Can you be in love with a dessert? Well, these raspberry cream puffs might just steal your heart!
These raspberry cream puffs are the perfect treat, elegant and beyond scrumptious… So, do you eat it with a fork, a spoon, or do you risk getting it on your nose with the first bite? Well, personally I would just dive in and enjoy the sweet but tangy flavour of fresh raspberries. Sometimes you have to enjoy things like nobody’s watching!
I am obsessed with raspberry cream puffs. The first bite is always exciting, here you can enjoy fresh raspberry pastry cream, raspberries, and jam, all wrapped up in crispy choux and topped with craquelin. Talk about a flavour explosion! If you have never made cream puffs before, you certainly have to try! I promise, these raspberry cream puffs don’t disappoint.
Why you will love this recipe:
-Minimal ingredients are required, heck if you have milk, flour, and butter, you are more than halfway there
-This dessert is a crowd-pleaser, guaranteed to wow family members
-Enjoy the perfect bite, creamy, tangy and crispy!
In this article, you will learn all about raspberry cream puffs, my cream puff recipe, raspberry pastry cream, and do’s and don’ts of making choux buns.
How to make raspberry cream puffs:
I am obsessed with choux buns, as they are the perfect canvas to make some pretty outstanding desserts. Choux can be sweet or savoury. Once you know how to make them, you can dream up as many flavour combinations as you like.
Why didn’t my cream puffs puff up?
There are three main reasons why your cream puffs may not have puffed. The first reason may be, that you didn’t measure your ingredients precisely. Baking is a science and ingredients need to be in correct proportions for certain reactions to happen. Simply try again.
Second, when you put your cream puffs in the oven, you may have opened the door before they were done. Cream puffs rely on steam to help them rise. So, as soon as you open the door, all the warm steamy air escapes, causing them to collapse.
Lastly, your oven simply isn’t hot enough. Before making cream puffs, pop an oven thermometer into the oven and make sure it is at the correct temperature.
How far in advance can you fill your cream puffs?
There are a few schools of thought on this. Personally, I believe the day you fill your puffs is the day they need to be eaten. Once the puffs have been filled with pastry cream or whipping cream, the pastry will start to soften, and they will lose their natural integrity. Nobody likes soggy cream puffs.
However, your can store completely cooled unfilled cream puffs in an airtight container up to three days before piping.
Are choux buns the same thing as cream puffs?
Yes, choux buns and cream puffs are the exact same things and made the exact same way!
Useful tips and tricks:
Over the years I’ve picked up some very useful techniques for making cream puffs. I hope they make your experience as seamless as they have made mine!
-Relax, choux are not hard to make. You might be trying new techniques you never tried before, and that is okay (trust me they are a lot simpler than macarons). Read the recipe once through, prepare your ingredients and your equipment, and you are set!
-Once choux dough is made, it can hang out in a pastry bag for about two hours with no implications.
-Go ahead and pipe your dough onto a cookie sheet so they can sit out until they are ready to be baked.
-Dip your fingertips into some water and lightly flick water onto the cookie sheet right before you put it in the oven. The extra moisture will help the dough rise and create a steamy environment.
-Never oven the oven door! You will know they are done when they are a lovely shade of amber.
Baking Overview:
This recipe is divided into three stages, the craquelin, the cream puffs (choux), and filling. When making this recipe, I recommend pre-measuring and setting out your ingredients so they are at hand.
The craquelin is the topper to the choux, it’s what gives it that lovely crumbly and crunchy texture. Essentially, you are creating a paste that is then rolled out, and then frozen. Once frozen it is cut into disks and placed over top of the piped choux. Since the doughs are of two different temperatures and chemical makeups, they have different rates of baking. Therefore, we get this lovely texture. Please note that this stage is optional, it will not affect your cream puff, only the look and mouthfeel.
The choux use a few simple ingredients, some milk, water, sugar, a little fat, and flour. With these ingredients you are off to the races. Be sure to follow the recipe exactly and ensure that you spoon and level off your measuring cups for the most precise measurement. I also recommend using a wood spoon or plastic spoon when mixing, I find a spatula doesn’t quite do the job here. Once the choux are piped and ready to go into the oven, lightly flick some water onto the cookie sheet. This extra moisture will help these bad boys rise!
