Recipe: Cream puffs with pastry cream
I had seen them in every single bakery, in all sizes and flavours, ever since I was born… and I would never have imagined that one day I would have been able to make them!
Cream puffs (called “choux” in French and “bignè” in Italian) are small round pastries traditionally filled with cream and glazed with fondant.
When I was a pastry illiterate, I had no idea what fondant was like nor how to make it. Now I still don’t bother to make it (like many pastry chefs), but at least I know that I can buy 1kg for like 7€ in professional shops or online!
It is therefore very easy to get fondant, but it’s not that easy to use it. It must be heated gently with a spoonful of water to a very specific temperature (35°-37°C) and it must not be too liquid.
What I propose here is a very traditional recipe, but of course you can spice it up by adding any flavouring to the cream (rhum, chocolate,…) and colouring the fondant accordingly. If you want to have more information on the two main components of this recipe, you can read my articles on pâte à choux and pastry cream.
Cream puffs with pastry cream
Print recipe
Ingredients
Éclair paste
| 120ml | Water |
| 120ml | Milk |
| 4g | Salt |
| 105g | Unsalted butter |
| 150g | Bread flour |
| ~250g | Eggs (around 5) |
Pastry cream
| 500ml | Milk |
| 50g | Granulated sugar |
| 50g | Granulated sugar |
| 6 | Egg yolks (~120g) |
| 1/2 | Vanilla bean |
| 35g | Cornstarch |
| 40g | Unsalted butter |
Glaze
| Fondant (as needed, around 300g) |
Directions
1
Bring to a boil the milk, water, salt and butter in a saucepan. Make the sure the butter is fully melted.
2
Remove from the heat and immediately add all the flour.
3
Stir with a spatula or wooden spoon then put the pan back on the heat and continue beating the dough
4
Keep drying the dough up on the heat only for a few minutes until it comes away from the sides of the pan and leaves a thin film on the bottom of the saucepan
5
Transfer the dough to a clean bowl and let it cool down for a few minutes
6
Add an egg and stir until it is completely absorbed in the dough
7
Add all the other eggs one at a time. Slightly beat the last egg before adding it then pour it slowly little by little on the dough, checking frequently if the dough has reached the right consistency
8
When the dough is shiny but firm (i.e. not runny), it is ready to be used with a piping bag. Pipe small 3-4cm rounds in staggered rows on a slightly buttered pan. Piping technique: 1) with the piping bag held vertically on the pan, start piping while lifting the bag slightly; 2) when you've reached the right size, stop piping and keep the bag still; 3) quickly "draw" a circle on the puff with the tip of the bag as you lift it over the choux
9
Bake the pâte à choux for at least 35-40 minutes at 180°. The final product must be relatively crispy, so don't take the baked pâte à choux out of the oven if it is still soft.
Pastry cream
10
Heat the milk with half of the sugar and the vanilla bean in a saucepan
11
In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar and corn starch
12
When the milk is boiling, pour it in three times over the egg mixture through a strainer and quickly mix every time to prevent the yolks from curdling
13
Put back the liquid mixture into the saucepan and cook on medium heat whisking continuously
14
Allow the pastry cream to boil for 2 minutes then remove from the heat, add the diced butter and whisk again until it is fully incorporated
15
Cover a pan with plastic wrap and pour the hot pastry cream in it
16
Cover the pastry cream with the remaining part of the plastic wrap and store in the fridge
Filling and glazing the choux
17
Make a hole on the bottom of the baked choux with the tip of a knife
18
Fill the choux with a piping bag. Fill them until they become "heavy" in your hand, but not too much, otherwise they might crack.
19
It is normal if a bit of cream comes out of the hole in the choux. If it really is too much, clean the excess with a teaspoon or paper towel.
20
Slightly heat the fondant on a bain marie with a spoonful of water (it should definitely not be too liquid). The ideal temperature is between 35° and 37° C.
21
Take the choux one by one and dip their top in the fondant for a couple of seconds
22
Quickly lift the choux and let the excess fondant fall down
23
If the shape that the fondant is taking does not satisfy you, you can pass the finger around the choux and adjust it
Note
The cream puffs can be stored in the fridge for up to 2-3 days, but be careful since the cream might make the choux soggy.
Pâte à choux:
- This dough can be used immediately or even frozen
- It is very important that the butter be fully melted when the milk and water come to a boil and for this reason it must be diced (it will melt faster): if it is not melted when the liquids are at 100°, you'll have to wait before adding the flour and waiting means the water will evaporate, changing the proportions of ingredients in this delicate recipe
- Always add the last egg little by little, checking frequently if the dough has reached right shiny, firm texture
- Leave the oven door slightly open only after the first half of the baking process
- Steam is necessary at least for the first half of the baking process, so don't open the oven door until your pâte à choux has fully risen! Be careful as well of excessive steam, since it might contribute to an uneven development and to the formation of cracks on the baked pastries.
- To test for doneness, I usually touch the touch in the oven and if they seem hard, they're done. Otherwise, you can remove one unit and let it sit for 2 minutes at room temperature: if it doesn't collpase, it means the choux are ready! 😛 (Don't worry, pâte à choux doesn't burn easily if baked for a longer time...)
Pastry cream:
- Creams with milk and eggs are very perishable and must therefore always be stored in the fridge until use.
- As soon as a pastry cream is prepared, its temperature should drop to 1°-4° C in the shortest amount of time to prevent bacteria from forming: for this reason, the optional steps 6 and 7 provide a way to chill the cream in a fast way: spreading the cream on a thin layer in a plastic wrap will chill it quickly and will prevent a thick skin from forming.
- You must be careful when you mix the hot milk with eggs: at all times there is a risk of curdling (you don't want scrambled eggs, do you?), so make sure you whisk vigorously and constantly.
- The milk should come to a boil relatively slowly: it is important to let the vanilla bean infuse, so the longer the time, the stronger the flavour.
Fondant:
- Don't overheat the fondant: a temperature higher than 37 C might result in a loss of shininess and cracks on the surface of the choux
- If you realize you've added to much water, don't despair: add back some more fondant to balance back the mixture
