If you have ever had a cream puff, you know the immeasurable joy that comes with taking a bite into a dainty cloud-like pastry, only to reveal a velvety whipped cream on the inside that melts in your mouth.
For the uninitiated, cream puffs are not just another dessert; they are edible dreams!
Ube cream puffs are light desserts made by baking choux pastry and filling them with ube-flavored whipped cream. These bite-sized pastries are lightly crisp on the outside but airy and delicately sweet on the inside. You won’t be able to eat just one!
Join us on a culinary journey to discover the art of crafting these lovely confections and awaken the pastry chef inside of you.
Our recipe is beginner friendly and you’ll get an introduction to choux pastry, which is a dough that can be used for a variety of baked goods.
Get ready to whip, pipe, and savor your way to cream puff heaven with this easy recipe!
These light and airy cream puffs are the perfect desserts to eat after a hearty main dish! And if you are looking for more delightful ube recipes, we’ve got you covered!
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Table of Contents
What is pâte à choux?
Pâte à choux (French for “cabbage paste”) is a light, golden pastry dough that is used throughout French baking. It’s crispy on the outside, and light and airy on the inside.
Traditional pâte à choux dates all the way back to 1540, and uses only four ingredients – butter, water, flour, and eggs. Our recipe adds milk, sugar, and salt for a little extra flavor and texture.
This dough is different from other pastries because it relies on steam to rise the dough (as opposed to yeast fermentation which uses secreted CO2 and Ethanol).
This dough contains a lot of moisture, so when you bake it, the steam rises up and creates air pockets as it escapes from the dough.
Another difference is that you will pre-cook the dough on the stove, which helps activate the starch and increase moisture in the dough for steaming.
“But wait, did you just say it’s called ‘cabbage paste?'”
Yup, no typo here. This pastry dough is named as such because the texture of the raw dough is paste-like (“pate” in French) and the buns resemble little cabbages (“choux” in French). Therefore, it’s appropriately named cabbage paste.
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What is the difference between pâte à choux and cream puffs?
Pâte à choux is a crispy, flakey dough that is used to make many types of French pastries including cream puffs.
However, pâte à choux alone does not make a cream puff.
Cream puffs are a traditional French dessert that consists of light, airy dough filled with cream.
Besides cream puffs, choux pastry is used for eclairs, profiteroles, beignets, religieuse, St. Honore cake, and more!
Key tips for a successful puff
The worst thing that can happen to your puffs is that, well, they don’t puff. Here are our best tips that will help you make a perfect puff:
- Slowly add in beaten eggs until the consistency is right for YOU. The right amount depends on the eggs you use and the dough you have in front of you. Following a recipe to a T might lead to an over-watery or under-watery consistency. Remember, you want its consistency to be sturdy enough to hold its shape, but moist enough to create steam. Look for a paste-like consistency in which the peaks are wet but barely lose their shape after you stop mixing.
- Lightly brush the parchment paper with water before piping. This adds extra moisture so the steam can really puff up the pastry.
- Pipe the dough onto the baking sheet. Piping will let you create a better vertical mound. Don’t try to take a shortcut and just use a spoon. We tried this once, and while the puffs did inflate, they were more disc-shaped and flat (like a tatami floor pillow, iykyk).
- DON’T open the oven door at all during the baking process. The sudden change in temperature will cause the puffs to collapse. Instead, take advantage of your oven light to check on your puffs’ progress.
- Poke the puffs with a toothpick as soon as you remove them from the oven. This allows the remaining steam to escape, preventing any collapsing or sogging. And if you’re worried about aesthetics, dust the tops with powdered sugar later to hide the toothpick holes.
How to make cream puffs
The first part of making cream puffs is pre-cooking the dough to make choux pastry.
Ingredients
Choux pastry
- 1 stick unsalted butter softened to room temp
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup whole milk
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 3-4 eggs beaten
Ube whipped cream
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream ice cold
- ¼ tsp ube extract
Other
- powdered sugar for dusting
Ube Purple Yam Flavoring Extract by Butterfly 1 Oz.
Recipe
Prepare the choux pastry
- Preheat the oven to 400 °F.
- Mix butter, water, whole milk, salt, and sugar in a pot. Bring to a simmer.
- Add flour as you stir. Stir for 1 minute while the dough turns into a ball.
- Move the dough into a bowl then allow it to cool down a few minutes.
- Crack 3-4 eggs in a separate bowl and beat them. With an electric mixer, slowly mix the dough and add in the beaten eggs one at a time. Stop adding eggs as soon as it reaches a pipeable consistency. Look for a paste-like consistency in which the peaks are wet but barely lose their shape after you stop mixing. Use any leftover egg for the eggwash. See Note 1.
Note 1. The amount of eggs you use depends on the quality and size of your eggs, so you’ll need to add them in a little at a time to achieve a pipeable consistency.
For this dough, you want its consistency to be sturdy enough to hold its shape, but moist enough to create steam.
If you add too many eggs, it will be too watery and the dough won’t keep its shape. If you add too little eggs, the dough won’t have enough moisture to create steam.
