Cream puff recipe: how to make profiterole filled with cream

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Fluffy choux pastry and airy cream – cream puffs look simply delicious and are heavenly tasty. Whether with fresh berries, chocolate or powdered sugar – they are a treat in themselves. Here I show you how to make cream puffs yourself. By the way, it’s not difficult at all, and you only need a few ingredients for the recipe. You can find a detailed cream puff recipe with exact quantities and step-by-step instructions here at the bottom.

Cream puff recipe: how to make profiterole filled with cream

What are cream puffs or profiteroles?

Cream puff or profiterole is a sweet classic of French cuisine. They are filled balls of choux pastry. Besides whipped cream, other creams are used to fill the pastry. Along with eclairs, cream puffs are probably the best-known choux pastry.

Cream puff recipe

How to make cream puffs with raspberry cream filling

In summer, homemade cream puffs taste especially delicious with fresh fruit, for example with raspberries. For the raspberry cream, crush fresh raspberries with a fork and fold them very carefully into the whipped cream filling. Stir the crushed raspberries only coarsely with the whipped cream. It does not have to be a homogeneous mass. Now pour the raspberry cream onto the bottom part of each cream puff and place the cut-off lids on top. Alternatively, you can simply fill the lower halves of the cream puffs with the usual cream, then top with fresh raspberries and then place the lids on top.

Instead of raspberries, you can also use other fruits to fill the profiterole. For example, the small choux pastry tastes delicious with blueberries or strawberries cut into pieces.

Other creams for homemade profiteroles

Classically, whipped cream is used to fill cream puffs. However, other creams are also suitable for it. You can try different fillings according to your mood. The whipped cream can be refined not only with raspberries or other fruits. You can also make a chocolate cream filling by adding some cocoa powder to the whipped cream. Instead of whipped cream, you can also prepare a completely different cream to fill the profiteroles. How about a vanilla cream, for example? Or fill the cream puffs with the butter custard cream I used to make my eclairs. You can also add grated chocolate or chopped nuts to the filling.

Profiterole recipe

Toppings for profiteroles

Cream-filled cream puffs taste simply delicious on their own. But you can also refine them with different toppings. For example, coat them with chocolate icing. Melt dark chocolate with a little butter and the glaze is ready. With a blob of caramel sauce, the homemade profiteroles taste just as delicious. Or simply sprinkle them with powdered sugar.

In what form can I make cream puffs myself

If you have ever bought frozen cream puffs in a supermarket, you know that they have a small round shape. You can bake them yourself in this shape. Fill the choux pastry into a piping bag with a Ø 8 mm nozzle and pipe small dots of pastry onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Take into account that the cream puffs will increase in size during baking and leave enough space between each piece.

Alternatively, you can prepare larger cream puffs. Fill the choux pastry into a piping bag with a star-shaped nozzle and draw rosettes on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Again, keep in mind that the profiteroles will get larger as they bake.

I had made both large and small cream puffs. The recipe below resulted in 32 small and 18 large profiteroles for me.

How to make cream puffs

How do I fill profiteroles?

If you don’t want to cut open your cream puffs, you can fill them using a piping bag with a long, thin nozzle. To do this, pour the cream into the piping bag, carefully insert the piping nozzle into the side or bottom of the choux pastry, and pipe the cream into the cavity of the pastry.

Another way to fill the cream puffs would be the following: Cut off the lid of each choux pastry, spread the filling on the bottom pastry part and put the lid back on.

I had filled the small cream puffs using the first method. So they looked like ones from the supermarket. I had filled the large profiteroles using the second method. This pastry looked like the ones from the bakery. You can see the two types of cream puffs in the pictures.

Why make cream puffs yourself?

Fresh profiteroles that you just made yourself taste much better than frozen ones from the supermarket or from the bakery. You know what ingredients are in the dough and in the filling, and you can do without additives or flavorings. You can adjust the amount of sugar in the filling to your taste. You can also refine your cream puffs with fruit, chocolate or caramel sauce. And once you’ve made your own cream puffs, you’ll find that it’s really easy.

