This cream puffs recipe with cream cheese and strawberry filling is a light dessert that’s great to serve for any occasion. This dessert isn’t overly sweet and the fresh flavor will leave you with the feeling of wanting more!
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Ingredients and substitutes
For the cream puff pastry
Flour - Use all-purpose flour. Don't forget to sift it before adding it to the milk and butter mixture.
Butter - You can use butter right from the fridge, since we’re going to melt it with other ingredients in a saucepan. Also, you should use unsalted butter.
Milk and water - Use whole milk and tap water. Alternatively, you can replace milk with the same amount of water.
Salt and sugar - You can skip the sugar but don't skip the salt. It adds flavor to the dough!
Vanilla extract - It's optional and you don't have to add it at all, but I like to do it so the filling has vanilla flavor.
Eggs – Use eggs at room temperature.
For the cream puff filling
Cream cheese - Replace with mascarpone cheese if you like. Cream cheese should be cold, right from the fridge.
Heavy whipping cream - The higher the fat content, the more stable your cream. I use cream with 40% fat per 100ml.
Powdered sugar - You can adjust the amount to your taste. However, the dough isn’t sweet, so you’ll want to keep it in mind. In my opinion, 100g of sugar gives enough sweetness to the cream.
Vanilla extract - You can leave it out, but I like to add some vanilla to my cream puffs’ filling.
For the strawberry filling
Strawberries - You can use fresh or frozen strawberries.
Sugar - You can adjust the amount according to the sweetness of your berries. My berries were already sweet enough, so I added only 2 tablespoons of sugar.
Cornstarch - You can replace this with potato starch. However, in my opinion cornstarch provides the best texture, color, and flavor.
Cooking tips
Use a digital kitchen scale. This recipe likes precision, so don’t use cups to measure your ingredients.
Make the fillings first. The whole recipe doesn’t take that much time to make, but you can make it easier if you start by making the fillings, both cream and strawberry. You can even make them the day before and keep them in the piping bags in the fridge.
Add enough eggs. First of all, you have to weigh your eggs without their shells. They should weigh 170g in total. Usually you won’t add more eggs than this amount, but you might need a little bit more or less. It all depends on the humidity level in your kitchen and the quality of your flour. So, add the egg slowly, a splash at a time, and wait until it’s incorporated into the dough. Stop adding the egg when you see that the dough is moist but not runny. It should run down from the spatula very slowly, leaving a V-shape tail hanging from the spatula. When piped, the dough should keep its shape and not run anywhere. If your dough is too thick after you've added all your eggs, you’ll need to add ¼-1 extra egg. So, bring one extra egg to room temperature, just in case.
Don't add more flour! If you've added too many eggs by mistake, don't add more flour to fix it! Leave your dough to relax in a piping bag overnight in the fridge so it thickens. You probably won't bake beautiful puffs out of this dough anyway, but you’ll be able to bake edible puff pastry that you can decorate with cream and eat.
Count while piping. The first time making cream puffs can be intimidating, especially when it comes to piping. In order to pipe them out as evenly as possible, count to three while piping and provide even pressure each time. This way, your rounds should come out the same size.
Press down all the tails. When you pipe your future puffs, you'll see that you leave small, pointy tails on the top of each round. To fix this, you can gently press down all the tails with a finger dampened in water. If you use a dry finger, the dough will stick!
Don't open the oven too early. If you open the oven too early, your puffs will deflate. Wait at least 27 minutes – or, better, don't open the door until the puffs are a deep golden on the top and sides.
Step by step directions
For the strawberry filling
1. Place strawberries in a saucepan and purée with an immersion blender.
2. Add the cornstarch and sugar. Cook over medium heat, mixing continuously until the mixture bubbles, thickens, and the white cast from the starch is gone. If you try the mixture, it should not taste starchy. The mixture should be smooth, thick but pourable, and homogenous in consistency.
