Choux à la Crème (French Cream Puffs) (2024)

Enjoy classic French cream puffs or choux à la crème in French, made with basic choux pastry, filled with luscious pastry cream, and topped with icing sugar or crunchy caramel. Serve sweet treats for your morning coffee, afternoon tea, or any occasion.

You may hear that choux pastry is difficult to make, but not with this guided recipe. It explains how to make choux pastry step by step and the vanilla pastry cream for perfect results.

You will learn two essential cooking techniques: choux pastry and pastry cream.

Don't you agree that everything homemade is better? If you agree, delight your loved ones by offering them a dessert worthy of a professional pastry chef but made at home.

What is chou a la creme?

Chou à la crème (pluralchoux à la crème) means a cream puff in French made with choux pastry and filled with French pastry cream (crème pâtissière) or whipped cream.

The word 'choux'translates to 'cabbage' in English. The pastry resembles cabbages puffed in the oven without using raising agents. They often come out with little imperfections, such as cute crinkles.

Choux à la crème topped with a golden-brown crunchy topping - craquelin (made from sugar, flour, and butter) are called choux au craquelin.

Also, don't confuse choux à la crème with profiteroles made of the same choux pastry (pâte à choux) but filled with ice cream and topped with chocolate sauce.

Why you should try this recipe

• Choux a la creme is one of the most famous French desserts to try if you enjoy French cuisine.

• They are made of the same pate au choux dough as other choux pastry desserts: eclairs, profiteroles, chouquettes, choux au craquelin Paris Brest, croquembouche and savory gougères.

• French choux cream puffs make the perfect bite-sized dessert or snack perfect for serving at outside summer gatherings and parties.

• They serve as the basis for a "Number Cake" and cream puff wreaths or a cream puff dessert to enhance birthday and other holiday tables.

• Finally, the French cream puffs recipe made of the basic ingredients is fully customizable. Make choux de cream with or without craquelin, and fill them with numerous creams, from sugar-free whipped cream to Diplomat cream and whipped chocolate ganache.

Ingredients

For ingredients and detailed instructions, refer to the recipe card below.

• Water, preferably mineral, is an essential liquid ingredient in making choux a la creme recipe. Replace it with milk or use half of it and half the water if desired. Make sure to use cold water or milk.

• Salt: A pinch of salt enhances the flavor of the pastry.

• Butter: The recipe calls for unsalted butter, cold or softened, and cut into small cubes.

• Flour: the recipe calls for all-purpose flour.

• Eggs: Use whole large eggs at room temperature. To weigh the eggs, beat them, and use a kitchen scale, how much of the egg mixture you need.

One little egg is used for the egg wash. Use an egg separator to separate the egg whites from the egg yolks for the pastry cream.

• Milk: The recipe calls for whole milk to make the pastry cream. For a richer result, use half of the milk and half of the heavy cream.

• Sugar: Use granulated or caster sugar.

• Cornstarch is used as a thickener to make the pastry cream.

• Vanilla bean is used for its incredible flavor. Replace it with ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract or ½ teaspoon of vanilla bean paste if desired.

Recipe variations

While the choux a la creme recipe is straightforward, let's reveal some variations.

• Ingredient ratios: While most pastry chefs have their own water, butter, flour, and egg ratios, the ratio 2:1:1:2 of the mentioned ingredients works best. For even better results, you can add a bit more flour.

NOTE: Although the recipe below gives ingredient conversions in cups, precisely measuring ingredients with a kitchen scale provides the most accurate baking. That is why I highly recommend investing in a good inexpensive digital scale.

• Piping: Create exciting and unique shapes by using a piping bag fitted with a fluted piping tip.

• Topping: Top your choux buns with crispy craquelin, crunchy caramel, or decadent chocolate ganache or chocolate glaze. Or try these sugar-free cream puffs topped with roasted flaked almonds for an even more delightful way to indulge.

• Pate a choux filling: Let your imagination go wild by filling your choux a la creme with various creams, from light and airy whipped cream and creme Chantilly to rich creme Diplomate and mousseline cream.

How to make choux a la creme

The secret to Choux a la Cream's success is to respect the ingredients' ratio and the order of ingredients and to bake at the correct oven temperature.

These choux a la creme puffs consist of two elements:

• Choux pastryor "pâte à houx," and
• Vanilla pastry cream or "crème pâtissière."

Make basic choux pastry recipe

Preheat the oven to 410 degrees F (210°C). Take parchment paperand, using a pencil, draw circles of about 1 inch (2.5 cm) in diameter. Then turn the paper over and place it on a baking tray or a cookie sheet.

