Polish Ptysie Cream Puffs Recipe That Will Make Your Mouth Water! (2024)

FAQs

Is choux pastry the same as cream puffs? ›

Pate a Choux or Cream Puff Pastry--It's All the Same Simple Recipe. Whether it's called pate a choux, choux paste or cream puff pastry, the recipe is the same. This simple mixture of butter, water, salt, flour and eggs, when properly combined, bakes into golden brown cream puff and eclair shells.

Croquembouche (Cream Puff Tree)

Because you have to add the eggs (1) little by little when the water flour and butter mix is COLD (40C) and (2) you need to add egg ONLY until you reach the right texture (not too hard, not too liquid). If you add all the eggs, it will almost always be too liquid and disaster ensues.

It is important to bring the water and butter mixture to a full boil before adding the flour as heat is necessary to swell the starch granules in the flour. A full boil is reached when stirring does not reduce the strength of the boil. Eggs: are the leavening (rising) agent.

Light and airy cream puffs, filled with thick pastry cream, fluffy whipped cream, or velvety crème légère (pastry cream lightened with whipped cream), are a classic dessert. Composed of just two versatile elements—pâte à choux and the filling of your choice—they're also cinch to whip up.

Insert the tip of the bag into the hole you made at the bottom of the puff and gently squeeze until filled (the puff will feel heavy and the cream will start to come back out from the hole on the bottom). Wipe off excess cream from the bottom and continue until all puffs are filled.

Use a paring knife to make a small X in the bottom of each puff to create an opening for filling. Transfer pastry cream to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/8-inch plain round tip. Insert the tip into the opening of each pastry, and pipe to fill with pastry cream. Serve immediately.

You need to start your cream puffs at a high temperature, like 400°, to generate steam which helps provide lift. After about 10 minutes or so you need to reduce the temperature to about 350° and hold the pastry at that temperature long enough for the interior of the shells to completely dry.

If the puffs collapse it means there was too much moisture in them. So either you did not dry the dough enough, or they were not cooked enough. To avoid this I recommend drying the dough really well (see below) and cracking the door of the oven open when the choux are baked.