Name: Classic Cream Puffs With Pastry Cream | URBAN BAKES
Prep time: 35 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 2 h 30 min
Yield: 36 cream puffs
Cuisine: French

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Cream puffs are little delicate pastry balls of heaven filled with a smooth and unforgettable, vanilla-custard pastry cream. Each is capped with warm chocolate ganache that is sure to lure you in for more than just one.

Classic Cream Puffs filled with Pastry Cream and poured ganache | URBAN BAKES

Cream puffs or profiteroles? Which do you prefer to call them?

From scouring the web and through many cookbooks, seasoned food bloggers to renowned chefs have used both terms interchangeably. Ultimately, I side with profiteroles are ice cream-filled cream puffs eaten cold whereas, cream puffs can be filled with anything else and eaten warm or at room temperature. Either way you call it, both are still little yummy puffs of bliss!

A few years ago, I had this for the first time after a friendsgiving dinner. My friend pulled out a tub of profiteroles and not thinking much of it, I popped one in my mouth and to my surprise, I was hooked! I had another then, said to myself, “okay 1 more.” Then it was the, “okay this is the last one.” Next thing I knew, I had about 10! They ARE addicting.

Since then, I’ve wanted to make them on my own but was a bit doubtful it would come out successful. Hearing the words “pâte à choux” sounded difficult. Let me tell you, I was wrong.

What is Cream Puff Pastry (Pâte à choux)?

Pâte à choux is simply French for cream puff pastry and is much easier to make then it sounds. It has four main ingredients, flour, eggs, butter and water/milk. There are few steps involved with cooking the pastry but with a few minutes of a few stirs, the pastry magically comes together on its own.

When baked the pâte à choux will become a puffed pastry with a crisp, delicate shell of a near hollow center with at times, a thin layer of a custard-like webbing of pastry lining just beneath the shell. This pastry is the basis for sweets such as éclairs and profiteroles as well as savory gougères which are typically made with cheese.

How to make Cream Puff Pastry (Pâte à choux)?

There are several ways to making cream puff pastry. Some would rather do the mixing using just a spoon – which can save another bowl from washing, whereas, others may want to employ the food processor or an electric mixer. I chose the latter but you can certainly achieve the same results either choice you make. Below is a quick rundown on how to make cream puff pastry. Further instruction can be found in the recipe card below.

After the baking sheets are prepped and the oven is on, you want to combine the water and butter just to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the flour. Continue to stir until the paste resembles dry mashed potatoes. (See left image below)
Return the flour mixture back to the stove on low heat. Using the back of a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, smear the paste around to ensure the heat cooks through evenly. After about 3 minutes, the “dry mashed potatoes” will look wet and have a slight sandy appearance. (See right image below)
Transfer the paste to a bowl of a stand mixer and add the eggs in a steady stream while continuously mixing. If doing this step by hand, add 1 egg in a time into the saucepan and thoroughly mix before each addition. The paste should now become a yellowish cream as seen in the 3rd image below.
Transfer the cream puff pastry (pâte à choux) to a piping bag fitted with a small round tip. To avoid peaks with dark brown spots on the top of the pastries, use the back of spoon (or fingertip) dipped in cold water to smooth out the mounds. Ensure the mounds are spaced about 2 inches apart to allow heat to circulate around each. See last 2 images below.

Choux Pastry (Pate a Choux) Prebaked Cream Puffs | URBAN BAKES — Left image is Step 7 when combining butter, water and flour. Right image is the smearing motion from Step 8.

Choux Pastry (Pate a Choux) Prebaked Piped Cream Puffs | URBAN BAKES — Step 10 piping the choux pastry and smoothing out the mounds.

Because there is no leavening agent used in this recipe, it’s important to bake the pastries initially at a high temperature to allow a blast of heat enter the center of the mounds and to have the steam rise from the inside. Be sure to not open the door as this could cause the cream puffs to deflate.

After baking, it is wise to release the steam by cutting a slit through the sides. If not done, the inside of the cream puff could result in an undesirable soggy texture.

In this recipe, note that I started with creating the pastry cream first. This is intentional since the cream filling may take 1 to 2 hours to set. Lastly, the ganache was made. You may opt for a chocolate sauce which has a thinner drip or simply use powdered sugar.

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