State Fair Cream Puffs Recipe on Food52 (2024)

FAQs

Is milk or water better for cream puffs? ›

You can use half water and half whole milk. The milk will give the final pastry a richer color, but don't use only milk. Water creates the steam which makes the pastry rise.

First, the dough is too wet and runny. The dough needs enough flour to give it structure to properly rise and hollow out. The solution is to use enough flour so that the dough is thick enough. Second, your cream puffs or choux pastries may not hollow out because the baking temperature is too low to start.

If the puffs collapse it means there was too much moisture in them. So either you did not dry the dough enough, or they were not cooked enough. To avoid this I recommend drying the dough really well (see below) and cracking the door of the oven open when the choux are baked. My cream puffs are soft.

For best results, use puffs with 24 hours, or wrap airtight and freeze. Unfilled puffs may be stored in an airtight container for several days, but first cut them open and remove the strands of dough to prevent sogginess. To freeze unfilled cream puffs, wrap tightly in plastic wrap or resealable plastic bags.

Bake until puffs rise and are golden brown, about 30 minutes.

There are a few reasons your cream puffs might collapse or not puff up properly in the oven. The first is that you may not have cooked out the moisture enough. Make sure you give it a full 2 minutes on the stove. The second is that there is no way for the steam to escape when the puffs are baked.

Do the cream puffs needs to be refrigerated? Yes they do. They can stay out for about 4 hours but then need to be refrigerated.

If your batter ended up being too runny, possibly you have added a little too much eggs. To fix this, cook a paste using roughly half the choux recipe (water, milk, flour, butter similar to how you started).

The dough is too thick to pipe.

In order to make your pastry more malleable and flowy, you can add some more eggs to the pastry batter. This will help to soften the dough and make it easier to pipe. Make sure to keep the consistency in mind when you're stirring the pastry.

The key to successful baking of puffs is to use a silicon baking sheet (sold under brands such as Bake-O-Glide). You can grease the pan or use parchment, but the silicon sheet ensures that the bottoms won't stick.

Why must water come to a boil when making cream puffs? ›

It is important to bring the water and butter mixture to a full boil before adding the flour as heat is necessary to swell the starch granules in the flour. A full boil is reached when stirring does not reduce the strength of the boil. Eggs: are the leavening (rising) agent.

Yes, you can, but it should be full fat. The fat reduced sort of margarine often has water beaten into it to reduce calories and this affects the quality of pastry made with it.

Can they be made ahead of time? Yes, you can make these cream puffs 2-3 days in advance. Store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator. You can also make the pastry cream a day or two ahead of time; just be sure to keep it cold in the fridge in an airtight container.

In fact, if you don't use enough eggs the dough will remain heavy and gluey. You should add as many eggs to your dough as possible! Make these (amazing) cream puffs and picture the lakes of Minnesota when you do.

In many instances you can use one or the other in the same choux recipe without issue, though it can be useful to take advantage of a milk-based choux's enhanced browning when baking smaller pastries like chouquettes and éclairs, allowing you to achieve a good level of color development without risk of over-baking the ...

Milk brings a softness to the crust, but if you prefer a dough that is harder and crispier then replace the milk with water. If the dough is slightly wet at the end when gathering it into a ball, just sprinkle a little bit of flour on your bench and roll the dough in the flour before kneading the dough.

Water and butter: fats provides tenderness to the cream puff. However, too much fat will interfere with gluten production making your cream puff collapse. It is important to bring the water and butter mixture to a full boil before adding the flour as heat is necessary to swell the starch granules in the flour.