Cream Puffs (The Best Homemade Recipe!) - Rasa Malaysia (2024)

FAQs

What is the difference between choux pastry and cream puffs? ›

Cream puffs are a dessert made of choux pastry spheres hollowed out and filled with whipped cream or pastry cream (crème pâtissière, custard, or vanilla pudding) and served with a dusting of powdered sugar. Choux pastry is a delicate pastry made from combining butter, flour, water, and eggs on the stovetop.

You can use half water and half whole milk. The milk will give the final pastry a richer color, but don't use only milk. Water creates the steam which makes the pastry rise.

Choux pastries (i.e. cream puffs, eclairs, etc.) won't rise if the oven temperature is too low. For the pastries to rise properly, the temperature needs to be really high at first so that the steam builds up inside of the dough and causes them to rise and hollow out.

Do the cream puffs needs to be refrigerated? Yes they do. They can stay out for about 4 hours but then need to be refrigerated.

Why did my cream puffs collapse? If the puffs collapse it means there was too much moisture in them. So either you did not dry the dough enough, or they were not cooked enough. To avoid this I recommend drying the dough really well (see below) and cracking the door of the oven open when the choux are baked.

Poking holes in the baked puffs allows steam to escape and creates an opening for easy filling. Returning puffs to a turned-off oven after they've baked helps keep them crisp.

Eggs: are the leavening (rising) agent. Yolks add fat for a tender and light texture and also act as an emulsifier for a smooth, even textured finished product. The proteins in the eggs add to the structure of the cream puff.

Storage: Filled puffs are best enjoyed when they are made and do not keep well. Make ahead: Bake the shells up to 2 days in advance and store at room temperature in an airtight container. The whipped cream can be stored covered in the refrigerator up to 10 hours in advance. Fill with whipped cream just before serving.

How do you keep cream puffs puffy? ›

After they have finished baking, turn your oven off and take the puffs out of the oven. Give them a poke or a little slit with a sharp paring knife. Return them to the oven (turned off) and crack the oven door with a wooden spoon. Let the puffs sit there and bask in their beauty for about 15 to 30 minutes.

Yes, you can freeze cream puffs. Simply flash freeze them on a baking sheet, then transfer them to a zip-top freezer bag labeled with the date. Freeze for up to two months.

Unlike typical batters, choux is thick enough to hold its shape without spreading out flat like a pancake or needing a vessel to contain it, like a Yorkshire pudding. Unlike your average dough, though, it's thin enough to pipe by hand into a wide variety of fun shapes and sizes (think puffs, tubes, rings, and more).

The main differences between the three include the shape and serving method. Eclairs: Oblong choux pastry filled with cream and topped with a glaze or icing. Cream Puffs: Round choux pastry puffs filled with pastry cream and topped with icing or dusted with powdered sugar.

"Choux", when translated from French, means cabbage! The theory behind the origin of this moniker is that the finished baked dough, with it's distinctive cracks and fissures, somewhat resembles the vegetable in question.