A little while ago, I asked the question if I should share the recipe of the cream puffs I've been posting about. So many said yes, and that's when this first blog post came to life. I've been thinking about a way to do some more with my website besides the selling and thought this would be a good starting point.
I will also give you a little context about this recipe. My boyfriend and I are quite often in France to source new items for Magasin. While we travel around we also spoil ourselves with all the pastries France has to offer. So in Lille, we went to L'Ogre de Carrouselberg, a top tier pastry shop. Here we fell in love with their cream puffs and went back to this shop every time we were in Lille. The cream puffs I make are based on the one we had there, but trust me, mines are not as good, so would recommend visiting the pastry shop when in Lille.
For the (20-ish) puffs (recipe from Heel Holland Bakt):
- 100 ml milk
- 100 ml water
- 100 gr butter
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 100 gr flour (sifted)
- 3 to 4 eggs
For the cream:
- 250 ml heavy cream
- Orange blossom extract (I use the one from Souq, to taste)
- Vanilla (to taste, and whatever kind of vanilla you prefer)
- Sugar (to taste)
To serve:
- Icing sugar
- Orange blossom extract
Combine the milk, water and butter in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Take it from the heat and add the sifted flour and the salt and stir well. Put it back on the heat and keep on stirring until a fat film arises on the bottom of the pan. Transfer the batter to a different bowl and stir it until it has cooled down so the batter is not hot anymore.
Then one by one, stir in the eggs. Make sure that the egg is fully incorporated before adding a new egg. When you have reached the third egg, decide if it is necessary to add the fourth egg. The batter should be shiny and not run easily off of your spatula. You can also choose to whisk the egg and add the last egg little by little.
You can use a piping bag or two spoons to make the puffs on a baking tray with parchment paper. You can make them as big as you'd like, but remember they will grow in the oven so keep enough space in between them.
Bake them on 180 degrees for at least 20 minutes, but the perfect way to know if they are ready is looking at the creases of the puffs after these 20 minutes. The creases need to be golden brown as well, otherwise they will collapse after you took them out of the oven!
When they are nice and golden, take them out and let them cool before filling them with the whipped cream.
Put the cream into a large bowl and add the orange blossom extract, vanilla and some sugar. Whisk it for a while and then do a little taste test if you think it is good or if it needs a bit more of the ingredients. I really enjoy a quite fragrant cream, but taste differs! If you've reached the perfect taste, continue whisking until the cream is thick and not runny.
I would recommend using a piping bag for filling the puffs (I think you can buy them at some grocery stores or your local cooking shop). I use a piping nozzle (is this really the right term in English lol) with sharp teeth, so to say, so that it's easy to make a little hole in the bottom of the puff and fill it with cream.
This is not a necessary step, but makes it a bit more sweet. Combine some icing sugar and extract in a small bowl (all eyeballing) and whisk it. You can dip the cream puffs in it and then top it off with a little bit more icing sugar.
Enjoy!!!