Pâte à Choux or Cream Puff Recipe

These little French desserts are pure heaven, but require a bit of work. I am writing this post because I could not find a concise set of directions to follow to make these beauties and I know others will need help just as I did. And so begins the recipe for...

Pâte à Choux (Cream Puffs in English)

Aren't they pretty? They are pronounced "pat-ah-shoo."

Ingredients:

1 Stick of Butter (1/2 cup)

1 Cup of Water

1 Cup All-Purpose Flour

4-6 Large Eggs (details on that below)

Good Pinch of Salt

Before I get started on the directions, I used three sources for help. I may refer to them as the directions go along as Source 1, Source 2, or Source 3. The links for them are:

SteamyKitchen (or Source 1)

TheKitchn (or Source 2)

YouTube (or Source 3)

Directions:

1) Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or aluminum foil, shiny side down.

2) Over medium heat in a large saucepan, melt the butter in the water, allowing the water to come to a simmer.

3) Add the flour all at once and stir until a dough is formed. Once the dough is formed, continue cooking over medium heat, stirring and mashing constantly until dough has dried slightly, about 3-5 minutes. (For a good visual on what the dough should look like, see Source 3.)

4) Remove from heat and allow to come to room temperature or slightly warmer than. Stirring and mashing helps with the cooling process.

5) Once the dough has cooled, add salt and then the eggs one at a time, being sure to fully incorporate them before adding the next one. You know your dough is ready when you take a spoonful and the dough falls into a clump back into the pan. (Again, see Source 3 for a visual.) I needed about five or six eggs, but it is very dry in my house. Humid days may take fewer eggs. Another way to tell if you're done is being able to tell whether it is pipe-able yet still would hold its shape without issue. Note: You could use a mixer for this as I did it by hand and it took quite a bit of muscle power, but you do get a better sense of how you're doing when you do it by hand.

Unbaked pâte à choux. I had covered them with plastic wrap while the first batch was finishing.

6) Fill a pastry or gallon size plastic bag with your dough. (You can refrigerate for up to a day if properly sealed, but allow to come up to room temperature before using.) Cut or use a tip about 1/2" in diameter although it doesn't really matter. Pipe little mounds of dough about an 1 1/2" to 2" around and about as high as a golf ball. You can really make any shape or size you want, but if you do your baking times will change.

7) Place baking sheet with uncooked puffs into the oven and reduce the heat to 375. If you made your puffs about the size listed above you will need to cook about 40 minutes. Otherwise, you can tell if you're done by the pastry being thoroughly golden brown or by cracking one open and seeing how the dry the inside looks (they'll be hollow!). If very, very slightly damp, this is okay. If they're still pretty wet, keep baking. Do not check on your pastries before 15 minutes. From what I understand, there are some cases when an influx of air too soon before the dough sets can cause the puffs to fall. This did not happen to me but I understand the concern. Opening the oven door too often will also change the temperature of the oven creating longer bake times.

8) Once your dough has reached the appropriate doneness, reduce the oven to 300 and cook another 10 minutes. This allows them to dry out.

9) Once done, remove from the oven. Source 2 suggested pricking the puffs with a toothpick to release any pent-up steam to keep the insides from getting soggy. I agree with this, plus remove the puffs from the pan within about three-five minutes so the bottoms do not get soggy. Place on a plate with the puffs on their side to they can cool evenly.

Baked pâte à choux.

10) You have made pâte à choux! Slice in half and then you can fill them with whatever you desire. The most common filling is whipped cream. The filling I used is:

Swiss Meringue Buttercream

(Thank you BakingAMoment!)

Ingredients:

3 Egg Whites

3/4 Cup Sugar (more or less depending on how sweet you like it)

1 Cup or 2 Sticks of Butter, allowed to sit at room temperature

1/2 Teaspoon of Vanilla Extract

Directions:

1) In a clean glass or metal heat-proof bowl, place the egg whites and sugar. Place the bowl over a pot of water that has come to a simmer over medium heat. Beat or whisk the mixture until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture becomes quite thick. Note: The mixture will not become hot, but fairly warm. If you are worried about the consumption of raw eggs, cook eggs to a temperature of 160 degrees F. (Source: FoodSafety)

2) Remove from heat and continue to beat/whip until meringue has come to room temperature or slightly warmer than. This will take some time. To expedite the process, place bowl in a larger bowl filled slightly with ice water while whisking.

3) Beat in the vanilla and then the butter two or three tablespoons at a time until butter is fully incorporated. Depending on how warm your mixture and butter was during preparation, your frosting may look less like frosting and more like sweet, thick soup. If this happens, and it did to me, place bowl, covered, in the fridge for 30-40 minutes. After, re-whip the buttercream and you will see a huge difference. This buttercream is awesome!

4) Place mixture in pastry or plastic baggie to pipe onto whatever you desire.

Note: The original recipe was for chocolate buttercream. I was going to make it chocolate, but my fiance tasted it and decided it was good the way it was without the chocolate. I have to say, he was right! Also, this did not make quite enough for all of my pâte à choux. (I would have had about 10 or so pâte à choux left.) You may want to double the recipe.

Finished pâte à choux. They're so yummy.

Be sure to dust finished pâte à choux with powdered sugar! They're quite a lot of fun to eat!

A pregnancy blog post will follow this week with more fun recipes. See you then!