Cream Puffs (Choux à la Crème) – a classic delicious french dessert

Cream Puffs (Choux à la Crème) – a classic delicious french dessert

I love Eclairs and all the related desserts, which use Choux Pastry. Cream Puffs (or Choux a la Creme) is one of them and it’s a  fine, vintage and aristocratic dessert, made up of a choux dough, filled with vanilla custard and whipped cream. Simple, without decorations, just dusted with sugar, this dessert is yet incredible tasty and delicious.

For the choux pastry, I used the recipe from the Swan Pâte a Choux, I just omitted water (and used only milk) and I divided the recipe by half, because I needed just a few servings.

Ingredients Cream Puffs (Choux à la Crème) – a classic delicious french dessert

(for about 10 servings)

► For the choux shells

• 75 g butter, chopped
• 125 ml milk
• 75 g all purpose flour
• 125 g eggs (2 large sized eggs)
• a pinch of salt
• 1 tablespoon powdered sugar for dusting

► For the filling

• 400 g pastry cream (you can find the recipe here)
• 200 g whipped sweetened cream

► For dusting

• 1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar

Preparing Cream Puffs (Choux à la Crème)

Preheat the oven at 190 Celsius and prepare a baking tray by lining it with baking paper.

Put milk, butter and salt into a saucepan. Place the saucepan over a medium heat, stirring constantly. When the mixture boils, turn off the heat, add the flour (all at a time) and stir vigorously to incorporate it. You will get a smooth ball of paste which leaves clean the sides of the saucepan.

Transfer the paste into a mixing bowl and mix at low speed for 1-2 minutes, until it cools down. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each. The perfect choux pastry should have a semisolid consistency and looks like a flowing ribbon.

Transfer the composition into a piping bag fitted with a large opened star tip and pipe out 5 cm diameter swirls onto the baking tray, leaving some space between them. Dust with powdered sugar and place the tray o=into the oven. Bake for 10 minutes at 190 Celsius, then another 10 minutes at 175 Celsius.

When ready, take off the choux from the oven and let cool completely. Using a serrated knife, slice the top quarter of each choux.

Fill the choux shells with pastry cream and whipped cream, cover with the tops and dust with confectioners’ sugar.

Serve immediately or keep into the fridge until serving.