Serve and store homemade cream puffs

Homemade profiteroles taste best fresh, the day you make them. You should chill them for just a few hours before serving so the cream can set. Store the cream puffs in the refrigerator and consume them in the first 1-2 days. If you store them too long, the filling will soften the dough and the pastry will be a bit mushy.

Cream puff with cream

These homemade cream puffs are

  • fluffy,
  • airy,
  • tender,
  • not too sweet,
  • incredibly delicious,
  • filled with whipped cream,
  • pretty,
  • easy to make yourself with just a few ingredients,
  • perfect for dessert with coffee, tea or for a party,
  • classics of French cuisine.

Also they can be

  • filled with fresh fruit in addition to whipped cream,
  • refined with any toppings, for example, chocolate icing or caramel sauce,
  • filled with another cream instead of whipped cream.

Cream puff recipe

You can find the exact quantities and step-by-step instructions for making cream puffs yourself in the box recipe below.

For the cream puff recipe you only need a few common ingredients that you may already have at home. If you follow all the tips for making choux pastry, you’ll make it perfectly.

For the choux pastry you will need

  • butter,
  • eggs,
  • flour,
  • water
  • and a little salt.

Note that the choux pastry is prepared without sugar.

For the filling you only need

  • cream,
  • for sweetening a little powdered sugar
  • and vanilla.

How to make cream puffs: this is how you proceed

  1. For the choux pastry, briefly boil butter, water and salt. Stir in flour quickly and burn the dough until it comes off the bottom of the pan as a lump, leaving a white layer of starch. Let the dough cool and stir in as many eggs, one at a time, until it shines and hangs in peaks on the wooden wooden spoon.
  2. Pour the choux pastry into a piping bag, pipe small rosettes onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper and bake at 200 °C for about 20 minutes until golden brown. Let the cream puffs cool down.
  3. For the cream, whip the cream, powdered sugar and vanilla until stiff.
  4. Fill the cream puffs with the cream and chill for a few hours. Done!

How to make profiterole

How to make cream puffs: with these tips & tricks you’ll succeed

This is how your choux pastry becomes perfect:

  • Bring the milk and butter to the boil only very briefly. The butter must be melted before boiling. Therefore, use butter at room temperature and cut it into pieces before adding it to the milk.
  • Instead of butter, you can use margarine for the choux pastry.
  • Flour should be added to the milk-butter mixture as soon as you take it off the stove and stir thoroughly.
  • You should stir with a wooden spoon.
  • The dough dumpling must be burned, i.e. heated in the saucepan with constant stirring and turning, until it has separated from the bottom of the saucepan as a dumpling and has left a white starch layer. Finally, it is a choux pastry.
  • You may add eggs to the choux paste that has cooled down first (to about lukewarm), otherwise you will get boiled eggs in the dough.
  • The most important thing for choux pastry is the right consistency. For this, the amount of eggs in the recipe is always approximate. You might not need the last egg completely, or you might need a small amount of one more egg. So, to get the right consistency from the choux pastry, proceed as follows: Don’t add the last egg directly into the dough, but mix it in a small bowl so that the egg white and yolk combine, and add this egg to the dough in small portions, stirring the dough with a wooden spoon each time until it has a homogeneous consistency. Once your choux pastry is shiny and hangs in peaks on the wooden cooking spoon, it’s ready and you don’t need to add any more egg.
  • Note that the choux pastry will get bigger as it bakes, so you should leave enough space between each pastry piece.
  • Don’t take the cream puffs out of the oven too soon. They are ready when they have turned a golden brown color. Do not open the oven door during baking.
  • The choux pastry has turned out perfectly when your cream puffs are very light and firm after baking.

This is how it works with the cream filling:

  • The cream should be cold, straight from the refrigerator, before whipping.
  • You can adjust the amount of powdered sugar for the filling according to your taste.

