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Cream Puffs / Pâte à Choux

March 12, 2014 By Phillip @ SouthernFATTY.com 14 Comments

Cream Puffs

 

It’s a Saturday morning(ish) and you manage to crawl out of bed and stumble into your favorite Chinese buffet for lunch. What is better than plates of beige fried food and unlimited sushi for $7.49? The cream puffs at the end, that’s what. I’m going to show you one of the easiest, best tasting pastry recipes ever. Your thighs will thank me later!

 

Cream Puffs

 

French pastry can be super-intense to create. Think macarons, croissants, mille-feuilles/Napoleons… This stuff isn’t child’s play. It involves a marriage of scientific detail in a perfectly choreographed dance with proper tools and technique. Something that can be is very intimidating and time-consuming to master. Luckily for y’all, this pastry isn’t really any of those things! It’s quite simple (and just as delicious!).

 

Piping Pâte à Choux

 

Pâte à Choux (paht – ah – shoe) is the technical term for this pastry dough. It is a very soft (pipeable) dough that is made very quickly, leaving behind a ton of moisture in the flour mixture that will cause the dough to puff by the resulting steam released while baking. This puff is what make a perfect little cave in the pastry for the filling. It’s quite easy to make for this recipe. You just boil some water and (literally) dump all of the flour in and stir it into a ball. Voilà!

 

Baked Cream Puffs

 

While this base dough can be used for both savory or sweet creations, I (of course) will go for sweet this time. Once the puffs are baked and golden, you just let them cool and remove the top half. These can also be made into balls by scooping the dough onto the pan and giving the tip a little tap back down before baking. I enjoy the little ski-slope mountain look myself.

 

Powder Sugar for the Cream Puffs

 

To go with the black diamond ski slope that we have created, you have to add a bit of snow! Powdered sugar makes everything better. You could eat these without it… although, I’m not sure why you would want to.

 

Finished Cream Puffs

 

Pipe your filling straight into the puffs, or split them and pipe between. I went with between so you could see the deliciousness that is the vanilla bean cream filling. I even added a swig or two of amaretto. The sweet almond flavor goes perfectly with the vanilla bean.

 

Cream Puffs topped with Chocolate and Pistachios

 

I gave these a quick melted chocolate drizzle with some crushed (salted) pistachios. The salt and chocolate was a great choice! Oh… and the amaretto cream was obviously an even better choice!

 

Cream Puffs / Pâte à Choux
 
Print
Ingredients
Pâte à Choux / Pastry Dough
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 stick (113 g ; 8 T) butter, unsalted
  • salt, pinch
  • 1 cup eggs (about 4 large)
Pastry Cream
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 cup mascarpone cheese
  • ½ cup powdered sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean pulp
  • 1-2 tablespoons amaretto, optional
Instructions
Puffs
  1. Preheat oven to 425 F.
  2. Line baking sheet with silicone mat or parchment paper.
  3. In a medium saucepan, combine butter and water. Bring to low boil over medium high heat.
  4. Dump in all flour and salt at once.
  5. Stir with wooden spoon until flour comes together in ball.
  6. Transfer ball of dough to food processor or mixer with Beater Blade (really works best instead of traditional mixer wisk or paddle).
  7. Let cool for 4-5 minutes. Mix in eggs one at a time.
  8. Pulse/mix until combined. It will look like thick batter/paste.
  9. Transfer mix to piping bag (or Ziplock with corner cut).
  10. Pipe desired shape onto silicone mat or paper. If you don't want a point after baked, lightly press down top point of dough.
  11. Bake until golden, about 20-25 minutes.
  12. Let cool completely before filling.
Cream Filling
  1. Place cream in mixer with Beater Blade. Begin to beat at medium-high speed until soft peaks form.
  2. Slowly add powdered sugar. Continue to mix at medium-high speed until stiff peaks form.
  3. Mix in mascarpone and beat. Add vanilla and combine.
  4. Pipe into puffs.
  5. Top with powdered sugar and desired toppings.
  6. Enjoy! Visit SouthernFATTY.com for more.
3.5.3226

 

I topped my puffs with pistachios. What is your favorite topping? Leave us some love below!

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Confections / Sweets Tagged With: amaretto, cream, cream puffs, dessert, french, pastry, sugar, sweet

Previous Post: « Cuppa Cuppa Cuppa Cake
Next Post: Leprechaun Patties »

Reader Interactions

Comments

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  1. Karen

    June 5, 2015 at 8:21 pm

    Amazing looking cream puffs, and thank you for teaching me how to pronounce pate a choux. You could skip the Chinese food =)

    Reply
    • Phillip @ SouthernFATTY.com

      June 11, 2015 at 8:55 pm

      Thaaaanks!

      Reply
  2. Natalie Uy

    February 9, 2015 at 5:19 pm

    Your blog name intrigued me so much I had to visit haha (such an amazing description haha) And I love these cream puffs – that little peak makes them so cute. *love*

    Reply
    • Phillip @ SouthernFATTY.com

      February 9, 2015 at 8:06 pm

      Thaaaaanks, Doc! 😉

      Reply
  3. Angel

    April 4, 2014 at 10:27 am

    These look amazing!!!!

    Reply
    • Phillip @ SouthernFATTY.com

      April 4, 2014 at 10:28 am

      One of my favorites on here to eat. Thanks!

      Reply
  4. Shikha

    March 25, 2014 at 12:09 pm

    These are some serious cream puffs, and I’m into it.

    Reply
    • Phillip @ SouthernFATTY.com

      March 25, 2014 at 12:10 pm

      And seriously soooo easy to make! Thanks for the comment.

      Reply
  5. Jelli

    March 18, 2014 at 2:35 pm

    Love these! Making some RIGHT NOW. Can’t wait!

    Reply
    • Phillip @ SouthernFATTY.com

      March 18, 2014 at 3:03 pm

      Great! Let us know how it turns out 🙂

      Reply
  6. Leah Short

    March 13, 2014 at 2:47 pm

    Fancy schmancy! I could devour about a dozen of these in one sitting!

    Reply
    • Phillip @ SouthernFATTY.com

      March 13, 2014 at 3:41 pm

      Oy! I’m pretty sure I have done exactly that this week. I know where to drop them off at next time!

      Reply
  7. Shobelyn Dayrit

    March 13, 2014 at 10:22 am

    Oh my, your pictures are awesome!~ Hi! I am hosting my first ever Cunning Ladies’ Friday Party
    in my blog. I would love to see you add this beautiful post there.

    Reply
    • Phillip @ SouthernFATTY.com

      March 13, 2014 at 10:36 am

      So glad you like them! I’m quite cunning, but not quite a lady. 🙂

      Reply

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