{"id":27371,"date":"2018-01-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-09-08T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/origin-www.tasteofhome.com\/recipes\/state-fair-cream-puffs\/"},"modified":"2025-01-24T10:37:09","modified_gmt":"2025-01-24T16:37:09","slug":"state-fair-cream-puffs","status":"publish","type":"recipe","link":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/recipes\/state-fair-cream-puffs\/","title":{"rendered":"Cream Puffs"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I think of cream puffs, I picture one of two things. The first image in my head shows a graceful French pastry chef piping elegant swirls of choux pastry<\/a> onto baking trays in an immaculate bakery, with classical music playing in the background. The second image is a loud and crowded expo hall at the state fair where humongous cream puffs\u2014piled high with copious amounts of fluffy whipped cream\u2014are plated on styrofoam plates. They’re enjoyed on checkered tablecloths as barnyard animals rally in the background. With equal vigor, these contrasting mental images make me want to do the same thing: devour a giant cream puff.<\/p>\n

The good news is that you don’t have to visit a fancy French dessert shop or wait for the fair to roll into town to enjoy a cream puff. With our best cream puff recipe, you can make a batch of homemade cream puffs anytime you want. The method is fairly straightforward, and you’ll learn how to make cream puffs in no time flat. Then, you can get creative and flavor or fill your puffs with anything your heart desires.<\/p>\n

How to Make Cream Puffs<\/h2>\n

Cream puff recipes<\/a> begin with what’s called choux pastry (aka p\u00e2te \u00e0 choux<\/em>). This delicate pastry dough is used to make this recipe for cream puffs and pastries like chocolate eclairs<\/a>, cheddar gougeres<\/a> (cheese puffs), French cruller doughnuts<\/a> and sometimes beignets<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Other doughs and batters rely on yeast or a chemical leavener like baking powder to make them rise, but choux batter has a high moisture content that creates steam as it bakes in the oven. The steam gets trapped inside the dough, creating air pockets that help the dough rise and puff.<\/p>\n

Another defining feature of choux is that it’s mixed and prepared partially on the stovetop. Melted butter, water and salt are cooked with flour to make a thick, heavy paste (almost like a roux<\/a>). Then, the mixture is removed from the heat and beaten with eggs to loosen the dough to the proper consistency. From there, the dough is scooped or piped onto baking sheets into the desired shape and baked until puffed and lightly golden.<\/p>\n

Once baked, the shells are cooled and then dipped, glazed or filled with the desired toppings or fillings. In this case, we fill the puffs with sweetened whipped cream. You could also swap in pastry cream<\/a>, a thick custard that’s another popular filling for cream puffs.<\/p>\n

Ingredients for Cream Puffs<\/h2>\n

\"butter,Jonathan Melendez for Taste Recipes<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n