Cream puffs

Cream puffs. Glorious cream puffs. How could something that looks so innocent be so difficult and technical to make?

But I guess, this is what they mean when they say hard work pays off.

At first, cream puffs might seem challenging because the pate a choux pastry and custard cream can go array in a blink of an eye if you don’t temper it properly but I promise it’ll get easier with practice!

Plus, when it comes to baking, practice is never a bad thing because it means you get more batches of the goodies for you to munch on! 😉

And in honor of the new Minions movie trailer coming out, I just HAD to make this minion themed one that I filled with banana custard creme and topped with a few minion honey graham cookies

Needless to say, these little puffs of joy are definitely worth the trouble to make each and every time I make them.

So I hope that you’ll end up trying to make them for yourselves at home too!

If you do, let me know how it went for you and if not, let me know what type of cream puffs you like to indulge in the most. Matcha? Vanilla? Coffee? Chocolate? Cookies n’ cream? Nutella? Strawberry?

Cream puffs recipe

Ingredients (makes 12):

1/2 cup water
1/4 cup margarine or butter
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt

make sure your measurements are EXACT or they will not turn out

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 425F
2. Combine margarine and water in a medium sauce pan and bringit to a boil
3. Add flour and salt into the mixture and stir everything together over medium heat. Continue to stir until a smooth and the batter comes away from the sides of the pot. Remove the mixture from heat.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk your eggs. Pour half your whisked egg mixture into the batter and stir QUICKLY until the egg incorporates into the mixture. Then, repeat with the other half of the whisked egg mixture. Make sure you stir your batter quickly or you will end up with scrambled eggs!
5. Spoon the batter into a pastry bag with a 3/4″ – 1″  round piping tip. Pipe mounds of dough onto a lined baking sheet. If you don’t have a piping bag, scoop and drop the batter by the spoonful onto the parchment instead.
6. Bake for 13 minutes at 425F before reducing the heat to bake it at 375F for another 10 minutes until they are golden, puffed and dry to the touch. It is CRUCIAL to NOT open the oven door during this baking process or your cream puffs WILL NOT puff up!
7. Turn off the oven, remove the puffs and cut a small slit on the side of each puff with a serrated knife. Return the puffs to the oven. Leave the door ajar and let the puffs dry for another 10 minutes.
8. Remove your puffs from the oven and let them cool.

Custard cream

2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1 teaspoon margarine or butter
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of salt

if you want flavored custard add 1 – 2 tablespoons of your flavoring of choice (ex. matcha powder, ground black sesame, cocoa powder, ground up cookies, Nutella, etc)

Method

1. Combine sugar, cornstarch and salt in a small sauce pan. Gradually add the milk and whisk until smooth
2. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until it thickens
3. In a small bowl, whisk the egg. Add a tablespoon of the saucepan mixture to the egg.
4. Add the warmed egg mixture back into the saucepan. Continue to stir and cook the mixture until it thickens. Then, remove it from the heat.
5. Stir in the margarine, vanilla along with any other flavorings you would like to add into your mixture.
6. Set it aside and let it cool.

Assembly

1. Scoop your custard into a pastry bag with a small open round tip. Pipe your custard cream into each cream puff by inserting the piping tip into the slit you cut into your puffs earlier.
2. If you don’t have a pastry bag, cut your cream puffs in half and scoop a spoonful of cream in the middle of each one before topping it off with the other half.

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