Don't let cream puffs intimidate you! They are simple and easily customizable. For tips and to bake-along live, just follow along with the video.
Prep: 15 minutes
Bake: 15 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes
Cream Puff Pastry (Choux Pastry):
125 ml (1/2 cup + 1T) water
50 g (3.5 T) unsalted butter (any temp is okay!)
2 g (1/4 t) salt
2 g (1/2 t) granulated sugar
75 g (1/2 cup) all-purpose flour
2 eggs
Irish Coffee Filling:
1 1/4 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
1/2 cup Powdered Sugar
Optional:
1 T Baileys Irish Cream (or 1 t Vanilla extract!)
2 T Instant Espresso OR Instant Coffee OR any brewed coffee
2 T milk (any kind) (You can make plain cream puffs if you don’t want to flavor the filling!) Any type of baking chocolate for coating.
Tools:
Pot
Bowl and whisk OR stand mixer with whisk attachment
2 piping bags with round tips OR plastic storage bags OR a cookie scoop
I recommend baking all of your dough off and freezing the unfilled shells. You can refrigerate dough and bake it off later, but it tends to not get the same glorious rise!
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine the water, butter, salt, and sugar into a medium-sized pot.
Put the pot over medium heat until everything is incorporated and the mixture is boiling.
Once boiling, add all of the flour at once. Using a heat-proof spatula incorporate the flour.
Put the pot back onto the heat to dry out the flour. The mixture will form into a ball -- continue to stir oven heat.
Remove from heat and add a single egg, beating hard and fast as you pour it in, ensuring you don't allow the egg to cook before it is incorporated.
If, when you pull your spatula out, the mixture falls off the spatula and comes to a point. Your dough is ready! If not, add about a half egg more and beat it in until incorporated (head to 15:45 on the video for a visual).
Once your dough comes to a point it is ready to bake immediately. You can either put it into a piping bag and pipe little balls, about 1.5 inches wide. You can also use a cookie scoop or two spoons. I recommend parchment but make sure you do NOT use grease on your sheet pan.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, turning the sheet pan halfway through to make sure they are baking evenly.
While the choux pastry bakes, whisk together the heavy whipping cream and powdered sugar. Whip until the cream is stiff, then add in the flavorings of your choice (I did Irish Coffee with Baileys Irish Cream and instant espresso dissolved in hot milk! Make sure you cool the espresso before adding it if you're doing that too. To hear about flavorings, jump to 34:00 in the video to hear more).
Once the choux pastry is out of the oven, allow it to cool before filling.
Poke a hole in the bottom of each cream puff and pipe the filling into the bottom or cut each cream puff in half and layer the filling in the middle before replacing the top.
Top with melted chocolate or powdered sugar or anything you'd like!
Most importantly: enjoy!