3. Remove from the heat and let it cool down. Then, transfer to a piping bag, close it, and place it in the fridge.
For the choux pastry
1. Preheat the oven to 190C or 375F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a saucepan, combine the milk, water, butter, salt, sugar, and vanilla. Heat over medium heat until it boils. Remove from the heat and add the flour all at once. Mix with a rubber spatula until no dry ingredients are left.
3. Bring back to the heat and cook the dough for 2-3 minutes, mixing continuously with the rubber spatula until a whiteish film forms on the bottom of the pan and the dough forms a ball with a homogenous consistency. Remove from the heat.
4. Place the dough into a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat the dough on low for a minute or until it’s not quite hot to the touch but still very warm (the ideal temperature should be 110F-140F or 43C-60C ).
5. When ready, start adding egg a little at a time and beat on medium until incorporated. Then, add more egg and beat again. Repeat until all egg has been incorporated. Scrape the sides and the bottom of the bowl and beat for the last time for just a few seconds to mix. The dough should be smooth. When you lift the paddle, it should slowly fall from it, leaving a V-shape tail. It should be firm enough to hold a shape but also moist. If this texture is achieved before all the egg has been incorporated, stop adding them. If the texture isn’t there yet after you’ve incorporated all the eggs, you need to add ¼ - 1 extra egg.
6. Transfer the dough into a piping bag fitted with a round nozzle (such as Wilton 2A). Keep the piping nozzle facing straight down toward the piping surface (0.5” or 1 cm away from it) and pipe 30 even 1 ½" or 4cm rounds. Apply even pressure, letting the rounds expand a little bit up and sideways. Pipe leaving 1" in between. Work in batches if needed. The dough can wait in the piping bag while the first batch is in the oven. Dampen your finger with water and press down all the pointy tails on top of each round.
7. Bake for about 30 minutes or until they’ve puffed up and turned golden brown on the top and sides.
8. Remove from the oven and let cool down on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then place on a cooling rack to cool down completely. Pipe the second batch (if you have one) and bake.
For the cream
1. Place all the ingredients into a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Whip on medium-high to stiff peaks. Don’t overwhip! When the mixture starts to thicken, stop the mixer and scrape the sides and the bottom of the bowl. Whip again for 10-15 seconds, then stop and check the consistency. Repeat until the cream is smooth and stable.
2. Place the cream in a piping bag, close it, and place it in the fridge. If the puffs are at room temperature, start to fill them right away.
Assembling directions
1. Cut small holes in the bottom of each puff with a tip of a knife.
2. Cut off the tip of the pastry bag with cream, just enough so you can insert cream into the holes. Fill all puffs so they are almost full. This should take around 15g of cream per puff.
3. Then, take the piping bag with the strawberry filling and cut off the tip, just enough to squeeze out the filling. Fill each puff with around 8g per puff.
4. Place all cream puffs on the plate, cover with plastic wrap, and leave in the fridge for an hour. Dust with powdered sugar and serve!
Flavor variations
Whipped cream - If you want to further lighten up this cream puff recipe, you can fill it with heavy cream sweetened with powdered sugar and vanilla.
Glaze - You can make a simple sugar glaze and spread it on top of each cream puff, or you can make my Chocolate ganache recipe that I also used for this Chocolate pound cake.
Crushed nuts - If you’ve decided to glaze your easy cream puffs, you can sprinkle on some crushed pistachios or any other nuts of your choice.
Pastry cream - You can make classic cream puffs if you fill them with vanilla pastry cream whipped with heavy whipping cream.
Nutella - You don't have to make my strawberry filling at all. You can fill the center with Nutella instead!
Raspberry sauce - If you want more sour notes, make my Raspberry coulis recipe (the cornstarch variation) and use it as a filling instead of strawberry filling.
Other berries - If you want to save some time, you can use any berry jam instead of strawberry filling. Just make sure that it's pipeable.
FAQ
No, you can't freeze choux pastry that is used to make cream puffs.
