When I first started baking years ago, I was always intimidated by anything French. Soufflé, brulé and any other foreign-sounding custard, cake or dough immediately made my head spin, and that was before even looking at the recipe.
It’s true, French baking is hard to perfect, but if you follow directions carefully, you’ll be whipping up recipes like this pâte à choux in no time at all. And remember, practice makes perfect.
The best part about knowing how to make something like choux is that, once you’ve perfected your dough, you can fill it with nearly anything — sweet or savory.
For these cream puffs, I took a basic choux recipe (I like Joanne Chang’s) and filled it with a basic cream filling, kicked-up with a splash of House Spirits’ Coffee Liqueur. The light hint of coffee flavor this liqueur lends makes these perfect for serving at your next morning office meeting or impressing guests after dinner.
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 45 minutes
Makes: 12 large cream puffs (or 24 small cream puffs)
Ingredients:
Joanne Chang’s Pâte À Choux
1 stick butter
1 tablespoon sugar
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup water
1 cup + 1 tablespoon flour
4 eggs, whisked
Coffee Liqueur Filling
1 pint extra heavy whipping cream
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
3 tablespoons House Spirits’ Coffee Liqueur
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400° F.
In a medium-size pot over medium heat, heat butter, sugar, salt and water together until butter has melted. (Don’t let it come to a boil.)
Once the butter has melted, stir in all the flour at once. The mixture will resemble thick pancake batter. Stir continuously over medium heat for 5 minutes, or until the mixture is more dough-like, and a film appears on the bottom of the pan.
Once the mixture has thickened into a dough, remove from heat. Place dough in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat on medium for 1 minute.
On medium-low speed, slowly add the whisked eggs to the mixture. Once fully combined, turn speed up to high and beat for 30 seconds, or until dough is shiny.
Transfer the dough into a pastry bag and pipe out 1 ½-inch balls of dough onto a greased baking sheet. Once all the dough has been piped, place tray in the oven and bake at 400° F for 15 minutes, or until puffs have risen.
Once the puffs have risen, lower heat to 325° F and continue baking for 30 minutes, or until choux is golden brown.
While the dough cooks, prepare the filling by combining whipping cream, powdered sugar and coffee liqueur into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Beat on high speed for 3 to 5 minutes, or until stiff peaks form. Place in refrigerator to chill.
Once the choux has finished baking, remove from oven and let cool completely.
To fill the choux, transfer cream filling into a pastry bag and either pipe directly into the puffs by making a small hole, or cut puffs in half and fill like ice cream sandwiches.