Using a flour sifter, sift the flour and place it aside. In a separate small bowl, beat eggs in an omelet using a mini whisk.

Pour cold water into a heavy-bottomed saucepan, and add salt and cubed butter. Bring the saucepan over medium-high heat and wait until it boils (photo 1).

Pro tip: Don't use utensils to mix. The key is to ensure that the butter melts before the liquid comes to a boil.

Remove the saucepan from the heat and add sifted flour at once. Mix quickly with a wooden spoon, flattering the lumps on the go.

Then bring the saucepan over low to medium heat and cook, stirring until the dough comes away from the sides of the pan (photo 2).

Pro tip: Remove the cooked dough (aka flour pasteor panade In French) from the heat once it pulls away from the sides and the bottom of the pan: otherwise, the butter can split from the dough.

Transfer the pate au choux to a mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and let it cool for 3-5 minutes. Pro tip: Respect the cooling time: otherwise, you risk cooking eggs at the next step.

To cool the dough, flatten it with a rubber spatula to increase the surface area. Or run the stand mixer at low speed for 2-3 minutes.

Add lightly beaten eggs in a few times, and whisk the dough well after each addition, using a hand whisk, an electric or stand mixer.

The choux pastry dough will go from lumpy and dry to smooth and glossy (photo 3). To test the right consistency, use a finger test or V-test.

Finger test: Pull your finger along the choux pastry dough to make a trough. The dough is ready if the sides of the trough stay upright and do not collapse. If they collapse, the dough is too runny (see troubleshooting section).

V-test: Put a rubber spatula in the dough upright, mix the dough a little, and lift the spatula. If the dough forms a V shape at the end of the spatula, the pate au choux is of the right consistency.

Transfer the dough to a pastry bag with a round tip - Ateco plain tip 804. You can use an open star pastry tip if desired.

Pipe choux puffs of about 1 inch (2.5 cm) in diameter - the walnut size - on a baking sheet lined with parchment (photo 4). Make sure to space them out.

Flatten the tops of the choux mounds with a silicon brush applying the beaten egg. Or simply use your wet finger to fold down choux pastry peaks.

Bake choux puffs at 410°F (210°C) until golden brown for 20 minutes.Don't open the oven door while baking!

After that time, open the oven door, prick each shell with a small sharp knife at the bottom, and bake for 4 to 5 minutes longer. Then, remove the shells from the oven and let them cool on a cooling rack (photo 5).

Make pastry cream

Consult the French pastry cream recipe for step-by-step photographed explanations, helpful tips, and tricks. Decide whether to include gelatin or not for your pastry cream.

Heat milk with the scraped seeds of the vanilla bean and the split vanilla in a thick-bottomed saucepan.As soon as it starts to boil, remove it from the heat and leave it to infuse for 10 minutes, covered with a lid.

Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a mixing bowl until it whitens using an eclectic mixer. Add the flour and cornstarch, and pour in the hot milk mixture, constantly stirring with a hand whisk.

Then pour everything back into the saucepan and cook for a few minutes without stopping stirring until the cream thickens.

Transfer it to a shallow dish and remove the vanilla pod. Add the drained gelatin (if used) to the hot cream and mix to dissolve it. Then add the very cold cubed butter, and mix. Cover the cream with plastic wrap in contact, and let it cool to room temperature.

Assemble choux puffs

To fill choux puffs with pastry cream, use the pipe-in technique. Make a small hole on the bottom of each choux puff with the tip of a paring knife.

Whip the pastry cream with a balloon whisk a few times. Transfer it to a pastry bag fitted with a small piping tip - Ateco plain tip 8. Insert the tip into a small hole in the back of each choux and pipe with constant pressure until filled (photo 6).

The choux puff is filled when you feel resistance, and the cream starts to overflow the hole. Using your finger, wipe excess pastry cream. Continue the same until all the choux cream puffs are filled. Dust with icing sugar or make the caramel topping.

Make caramel topping (optional)

Boil sugar and water in a saucepan for about 3-5 minutes. Remove the caramel from the heat when it obtains golden color and pour it into a heat-prove bowl to stop cooking.

Dip the choux puffs upside down in the caramel and turn them over on a serving plate. Add a few crushed almonds or hazelnuts to the puffs before the caramel sets if desired.Let the caramel set for a few minutes. Serve.