The raspberry pastry cream is made up of, again, very simple ingredients. I personally use jam in this recipe as an easy shortcut. I love using jam because it is jam packed (excuse the pun) with flavour and easy to incorporate into buttercreams, pastry creams, and cakes.
Just a reminder, cream puffs usually last around 3 days in an airtight container unfilled, past that point I find they become stale. However, once cream puffs are filled they are best eaten the day of if serving to guests. If it is for yourself, you can get away with 2 days.
Raspberry Cream Puffs
Equipment
- Large and small bowls
- Spatula
- Wooden or plastic spoon
- Stand or hand mixer
- Cookie sheets
- Wax paper or silicone mats
- Piping bag
- Wilton 2A and 6B tip or any other tip you like
- Serrated knife
- Sieve
Ingredients
Craquelin:
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 cup AP flour
Choux:
- 2/3 cup water
- 1/3 cup whole milk
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter cut into cubes
- 3/4 cup + 3 tbsp AP flour
- 5 eggs room temperature
Pastry Cream:
- 1 1/4 cup whole milk
- 1/4 cup condensed milk
- 3 tbsp + 2 tsp unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 6 egg yolks room temperature
- 1/4 cup AP flour
- 1/4 cup + 3 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 1/2 heaping spoonfuls of raspberry jam
- 2 3/4 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 cup whipping cream
Garnish:
- 1 large container of raspberries
- Powder sugar
Instructions
Method: Craquelin
- Prepare 1 large cookie sheet and two large sheets of parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, add butter and sugar, whiz up until smooth, about 3 mins. Add flour in two portions, mixing until combined.
- Pour the dough onto a piece of parchment paper and form a flat disk with your hands. Add the second sheet of parchment paper on top. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough until it is ¼ inch in thickness. Place on cookie sheet and put in freezer for at least 30mins, or until ready to use.
Method: Cream Puffs
- Preheat oven to 375°F, prepare cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicon mat.
- In a large pot, add water, milk, butter, and bring to a boil.
- Once boiling, remove from heat and add flour. With a wood or plastic spoon, start mixing. Add back to element and continue to mix vigorously until the dough pulls away from the side of the pot and a film forms on the bottom of the pot.
- Add dough to a large bowl. Add one egg at a time until each egg is incorporated. Don’t worry that every time an egg is added the dough separates. It will come back together.
- Add dough to a large piping bag with a 2A wilton tip or a large circular pastry tip. Pipe 1.5 inch circles 2 inches apart on the lined cookie sheet. Wet finger in cold water to fix any imperfections or points. Lightly flick cool water onto the cookie sheet.
- Remove craquelin from freezer. Using a circular cutter or circle traced on paper, cut rounds out about 2-2.5 inches in diameter. Place disks on top of each cream puff.
- Place in oven and bake for 35 mins or until a golden amber color. Remember, do not open the door!
- Once done, place on cooling rack. Let cool completely before adding the filling.
Method: Pastry Cream
- In a large pot, add milk, condensed milk, butter, and sugar, and bring to a boil. While waiting for the pot to boil add egg yolks, flour, and cornstarch to a medium sized bowl. Whisk until light in colour and thick.
- Once the milk mixture is boiling, remove from heat and pour ⅓ cup of the milk into the egg mixture while whisking. This is called tempering. Once combined, add the egg mixture to the pot and whisk continuously. Add the pot back to the heat, whisk briskly as not to allow the mixture to burn. As soon as it starts to thicken, remove and add to a bowl. Spoon in your raspberry jam and whisk until well incorporated.
- Place cling wrap directly over the surface and place in the fridge for 1 hour. Then, remove and let it come to room temperature.
- When you are ready to pipe, cream butter. Then, slowly spoon in pastry cream until it is completely combined. Whip up whipping cream until the cream sticks to the whisk, and then fold into pastry cream.
- Add the pastry cream to a piping bag with a 6B Wilton tip.
Method: Assembly
- With a serrated knife, cut the tops off the choux (about ½ inch down) and lightly dust the caps with powdered sugar.
- Add a spoonful of jam to the inside of each choux. Then, fill each choux with pastry cream, press a raspberry into the center, and then pipe the cream in a spiral motion creating a swirl. Add the choux top back on, pipe a little pastry cream to the base of a raspberry, place it on top, and set aside. Repeat until done.
- Enjoy! – if the choux are to be stored before serving, place in fridge, then let come to room temperature before serving.
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