Cream Puffs: not as hard as you may think!
Cream puffs are a very impressive dessert and are often featured at fancy French restaurants, however, they aren’t very difficult to make! Gluten free cream puffs are actually made the same way as gluten filled cream puffs other than using a GF all purpose flour (such as “Better Batter” or “Cup 4 Cup”) that contains xanthan gum.
If you’ve never made choux pastry before, you may be feeling intimidated by the idea of cooking a dough on the stove, piping it, piercing it later and more. But luckily, I think I’ve perfected the recipe!
The BEST choux pastry –
Ever since I ate a lemon and raspberry cream puff at “Be Our Guest” in Walt Disney’s Magic Kingdom, I’ve been obsessed. Any time I can order a Gluten Free cream puff, I jump at the chance. So, I’ve tried out a number of recipes for different types of gluten free choux, but the best gluten free cream puff recipe isn’t a traditional choux! It’s a little bit more flexible and foolproof, and DEFINITELY not as labor intensive. I’ve made this recipe many times, and the end result is delicious!
Cream Puff Ingredients:
Like any choux pastry, the ingredient are very simple, and you probably already have them in your house. All you need is GF all purpose flour, sugar, kosher salt, butter, eggs, and water.
The important fact is that your gluten free all purpose flour contains xanthan gum! Without it, the recipe just won’t work, because xanthan gum is what give gluten free flour the same end result as gluten filled flour when it comes to baking. If you don’t have a good all purpose (GF) flour, you can buy Cup 4 Cup HERE.
Choux reference photos –
The choux recipe (non traditional, that is) is pretty straight forward, and the directions can be found in the recipe below.
So, for reference, here are some step by step photos:
The first picture is what the first step should give you! This should be rather firm, pale in color, and one solid mixture.
The second picture is the finished choux pastry. It should be thinner than step one, however, it should hold its shape when piped.
Picture 3 is the piped cream puffs, I like to pipe little swirls.
The Pastry Cream –
This pastry cream is a little different from a traditional pastry cream because the strawberry puree is actually cooked into it during the process.
Pastry Cream Ingredients –
For the pastry cream, you need 1/2 cup of strawberry puree, 2 cups of 2% milk, 2 egg yolks, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tbsp butter, and 1/4 cup cornstarch. This recipe can be daunting as well, but I use an electric mixture to make it a little easier.
Making the cream puffs:
After baking, you should end up with around 36 cream puffs. For reference, this is what they should look like after being baked –
To construct the cream puffs, use a serrated knife and gently slice through the middle, horizontally. Often, cream puffs are made by piping the filling into the baked pastry, but I think this technique is prettier.
After cutting the cream puffs in half, pipe some of the strawberry filling onto the bottom half using a circular motion.
Then, add fresh strawberries to the top of the cream swirls. I like to cube my strawberries into really small pieces so they’re easier to eat.
After this, take the top of the choux sandwiches and pipe a very small amount of strawberry cream to the top piece of each puff to ensure the top of the sandwich sticks to the rest of the cream puff.
Transfer your BEAUTIFUL cream puffs to a large plate, and serve! With Father’s Day coming up, it’s important to show your dads how much you love them. Do it with cream puffs!
Mini Gluten Free Strawberry Cream Puffs
Ingredients
For the Choux Pastry
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup all purpose gluten free flour
- 6 tbsp butter, cubed
- 1/8 tsp kosher salt
- 2 tbsp sugar
For the Strawberry Cream Filling
- 2 cups 2% milk
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup strawberry puree
- chopped strawberries (about 6 strawberries)
Instructions
Make the Choux Pastry
- In a saucepan, add the sugar, salt, water, and butter. Bring to a boil.
- Turn the heat down to low, and add the flour. Using a wooden spoon or silicone spatula, stir until well combined.
- Add the dough to a large electric stand mixer, and using the paddle attachment, beat for about 2-3 minutes until significantly cooled.
- Add the eggs one at a time, mixing on medium speed. Once fully combined, transfer into a large piping bag. Snip the tip off of the piping bag so the opening is about 1/2 inch.
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. On a baking sheet lined with parchment, pipe out small swirls of choux, about 2 inches in diameter.
- bake at 400 degrees for 5-7 minutes (until puffed up) and then return the heat to 375 and bake for 10 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and slice the side of each cream puff open to allow the air to escape.
Making the pastry cream
- In a large saucepan, add the milk, half of the sugar, and the salt. Bring to a simmer over medium to low heat. Stir continuously
- In a large bowl, mix the egg yolks, rest of the sugar, cornstarch, and strawberry puree.
- Add half of the milk mixture to the bowl with the egg mixture and whisk until combined. Add the new half milk/half egg mixture back to the saucepan, and return to the stove, with the heat on low. Whisk continuously until thick.
- Transfer into a piping bag with a star tip and chill in the fridge until cool.
Making the cream puffs
- Slice each cream puff in half horizontally, using a sharp serrated knife.
- Pipe a base swirl of strawberry cream onto the bottom half of the cream puff sandwich and add a few chopped strawberry pieces to the top. Now, take the top half of each sandwich and pipe a very small amount of cream, just to get it to stick to the rest of the cream puff.
- Make a sandwich, transfer all cream puffs to a large plate, and serve!