CLASSIC CREAM PUFFS

Hello there LLK friends! My boys are home for Spring Break this week, and we have all sorts of fun things planned to do together. So I won’t stay long, but just thought I’d pop in real quick here to share this Classic Cream Puff recipe with you, and then I’ll be back again when the boys are back in school.

I’m sure many of you have made cream puffs more times than you can count, and there is really nothing too special about the way I made them. But I thought I’d share since this was the first time I had ever made a choux pastry (pronounced like “shoe”) and it had been on my baking bucket list for a while. I hosted a baby shower this weekend for a sweet baby girl, and it was so fun to serve these classic little delights.

I filled the cream puffs with a simple homemade vanilla whipped cream, and dusted them with powdered sugar. I thought about doing a strawberry whipped cream (using crushed freeze dried strawberries for color and flavor) because I thought they might add to the girlie pink shower theme, but in the end decided to just keep them vanilla. Next time I’ll let myself be a little more creative.

INGREDIENTS:

FOR THE CREAM PUFF DOUGH (PÂTE À CHOUX)
1/2 cup butter
1 cup water
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
2 tablespoons powdered sugar (for dusting)
FOR THE CREAM FILLING
1 1/3 cups heavy cream (well chilled)
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
In a 3- to 4-quart pan, combine butter, water, and sugar. Over high heat, bring to a boil and then add the flour all at once and stir quickly until the dough comes together, forming a ball. Remove the pan from the heat and stir until flour is incorporated and mixture is smooth. Let cool about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally