Cream Puffs

I first got the notion to make these after sampling the Costco offering on a weekly shopping trip and thinking, "I could make these." Making so many things for New Year's, I had to put it off until last week when, abandoned for an afternoon, I needed a break from a break.  I unearthed a recipe for eclairs that I'd pulled from the Oregonian a couple of years ago and set about to craft a surprise for Mom and the kids.

Cream Puffs

Adapted from FOODday


1 cup water
1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup flour
3 eggs


Preheat the oven to 400º, placing one rack in the middle. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.


In a medium saucepan, bring the water, butter, and salt to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium and add flour all at once. Using a wooden spoon, stir vigorously to combine. Continue to stir, using a figure-8 motion and smearing the dough against the sides of the pan to cook the flour and work out any lumps, for 2 minutes. The mixture will be thick and look like a firm ball, or balls, of sticky mashed potatoes that pull away from the sides of the pan. During this process, it is normal for a thin layer of dough to stick to the pan and sizzle. Remove the pan from the heat and scrape the dough into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. On low speed, mix until the dough feels merely warm, not hot, to the touch, 3 to 5 minutes.


With the mixer still on low speed, beat in the eggs, one at a time. After each egg is added, the dough will separate into small lumps and then come back together. After the dough pulls back together, briefly (about 20 seconds) increase the speed to medium-low to mix the dough well. Reduce the speed to low before adding the next egg. After the addition of the last egg, scrape the bowl well and beat on medium-low for a final 30 seconds.

Scrape the dough into a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch tip. Twist the top of the bag to push the dough toward the tip. Pipe little mounds, about the size of a chocolate truffle, onto the parchment-lined pan, leaving 1/2-inch spaces between them. The first time I used this recipe, I MacGyver-ed a pastry bag, making a tip out of a circle of a cereal box and taping it to the corner of a gallon ziploc bag. It worked, but I was glad that I'd upgraded by the time I finally got around to these. Alternately, you can spoon the dough onto the pan like drop cookies, but the dough will be very sticky. Having wet hands helped corral the cream puff shells. Bake them on the center rack for about 25 minutes, until they're lightly browned. (The original recipe says golden brown, but I don't like that phrase.)

To finish: Scoop filling into a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4 inch tip (give or take). Poke the tip through the side of each cream puff, squeezing the pastry bag until the cream puff looks like it's about to explode. You'll probably have to manually encourage the filling to stay near the tip as you go along. Dunk them one by one in the glaze to coat their tops and place them on a serving plate. Or your mouth.

Below are the filling and topping recipes that I used. Additional ones can be found here.

Kahlúa Cream Filling
1/4 cup Kahlúa
1/2 cup mascarpone cheese
1 cup whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
pinch salt

Stir Kahlúa into mascarpone until smooth; set aside. If you happen to be fresh out of mascarpone, as I was, you can sub cream cheese, but you'll have to beat it in with a mixer or it won't get past being cream cheese curds swimming in creamy Kahlúa. In a large bowl, whip the cream until slightly thickened. Add the vanilla, powdered sugar, and salt and continue whipping until stiff peaks form. You want the cream to have a lot of body, but don't over-mix or the cream will be "curdy."
Using a rubber spatula, mix about a quarter of the whipped cream into the mascarpone, stirring until smooth. Fold the mixture into the whipped cream until smooth. Whip on low speed for 5 to 10 seconds (no longer) to give the mixture body. Refrigerate until ready to fill the pastry shells.

Chocolate-Kahlúa Ganache Topping
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 cup chopped bittersweet chocolate (5 ounces) I use chocolate chips; they're pre-chopped!
1 teaspoon light corn syrup
1 tablespoon Kahlúa

In a small saucepan, heat the cream over medium heat until it is hot and bubbles form around the edges of the pan. Remove from heat and add the chocolate, corn syrup, and Kahlúa. Let stand for 4 to 5 minutes and then stir until smooth. Let cool slightly before dipping filled cream puffs.