Video for the cream puff recipe

By the way, on my Youtube channel you can find a short video for these delicious profiteroles. There you can watch exactly how to bake them, including how the consistency of the choux pastry should be. If you don’t want to miss any more videos from me, feel free to subscribe to my channel.

Have you made profiterole yourself using this recipe? I look forward to your results, your star rating and your comment on the cream puff recipe below, how they turned out and tasted to you.

Fancy more sweet recipes from French cuisine? Also try:

Cream puffs / profiterole with cream filling

Cream puffs / profiterole with cream filling

Fluffy choux pastry and airy cream – cream puffs look simply delicious and are heavenly tasty. Whether with fresh berries, chocolate or powdered sugar – they are a treat in themselves. According to this recipe you can make cream puffs yourself. By the way, it's not difficult at all, and you only need a few ingredients.
Prep Time 35 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine French
Servings 50 pieces

Equipment

  • piping bag

Ingredients
  

for the dough

  • 75 g butter (room temperature)
  • approx. 7 eggs (size L)
  • 375 ml water
  • 225 g flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt

for the filling

  • 800 g cream
  • 80 g powdered sugar
  • 8 g vanilla sugar

for sprinkling (alternative)

  • powdered sugar

Instructions
 

Prepare the dough (note the tips and tricks at the top of the post)

  • Put softened butter, water and salt in a saucepan and boil just briefly, stirring constantly. (The butter must be melted before boiling).
  • Take the saucepan off the heat, immediately add flour and mix briskly with a wooden wooden spoon until a large ball of dough has formed.
  • Put the saucepan back on the stove and heat the dough, stirring and turning constantly with a wooden spoon, for about 1 minute, until the dough has separated from the bottom of the saucepan as a dumpling, leaving a white layer of starch there.
  • Take the saucepan off the heat, transfer the dough to a clean mixing bowl and let it cool to lukewarm.
  • Stir eggs into the batter, one at a time, until it is shiny and clings to the wooden wooden spoon in peaks. It is best to whisk the last egg in a small bowl and add just enough of it to the dough until it has the right consistency. The batter should be creamy, definitely not runny or firm.
  • Fill the dough into a piping bag with a hole nozzle or star nozzle and pipe small dough dots and / or slightly larger dough rosettes onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper, leaving enough space between them.
  • Bake the cream puffs in a preheated oven at 200 °C for about 20 - 25 minutes until golden brown. Let the small cream puffs cool completely. Cut off the tops of the larger profiteroles while they are still warm and let them cool completely as well.

Preparation of the cream

  • Whip the cream, powdered sugar and vanilla sugar until stiff.

Filling the cream puffs

  • Fill the small cream puffs with the cream by putting the cream into a piping bag with a thin, long nozzle, then inserting the nozzle into the side of the choux pastry and squirting the cream into the cavity. Fill the larger cream puffs with the cream as well, by filling the cream into a piping bag with a star nozzle, piping it onto the bottom pastry part in a circle and placing the lids on top.
  • Chill the filled cream puffs for a few hours and sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired.

Notes

  • Boil the milk with butter very briefly. In this case, the butter must be melted before boiling.
  • Immediately add flour in one go to the milk-butter mixture as soon as it is removed from the heat and stir briskly and thoroughly.
  • Make sure to burn the dough dumpling, i.e. heat it in the saucepan, stirring and turning constantly, until it comes off the bottom of the saucepan as a dumpling, leaving a white layer of starch there.
  • Add eggs to the first cooled (about to lukewarm) burnt mass.
  • The amount of eggs is only approximate in the recipe. Add eggs one at a time to the batter, stirring the batter each time with a wooden spoon until it has a homogeneous consistency. Once the choux pastry shines and hangs in peaks on the wooden cooking spoon, it is ready and you don't need to add any more egg.
  • Don't take the cream puffs out of the oven too soon. They are done baking when they have turned a golden brown color. Do not open the oven door under any circumstances while they are baking.
  • Use cold cream for the filling.
  • Adjust the amount of powdered sugar for the filling to taste.
  • Note the detailed tips and tricks for making cream puffs yourself at the top of the post.
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