Easy Cream Puffs Recipe (Video) (2024)

May 20, 2020 By Brandy 18 Comments

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Believe it or not, cream puffs are one of the easiest desserts to make! I’ll share my easy cream puffs recipe, and you can dress them up however you’d like! My favorite way to enjoy them is with a simple cream filling.

French pastries are my absolute favorite. If you like these you might like our homemade cherry turnovers or croissants.

Watch Our Step By Step Video!

My Sweetheart and I recently celebrated our wedding Anniversary. We had a nice dinner at home with the kids, since it was a weeknight, and for dessert, I made one of his favorite treats. Cream puffs! Have you made your own cream puffs before? They look like they might be complicated, but are actually really easy to make only requiring a few ingredients.

How Do You Make Cream Puffs?

You can use this pastry dough for cream puffs, eclairs andchurrosas well! It’s super versatile and so simple.

Easy Cream Puff Dough

First, you’ll heat 1 stick of butter and a cup of water in a saucepan until it comes to a boil. Add a cup of flour and stir until a dough forms. There will probably be a thin film on the bottom of your pan—-that’s normal. The dough isn’t burning, it’s just cooking.

Add 4 eggs, 1 at a time, stirring completely to incorporate each time. The dough will look a bit slimy like it’s not going to come together, but keep stirring because it will. PROMISE.

Use a medium cookie scoop to scoop 20 balls of cream puff dough onto an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. Cream puffs should be golden brown. Let cool.

How big should cream puffs be?

You can make these large or small. Mine are medium shaped, about 2″ when baked.

Cutting and Hollowing Out Cream Puffs

There are a couple of different ways to fill cream puffs. You can inject the cream through the side, or slice the top off and fill with cream then put the top back on. This is what I do.

I take a sharp knife and cut the tip of my cream puff off. Then I pull out the dough in the center to make room for the cream, fill with cream, and put the top of the cream puff back on.

Watch my step by step video to see exactly how to do this!

How To Fill Cream Puffs With Cream

First, you’ll need to decide what kind of cream you’d like to use. My favorites are homemade whipped cream, chocolate mousse, or pastry cream.

Fill a large Ziploc baggie or frosting bag with a large star tip (optional) or simply cut the corner off of the bag. Load bag with filling and fill each cream puff. Place the top of the cream puff back into place.

For a fancier version, spoon a small amount of chocolate ganache over each finished cream puff and refrigerate until firm.

Store cream puffs in the refrigerator. They can be frozen for up to 6 months.

3 More Delicious Desserts That Are Easy To Make

Chocolate Cream Angel Food Cake

Buckeye Chocolate Peanut Butter Sheet Cake

Chocolate Eclair Dessert

Easy Cream Puffs Recipe (Profiteroles)

Believe it or not, cream puffs are one of the easiest desserts to make! I'll share my easy cream puffs recipe, and you can dress them up however you'd like! My favorite way to enjoy them is with a simple cream filling.

4.50 from 8 votes

Ingredients

Cream Puff Dough

1 cup water
1/2 cup butter
1 cup flour
4 large eggs

Homemade Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy whipping cream (granulated por powdered sugar)
3 Tbsp sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Heat water and butter to a rapid boil in a saucepan over medium heat to medium-high heat.
Add flour and reduce heat to low. Stir constantly, using a wooden spoon, for 1 minute or until a soft dough forms.
Remove pan from heat. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat with a spoon until completely mixed in before adding each additional egg. It doesn't seem like the eggs will incorporate, but they WILL. Just be patient!
Scoop balls of dough (I use a medium cookie scoop) and place onto an ungreased baking sheet.
Bake in oven at 400 degrees for 25 minutes or until golden brown and puffed up.
Let cool for 30 minutes on cooling racks (room temperature).
While cream puffs cool, make whipped cream. In a large mixing bowl, by beat heavy whipping cream and sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer or stand mixer until stiff peaks form.
Slice off the tip of each cream puff and gently remove the insides of each cream puff.
Fill a pastry bag or ziploc bag with cream mixture and pipe filling into each cream puff. Replace tops.
Store cream puffs in refrigerator.

Nutrition

Calories: 98kcal

Brandy

Website | + posts

Welcome! I'm Brandy, mother to 5 darling kiddos and a cute black lab named Toby. My husband is in the Coast Guard so we've lived all over the place, turning each house into a home. I love baking, sewing, making cute things with my kids, and sharing what I've learned with all of you!

Reader Interactions

Comments

MrsJenB says
March 24, 2010 at 1:05 pm
I just love cream puffs! The remind me of the ones my aunt used to make for special occasions. Thank you for bringing back that memory for me!
Reply
themasons says
March 24, 2010 at 3:16 pm
I’m so excited to try this I’ve always wanted to make them!
Reply
Lisa F says
March 24, 2010 at 5:17 pm
Um…… can you mail some of those to me? Those look DELICIOUS! I love cream puffs!
Reply
Me and My Pink Mixer says
March 24, 2010 at 6:08 pm
Oh yum ~ I love cream puffs! I have only made them once & that was years ago – will have to try this recipe soon!
Reply
Wendy says
March 24, 2010 at 7:01 pm
Oh YUMMY! I will be trying these babies!
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Brooke says
March 24, 2010 at 8:21 pm
Happy Anniversary! I was thinking about you yesterday. And those cream puffs look dang good!
Reply
Steph @ somewhatsimple says
March 25, 2010 at 2:35 am
Mmmmm… I am going to feature these on my sidebar tomorrow!
Reply
michelle@somedaycrafts says
March 26, 2010 at 4:22 am
Those look so delish!!!
Reply
K. Ruhl says
March 30, 2010 at 4:44 pm
These sound so good! I must try them <3
Reply
shopannies says
June 29, 2010 at 5:10 pm
mmmm goood looks so delicious
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Its A Blog Party says
July 2, 2010 at 8:48 pm
Yum! Those look sooo good!
Thanks for linking up!
~Liz
Reply
Connie says
June 3, 2022 at 4:48 pm

Hi can the shell be frozen once it’s baked ??
Reply
- Brandy says
  June 5, 2022 at 5:29 pm
  Yes! Cream puffs freeze really well (filled or unfilled).
  Reply
MT says
March 18, 2023 at 7:55 pm
I put on ungreased baking pan and they all stuck!
Reply
Nicky says
September 2, 2023 at 1:29 pm

These were unbelievably easy to make, especially for someone like me who avoids baking at all costs. Followed the recipe but didn’t have a piping bag or ziplock bag so used a tablespoon measure to generously dollop them onto the parchment paper and they came out perfect!
Reply
- Brandy says
  September 2, 2023 at 1:37 pm
  Nicky, this made my day! So glad you found the recipe easy to follow. These were one of the first “fancy” things I ever tried making and I couldn’t believe how easy they were either!
  Reply
Marilyn Truman says
September 26, 2023 at 12:43 pm
What did I do wrong? Mine didn’t puff up.
Reply
- Brandy says
  September 27, 2023 at 3:20 pm
  Hi Marilyn! I’ve never had any issues with them puffing up and have made this recipe many times so I’m not sure what could have gone wrong, but this reddit thread might be helpful! https://www.reddit.com/r/pastry/comments/fypx64/my_cream_puffs_didnt_puff/
  Reply