Cream Puffs. Vanilla and Dalgona Coffee Flavored

Cream Puffs

Vanilla and Dalgona Coffee

    One of the first few pastries I’ve learned is Cream Puffs. I remember I was only about 11 years old when I first tried it and it felt like I tasted a puff of heaven. As I grew older and discovered that I loved to bake, I knew that I had to learn how to make these.

    A cream puff or a Profiterole is a light dessert made with a choux pastry and piped or filled with cream inside. Choux Pastry or Pâte à Choux is a light pastry dough. It contains butter, water, salt, flour and eggs. Some recipes include milk. Choux means “cabbage” while Pâte means “paste”. It is called cabbage paste because by the looks of it, when already baked, the puffs look like they have little crinkles which gives resemblance to how a cabbage looks like.

    I’ve been making cream puffs for quite a long time now and I have finally been able to perfect these.

    Here are some of the few things you need to know before making them.

    Temperature

    It is important that in the first 10 minutes, you need to bake these puffs at a high temperature which is 425F so that these will rise. Then, most importantly, lower the temperature to 325F WITHOUT OPENING THE OVEN doors because this will deflate the dough. Then, let them bake for about 20-25 minutes more to get them crisp and golden brown in color.

    Before, I used to own such a small electric oven. It did not always give me the right temperature I needed. So, after a few experiments, I always had to adjust the temperature differently. Instead of following what was said in the recipe, I set it with a lower temperature because usually my cream puffs would burn at the bottom leaving a hole in every dough. It was a disaster. So, if you own a small electric oven, you might want to check if it is really giving you the right temperature you need. But, if your oven is as good as new and works perfectly, then there is no problem. 

    Also, make sure to remove the baked Choux immediately from the pans after getting it from the oven because it will stick and leave holes on the bottom if you let them cool there for too long.

    Moisture

    I've read a lot of articles about Cream Puffs and one of the few points that got my attention was brushing the parchment paper with a little bit of water because the water will create moisture. Moisture is really important when baking the Choux because this will help the choux to rise. 

    Storage

    You can absolutely make the shells, the baked Choux Pastry, a day or two ahead but they do tend to soften if made ahead of time. To make them crisp again, bake them uncovered in a preheated oven at 300 degrees Fahrenheit or 150 if Celsius. You can store finished cream puffs in the fridge for up to two days. 

     Cream

    For the cream, I use is pastry cream because it’s light in terms of flavor and thicker in consistency than custard. Heavy whipping cream is a great option but somehow it just tastes like plain cream for me. But it is really up to your preferences.

    I wanted to get a little fancier, so I decided to create Dalgona Coffee Cream puffs since it was a trend. Normally, I just add a tablespoon of instant coffee powder to the pastry cream while it was still hot but the Dalgona Cream itself is very stabilized so I thought about combining it with the pastry cream so that it will get a stronger stability. I wasn't wrong. I got the perfect texture that I needed and I definitely get to call it a Dalgona Coffee Cream Puff. 

    Here is the Recipe:

    Choux Pastry

• ½ cup water
• ½ cup milk
• ½ cup butter
• ¼ tsp fine salt
• 1 cup sifted All Purpose Flour
• 4 whole eggs

    Pastry Cream

• 2 egg yolks
• 1 whole egg
• 1/3 cup and ¼ cup sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups milk
• ¼ cup cornstarch
• 2 tbsp butter

    Dalgona Cream

• 1 tbsp instant coffee powder
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp hot water

    Directions

1.       Preheat the oven to 425F or 220C. Line a large baking sheet or two with parchment papers or silicone mats. Also, prepare a large piping bag tipped with a round or star tip.

2.       For the Choux Pastry: In a saucepan, combine water, butter, and salt. Place over medium heat and cook until the butter melts and the mixture comes to a simmer then lower the heat and add the flour all at once. Stir vigorously until the mixture leaves the sides of the pan and the dough should come together. Then, transfer it to another mixing bowl.

3.       Allow the dough to cool for about 5-7 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition. Once all the eggs are added, continue mixing for one minute.

4.       Transfer the dough into the prepared piping bag and pipe about 1 to 1 ½ inch dollops onto the prepared pans.

5.       Bake them at 425F or 220F for about 10 minutes then, without opening the oven door, reduce the temperature to 350F or 175C then bake for additional 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

6.       Allow them to cool completely.

7.       For the Pastry Cream: In a saucepan, add milk, vanilla extract, salt, and the ¼ cup sugar. Let it simmer in low heat.

8.       In a mixing bowl, add the egg, egg yolks, and the 1/3 cup sugar. Mix until the mixture turns into a light and creamy mixture. Add cornstarch then continue mixing.

9.       When the milk is already hot and simmering, transfer half of the hot milk to the egg mixture a quarter cup at a time mixing after each addition. Bring the tempered mixture back to the saucepan then stir until it becomes a thick creamy mixture. Turn of the heat then add the butter and mix until the butter has completely melted.

10.   Transfer the pastry cream to another bowl or container then cover with cling wrap making sure it touches the cream. This will prevent the cream from forming a film on top. Make sure to do this.

11.   Assembly time: You can assemble these any way you like. You can pipe the cream from the bottom of the choux pastry or you can slice them open with a serrated knife then fill the cream in the middle.

12.   Serve with sprinkled powdered sugar. 

13. For the Dalgona Coffee Cream Puffs: Prepare by combining all the ingredients then whip until firm peaks form. Then, fold in the pastry cream until fully incorporated then it is ready to use.