the cream puffs don't store very well so I recommend baking and eating them within 24 hours.
Ingredients (Pate a Choux):
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cubed (I only had salted butter so I added slightly less salt)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar (optional)
1 cup flour
5 large eggs
Ingredients (Pastry Cream):
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
Pinch of salt
2 cups whole milk
4 large egg yolks (keep your egg whites for breakfast!)
2 tbs unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla
Optional: You can add a flavor (to taste) to your pastry cream, such as cinnamon or espresso powder
Directions:
1. Pate a choux: Preheat oven to 375 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. This recipe will make 24-28 cream puffs and I only needed one sheet. In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat add butter, sugar, salt and 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil and quickly stir in the flour with a wooden spoon. Continue to stir (you will have a thick paste by this point) until a film forms at the bottom of the pan, about 3-4 minutes. Note: no film formed on my pan and I was vigorously stirring for what felt like forever and my wrist was hurting. Maybe it was because of the pan I was using. Despite this, they came out great! Remove the pan from heat and transfer contents to a bowl to cool slightly, 3-4 minutes. Add 4 eggs, one at a time, stirring vigorously after each addition until the egg is incorporated. It might look like the eggs won't combine at first, but just keep stirring and you will eventually get a batter (is it ok if I call it batter?). For the egg wash, whisk remaining egg with 1 tablespoon of water and set aside. Pour batter into a pastry bag fitted with the largest round tip that you have. Pipe 1 1/2" rounds onto the prepared pan, like you would for a macaron, but with more batter. If you have pointed peaks, smooth them down with a wet finger (the tips will burn otherwise). Brush with egg wash and bake for about 30-33 minutes until golden brown. Your cream puffs should have risen and they should be hollow. Let them cool on a wire rack. Cream puffs should be consumed within 24 hours.
2. Pastry cream: Whisk sugar, cornstarch and salt in a medium saucepan. In a glass measuring cup or bowl, whisk together milk and egg yolks, then add to saucepan along with butter. Bring to a boil over medium heat, let it boil for 1 minute while continuing to whisk, then remove from the stove and stir in the vanilla. Boiling is what activates the cornstarch so this is very important. OPTIONAL: strain the cream through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl. Add your optional flavor and whisk. Cover the cream with plastic wrap, pressing the plastic wrap directly onto the cream, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 2 days. When you're ready to use it, take it out of the fridge and give it a quick whisk before filling a pastry bag.
3. Assembly: Cut a very small "X" on the bottom of the cream puff with a knife (this will help to fill them). Fill a pastry bag fitted with the smallest round tip that you have with the pastry cream. Fill each cream puff with desired amount of cream. I filled each cream puff with a little bit, then separated out the ones that felt the lightest and filled them with whatever cream was left. OPTIONAL: dip the cream puffs in chocolate (I use Ghirardelli dark chocolate melting wafers) and sprinkle with nonpareils, or top with powdered sugar.
These recipes are from Martha Stewart - Cream Puffs and Pastry Cream. They are accompanied with videos if you have any questions about the above steps.