This is the dessert people BEG me to bring to parties.
The great thing about this recipe is you can customize it for your needs. You can make full sized cream puffs, or mini, bite sized ones. I have both pictured above.
If you are cooking for someone who needs sugar free ingredients, use sugar free Jello mix. Love that! When I talked to Mom on the phone today, she said that she loves to make the mini ones, and then freeze them.When you are ready to use them, just thaw out in the fridge.
This is very similar to the cream puff eclairs you can find in the frozen section of your grocery store. I can assure you, these are much cheaper, and much more healthy 🙂 Hope you enjoy these wonderful Cream Puffs!
How to Make Cream Puffs
- In a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Heat water ,butter and salt until mixture boils.
- Remove saucepan from heat. With wooden spoon vigorously stir in flour all at once until mixture forms a ball and leaves side of saucepan.
- Add eggs to flour mixture, one at a time, beating after each addition until mixture is smooth and satiny. Cool mixture slightly.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease and flour large cookie sheet or use parchment paper (as shown in picture.) Drop batter by HEAPING tablespoons into 10 mounds for large puffs.
Bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden. Turn off oven and leave in oven 15 minutes. Cool on wire rack. - Note: To make mini cream puffs, drop batter in smaller portions (about a tbsp or a little less to make 20 small mounds) and adjust to a slightly less cooking time.
- Time to make the whipped cream! Pour the 1 cup of heavy whipping cream into a mixing bowl.
- Beat on high for about 3-4 minutes. I used my trusty stand mixer 🙂
- After about 3 minutes, you should have pillowy whipped cream. If not, keep mixing until it looks like the picture. Set aside.
- Prepare pudding according to label directions but use only 1 ¼ cups milk.
- Fold in whipped whipping cream and almond extract.
- Mix by hand until mixed completely.
- After pastry puffs have cooled, and you are ready to used, cut in half and spoon in cream puff filling.
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Cream Puffs
Ingredients
- Here is what you need for the pastry shell (make about 10 large or 15-20 small shells:
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup salted butter
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 4 eggs
- Here is what you need for the cream puff filling:
- 1 package of vanilla instant pudding
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 1 & 1/4 cups of milk
Instructions
- In a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Heat water ,butter and salt until mixture boils.
- Remove saucepan from heat. With wooden spoon vigorously stir in flour all at once until mixture forms a ball and leaves side of saucepan.
- Add eggs to flour mixture, one at a time, beating after each addition until mixture is smooth and satiny. Cool mixture slightly.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease and flour large cookie sheet or use parchment paper (as shown in picture.) Drop batter by HEAPING tablespoons into 10 mounds for large puffs. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden. Turn off oven and leave in oven 15 minutes. Cool on wire rack.
- Time to make the whipped cream! Pour the 1 cup of heavy whipping cream into a mixing bowl.
- Beat on high for about 3-4 minutes. I used my trusty stand mixer 🙂
- After about 3 minutes, you should have pillowy whipped cream. If not, keep mixing until it looks like the picture. Set aside.
- Prepare pudding according to label directions but use only 1 ¼ cups milk.
- Fold in whipped whipping cream and almond extract.
- Mix by hand until mixed completely.
- After pastry puffs have cooled, and you are ready to used, cut in half and spoon in cream puff filling. Serve right away, or place in fridge or freezer for later use.
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Nutrition Disclaimer
Family Fresh Meals is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is only an estimate. We recommend running the ingredients through an online nutritional calculator if you need to verify any information.
Keeley McGuire says
these looks simple & delish 🙂 i’ve never tried making them before. great post!
Jenn @ Peas and Crayons says
*swoon* I bet they are 100000x better than store-bought! <3 And I could never eat just one =) lol
xoxo
Corey @ Family Fresh Meals says
They taste sooo much better, and are much better for you 🙂 Win, win! For any of you out there with nut allergies (almond) you could use vanilla extract instead of the almond.Both taste great 🙂
Jan C says
I make these all the time for my family and friends. The receipe is very simple, but I find that I have to do it the day of the party or the shells get soggy. I don’t make a filling I just use cool whip. No one can tell if it is real cream and I use it frozen right out of the freezer and it stays fresh till serving time.
Nikki says
Ohhhh my goodness, Corey! These are going to be my new go-to for parties! I made this for an Easter brunch yesterday and blew everyone away! I’m shocked at how easy they are because they don’t look easy at all! Thanks for making me the hit of the party!
Irene says
What size package of instant pudding should I purchase?
Corey says
3.5oz 🙂
Nancy says
Tried to PIN this, but no picture. 🙁
Corey says
All fixed up Nancy. Thanks for letting me know 🙂
Berthe says
Omg thankyou 🙂 🙂 🙂
Liz says
Can I use cook and serve pudding? I accidentally bought that instead of instant 🙁
Corey says
I have never used that type, but if you do give it a try, please let us know how it goes.
Liz says
Can I use cook and serve pudding?
Linda says
These cream puffs are delicious like everything else we all add our own touch. Following the pastry shell I added 2 tablespoons of almond and a quarter cup of sugar with 1/8 more flour. What can I say my family loves sweets. Also for the filling I added 4 tablespoons more of sugar and an extra tablespoon of vanilla roughly 4 tablespoons of flour until I got the texture I wanted. If your family is sweet eaters you’ll love this little twist.. I just always have a hard time with the shell not being sweet enough for my family.
Tami Hill says
Yum…just like my Mom’s ❤ Thank you!