While mixing, look for a paste-like consistency in which the peaks are wet but barely lose their shape after you stop mixing.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Lightly brush the parchment paper with water.
- Pipe 2-inch mounds onto the parchment paper, leaving about 2-3 inches of space between each mound. Gently smooth down peaks with the back of a spoon. See Note 2.
- Use a baster to brush the tops with egg wash.
Note 2. If you don’t have a piping bag and tip, the best alternative is to use a plastic bag and cut one of the corners off.
We don’t recommend using a spoon to scoop out the dough because the resulting dough will not pile up vertically enough, leading to flat cream puffs (speaking from experience!).
Bake the choux pastry
- Important Note: You will be lowering the heat during the baking process. DO NOT open the oven door or the cream puffs will deflate.
- First, bake the puffs at 400°F for 15 min. Then, lower the heat to 350 °F and let it bake for another 15 min. Lastly, lower the heat to 300 °F for 15 min. See Note 3.
Note 3. ***VERY IMPORTANT*** DO NOT open the oven door because the cream puffs will deflate. If you’re tempted to open the door to “check on it” (like we all do haha), don’t!
Instead, turn on the oven light so you can get those satisfying views of the dough rising.
- Remove from oven, and immediately poke them with a toothpick to allow remaining steam to escape.
- Transfer to a baking rack to let it cool completely.
Make Ube whipped cream
- In a bowl, add the ube extract to the ice cold whipping cream. Whip the mixture using an electric mixer on high with a whisk attachment. This should take 3-5 minutes. Stop once you see stiff peaks that hold their shape. See Note 4.
Note 4. If your whipped cream isn’t stiff enough, a nice trick you can try is to add a tiny bit of cornstarch. We recommend using <1 tbsp cornstarch per 1 cup of whipping cream. Use as little as possible, because too much of it may result in a slightly powdery texture in the whipped cream.
Assemble the cream puff
- Cut the cream puffs in half and pipe in the whipped cream. Replace the top of the cream puff.
- Top the puffs with a light dusting of powdered sugar.
Other ideas for cream puff fillings
While we opted to use ube whipped cream as a filling, these pastries can be filled with an amazing variety of traditional fillings as well as unique ones. The possibilities are endless!
Here are some suggestions that we love:
- pastry cream (a custard-based cream used in French pastry)
- peanut butter + jelly
- fresh fruit + ricotta + honey
- Nutella
- ice cream
To fill the cream puff, cut the pastry in half and pipe in the ube whipped cream (or filling of your choice.) Replace the top and finish with a dust of powdered sugar.
Final Thoughts
Get ready to indulge in the perfect union of light, airy pastry and velvety, sweet ube cream. Whether you’re a seasoned baker or a newbie in the kitchen, our recipe promises a heavenly experience that will leave you wanting more.
Find our other delectable desserts here!
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Ube Cream Puffs (Pâte à Choux Recipe)
Equipment
- toothpick
Ingredients
Choux pastry
- 1 stick unsalted butter softened to room temp
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup whole milk
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 3-4 eggs beaten
Ube whipped cream
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream ice cold
- ¼ tsp ube extract
Other
- powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions
Prepare the choux pastry
- Preheat the oven to 400 °F.
- Mix butter, water, whole milk, salt, and sugar in a pot. Bring to a simmer.
- Add flour as you stir. Stir for 1 minute while the dough turns into a ball.
- Move the dough into a bowl then allow it to cool down a few minutes.
- In a stand mixer, slowly mix the mixture and add in the beaten eggs one at a time. Stop adding eggs as soon as it reaches a pipeable consistency. Look for a paste-like consistency in which the peaks are wet but barely lose their shape after you stop mixing. Use any leftover egg for the eggwash. See Note 1.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Lightly brush the parchment paper with water.
- Pipe 2-inch mounds onto the parchment paper, leaving about 2-3 inches of space between each mound. Gently smooth down peaks with the back of a spoon. See Note 2.
- Use a baster to brush the tops with egg wash.
Bake the choux pastry
- Important Note: You will be lowering the heat during the baking process. DO NOT open the oven door or the cream puffs will deflate.
- First, bake the puffs at 400°F for 15 min. Then, lower the heat to 350 °F and let it bake for another 15 min. Lastly, lower the heat to 300 °F for 15 min. See Note 3.
- Remove from oven, and immediately poke them with a toothpick to allow remaining steam to escape.
- Transfer to a baking rack to let it cool completely.
Make Ube whipped cream
- In a bowl, add the ube extract to the ice cold whipping cream. Whip the mixture using an electric mixer on high with a whisk attachment. This should take 3-5 minutes. Stop once you see stiff peaks that hold their shape. See Note 4.
Assemble the cream puff
- Cut the cream puffs in half and pipe in the whipped cream. Replace the top of the cream puff.
- Top the puffs with a light dusting of powdered sugar.
Notes
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References & Further Reading
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choux_pastry#cite_note-3
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_choux_pastry_dishes
https://sites.psu.edu/doughries/2014/01/19/choux/comment-page-1/
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