Cream Puffs

Cream Puffs served with
Home Made Ice Cream and Chocolate Sauce

Cream Puffs filled with Custard Cream

Cooling the puffs on a rack

When I was in my teens, my mom used to sell cream puffs in her little F&B corner at a large Billiard centre. We would get about minimum of 50 to 200 cream puffs daily (more on a weekend and holidays) from Maxims Bakery across the road to complement the drinks as snacks for our customers. The cream puffs from Maxims were really fresh and an Indian man delivers it to us fresh daily about 10am. When it is delivered, it is still slightly warm and it smells heavenly. The custard was not too sweet but it really was delicious. Since then, if I wanted to have Cream Puffs filled with Custard Cream, it has got to be one that is from Maxims. The fresh taste and heavenly smell has been etched in my mind for the longest time.

I remembered one day reading Cooking Momster's blog when I came across her trying out Durian cream puffs. I'm not a fan of durian pastries except for the original fruit but she wrote that making cream puffs were in fact quite simple to make. I decided to open up the recipe book I have and compared recipes for cream puffs. I shortlisted 2 recipes for try outs.

So I finally got started this morning. Oh, Cooking Momster was right. It was simple. And what was wonderful about making cream puffs was that you don't need any mixer at all. I did them all from the stove and table top in my aluminium cheap saucepan.

Here is the recipe for making the choux pastry.

125ml water
60gm butter
75g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 med eggs

Heat 125ml water in the sauce pan. Add the butter in and let it boil. Once boiled, pour in the flour and baking powder mixture and stir it till it becomes a lump like a wet dough. When it leaves the side of the pan and forms into a ball add in the egg that has been lightly beaten. Using a whisk, mix the mixture till becomes a smooth paste.

Scoop or pipe the mixture in a greased and lined pan. In an oven (180 deg C) bake it for about 20 minutes or until it has risen to a nice light golden colour of puffs. Remove from oven and when cooled, cut it and fill it with custard cream, whipped cream or serve with ice cream. My youngest daughter enjoying her filled after my photoshoot...



If you are into custard filling, here is the recipe which I've made before.

A Custard Filling
250 ml milk
2tbsp custard powder
2tbsp sugar
1tsp flour
half yolk

Mix 50ml of milk, custard powder and flour into a paste in a small bowl. Add the yolk in.

Boil the rest of the milk and sugar in a small saucepan. When it is simmering, add the custard mixture inside and continue stirring till it becomes thick and custardy. Remove from heat, and let it cool down. While a little warm, scoop it into the cream puff shells. Serve when these puffs are hot.


B Whipped Cream filling
Whipp about 200mls of whipping cream and a tablespoon of icing sugar in a mixer till it turns to soft peak. Scoop this into your cooled puff shells. Refrigerate for one or two hours. Drizzle chocolate sauce over it before serving.


C Serve with Ice Cream
Plain cream puffs are yummy when served with Ice Cream. Drizzle your favourite chocolate, strawberry or caramel sauce over it. And it makes great cocktail snacks too.