Delicate & Delicious Homemade Cream Puffs (2024)

5 from 2 votes

By: Melissa Griffiths

Prep: 30 minutes mins

Cook: 40 minutes mins

Total: 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Servings: 12

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For the Pastry:

• ▢ 1 cup water
• ▢ ½ cup butter, salted or unsalted
• ▢ 1 cup flour
• ▢ 4 eggs

For the Filling:

• ▢ 2 cup whole milk
• ▢ 1/2 cup sugar, divided
• ▢ 1/4 cup cornstarch
• ▢ 2 egg yolks
• ▢ 1 whole egg
• ▢ 1 tablespoon butter
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ▢ 1 cup heavy cream, whipped

To make the pastry:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a baking mat and set aside.

• Add the water and butter to medium sauce pan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.

• Once boiling turn heat to low and add flour all at once; stir vigorously for 1 minute.

• Remove from heat. Let the mixture cool for 5 minutes.

• Add eggs one at a time, and beat very well between each addition. The mixture will go from slimy and wet looking to smooth and uniform after each addition. This takes a little elbow grease or you can use a stand mixer if you prefer.

• Put the warm dough in a large piping bag (I don’t use a tip, just the end of the open bag, you can use a large plain round tip if you’d like).

• Pipe into mounds on parchment lined cookie sheet about 2 ½ inches wide and tall.

• Bake 35-40 minutes until puffed and golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature (about an hour) before filling.

To make the pastry cream filling:

• In a large saucepan, bring the milk and 1/4 cup of sugar up to 180 degrees over medium heat, stirring very often. The mixture should be hot and start to steam across the top, but should not boil.

• While the milk is heating, mix the cornstarch and 1/4 cup of sugar together in a medium bowl.

• Add the egg yolks and whole egg to the cornstarch mixture and whisk to combine well.

• When the milk is hot, slowly whisk one cup of hot milk into the egg mixture and then whisk the egg mixture back into the pan of hot milk.

• Cook over medium heat until the mixture starts to bubble and thicken, stirring constantly, about 6 minutes.

• Remove from the heat and stir in butter, and vanilla.

• Let filling cool completely before filling pastry.

To assemble:

• Cut off top of the pastry.

• Fill the bottom of the pastry up with the pastry cream filling. Fill the top with the whipped cream.

• Put the top on bottom and repeat with remaining pastries, pastry cream, and whipped cream.

• Sprinkle the tops with powdered sugar and serve!

• My sister in law Beth makes these and pipes the pastry cream and whipped cream in separately. I whipped the cream and fold it into the chilled pastry cream (I make it ahead of time and chill overnight), so it makes a fluffy version of the pastry cream. Both are delicious options.
• Ensure the milk mixture for the pastry cream doesn’t boil, as boiling can cause the eggs to curdle. Keep the heat medium and watch closely.
• Chill the pastry cream completely before filling to avoid melting the whipped cream. You can speed this up by placing it in an ice bath.
• Refrain from opening the oven door because that will cool the oven down and could cause the pastries to flatten.Under baking will also cause them to flatten as they cool.
• You can also fill these with a little fruit or jam in addition to the pastry cream. You can also drizzle chocolate on top if you’d like.
• If you want to make the cream puffs and fill them with chicken salad, it’s a fun dish to serve at a party!