Cream puffs have been one of my favorite desserts since the first time I sunk my teeth into one. The first one I ever had was the kind that you purchase from the frozen section of the grocery store, which someone had brought to a party many, many, years ago. Indeed those actually were quite good, so immediately following that party, I remember going home and searching for a recipe to make them from scratch. The homemade version was of course far better than the store bought version. Since then I’ve tried several recipes and learned a few tips and tricks along the way. The two tips I like best are replacing the traditional all-purpose flour used in the cream puffs with bread flour and replacing one of the whole eggs with two egg whites. The bread flour add more gluten which will allow the use of more liquids and better rise and the egg whites will help dry the actual puffs more.
For these cream puffs I decided to use both a pastry cream and a whipped cream. Normally you’ll see cream puffs stuffed or filled with one or the other but I thought why not use both? Then you get the thick creaminess of the pastry cream and the light fluffiness of the whipped cream all in one. A perfect and dreamy, custard plus cloud-like combo. Also, I do like to mention the shortcut versions if I have tried and enjoy them, so the cheater version here which is also good (thanks to the use of the cream of course =) if you don’t have time to make the homemade pastry cream: simply combine 1 cup cream, 1 cup milk and 1 (5.1) oz package of instant vanilla pudding mix and stir about 3 minutes. Enjoy!