Expert Tips

1. Measure ingredients with a kitchen scale rather than measuring cups for accurate and precise baking results.
2. Don't let the water boil for a long time before adding flour: if water evaporates, it will affect the balance of the ingredients.
3. You can pipe choux pastry mounds with the use of two teaspoons to form rounds of the dough onto the prepared baking sheet. Or use a small or medium cookie scoop if desired.
4. Sprinkle choux pastry buns with confectioner's sugar, instead of applying an egg wash, for more crispiness if desired.
5. The size of cream puffs should be adapted according to your preferences. To make larger cream puffs and fill them with whipped cream, follow the recipe for German cream puffs, which uses the sandwich-style filling technique for assembling the dessert.

Choux pastry fillings

With French cream puffs, you can get creative and choose from various sweet fillings. However, the must-have French favorite is those filled with classic pastry cream.

Other possible variations of the cream puff fillings or creme pour choux include:

• Sugar-free whipped Cream
• Chantilly cream
• Chocolate whipped cream
• Whipped chocolate ganache
• Alcohol-infused whipped cream
• Crème légère
• Diplomat cream
• Crème mousseline
• Classic buttercream

Storing and freezing

Choux a la cream filled with pastry cream should be eaten the same day. Don't store them for longer than 24 hours, even refrigerated.

However, you can store baked unfilled choux pastry shells in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to three days. Kept longer, they lose their crispiness and become soggy.

Can you freeze French cream puffs? You can freeze raw and baked choux pastry.

• Unbaked choux pastry. Follow the recipe and pipe choux pastry mounds on baking paper and freeze for 2-3 hours. Then place them in the freezer bags, label them, and freeze them for up to 3 months.

When ready, bake choux pastry shells straight from the freezer, adding 5 to 10 minutes to the baking time.

• Baked and unfilled choux puffs. Place them in a freezing bag and freeze them for up to 3 months.

To serve, let the puffs defrost at room temperature, then pass to the preheated oven to 355°F (180°C) for about7 minutes.

Troubleshooting

Choux pastry shells are flat, soft, and soggy

Reason #1. One of the reasons that your choux pastry dough is too runny and doesn't hold its shape with piping is that you incorporated less flour than required or too much liquid.

Solution: Make a half batch of the cooked pate au choux with water, salt, butter, and flour following your recipe. Don't add eggs! Let your dough cool, and add a little to your failed dough until you reach the desired consistency.

Attention: You cannot save your runny dough by adding raw flour.

Reason #2. Another reason for flat choux buns is removing them too early from the oven.

Solution: Leave your choux shells brown in the oven longer. Also, please don't skip letting the moisture escape from the inside: prick the baked choux pastry shells with a sharp knife and let them dry in the oven for a few minutes.

Choux pastry shells have cracks

While choux pastry buns can have some imperfections, keeping them looking as uniform as possible, without cracks, is essential.

Reason #1. One of the reasons for the cracked choux pastry shells is the wrong incorporation of ingredients, such as adding unsifted lumpy flour and adding flour after incorporating eggs.

Solution: Sift the flour before adding it to the boiling liquid. Mix the flour with a wooden spatula out of the heat, flattening the lumps.

If you make choux pastry, ingredient order is critical; add the flour before blending in eggs.

Reason #2. Another reason for the cracked choux pastry is baking it at an excessively high temperature. In this case, choux pastry expands and rises too quickly, resulting in an irregular shape and shell cracks.

Solution: Follow the recipe and respect the oven temperature listed in the recipe.

Reason #3. Finally, the last reason for cracked choux pastry shells is inconsistent piping. The proper piping technique is crucial to make regularly-shaped cream puffs.

Solution: Hold a pastry bag with a tip straight over a baking sheet, touching the dough while piping and applying consistent pressure.

If you are a beginner at making choux pastry, you may find that using a fluted tip provides the best baking results.

Choux pastry shells are too dry

Reason #1. The first reason for dry choux pastry shells is adding too much flour or adding it incorrectly after incorporating the eggs.

Solution: Follow the recipe for the right amount of flour and respect the order of the ingredients.

Reason #2. Another reason for dry choux pastry shells is baking them at high temperatures or too long.

Solution: reduce the oven temperature while baking the second batch or the next time. Every oven is different, as well as the location of hot and cold spots. Make sure to check the oven temperature with an oven thermometer.

Read more about what to do with failed choux pastry through a Q&A guide.

FAQ

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Recipe card

The nutritional information has been calculated using an online recipe nutrition calculator such as Verywellfit.com and is intended for informational purposes only. These figures should be used as a general guideline and not be construed as a guarantee.