Yes, you can freeze them for up to 2 months. Before filling them, thaw them in the fridge overnight. They will become a little bit softer, but the taste will stay the same.
Store them covered with plastic wrap on a plate in the fridge for up to 4 days.
More dessert recipes
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Recipe card
Cream puffs
Equipment
- Digital kitchen scale
- Rubber spatula
- Stand mixer
- Wilton 2A nozzle
- Piping bags
- Parchment paper
- Saucepan
Ingredients
For the choux pastry
- 75 ml whole milk can be cold
- 75 ml water can be cold
- 75 g unsalted butter can be cold
- 2 teaspoon granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 100 g all-purpose flour sifted
- 3 large eggs 170g eggs at room temperature beaten in a small bowl – the eggs should be weighed without shells
For the cream
- 200 g cream cheese cold
- 100 g powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 200 g heavy whipping cream cold
For the strawberry filling
- 200 g fresh strawberries tails removed
- 15 g corn starch
- 30 g granulated sugar
Instructions
For the dough
- Preheat the oven to 190C or 375F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a saucepan, combine the milk, water, butter, salt, sugar, and vanilla. Heat over medium heat until it boils. Remove from the heat and add the flour all at once. Mix with a rubber spatula until no dry ingredients are left.
- Bring back to the heat and cook the dough for 2-3 minutes, mixing continuously with the rubber spatula until a whiteish film forms on the bottom of the pan and the dough forms a ball with a homogenous consistency. Remove from the heat.
- Place the dough into a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (you can also use a bowl and a wooden spoon). Beat the dough on low for a minute or until it’s not quite hot to the touch but still very warm (the ideal temperature should be 110-140F or 43-60C ).
- When ready, start adding egg a little at a time and beat on medium until incorporated. Then, add more egg. Repeat until all the egg has been incorporated. Scrape the sides and the bottom of the bowl and beat for the last time for just a few seconds to mix. The dough should be smooth. When you lift the paddle, it should slowly fall from it, leaving a V-shape tail. It should be firm enough to hold a shape when piped out but also moist. If this texture is achieved before all the egg has been incorporated, stop adding them. If the texture isn’t there yet after you’ve added all the egg, you need to add ¼ - 1 extra egg.
- Transfer the dough into a piping bag fitted with a round nozzle (such as Wilton 2A). Keep the piping nozzle facing straight down toward the piping surface (0.5” or 1 cm away from it) and pipe 30 even 1 ½" or 4cm rounds. Apply an even pressure, letting the rounds expand a little bit up and sideways. Leave 1" in between them. Work in batches if needed. The dough can wait in the piping bag while the first batch is in the oven. Dampen your finger with water and press down all the pointy tails on top of each round.
- Bake for about 30 minutes or until they’ve puffed up and turned golden brown on the top and sides.
- Remove from the oven and let cool down on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then place on a cooling rack to cool down completely. Pipe the second batch (if you have one) and bake.
For the strawberry filling
- Place strawberries in a saucepan and purée with an immersion blender (you can use a stand mixer and then transfer the purée into the saucepan).
- Add the cornstarch and sugar. Cook over medium heat, mixing continuously until the mixture bubbles, thickens, and the white cast from the starch is gone. If you try the mixture, it should not taste starchy. The mixture should be smooth, thick but pourable, and homogenous in consistency.
- Remove from the heat and let it cool down. Then, transfer to a piping bag, close it, and place it in the fridge.
- For the cream
- Place all the ingredients into a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (or use a bowl and a hand mixer). Whip on medium-high to stiff peaks. Don’t overwhip! When the mixture starts to thicken, stop the mixer and scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. Whip again for 10-15 seconds, then stop and check the consistency. Repeat until the cream is smooth and stable.
- Place the cream in a piping bag, close it, and place it in the fridge. If the puffs are at room temperature, start filling them right away.
Assembling
- Cut small holes in the bottom of each puff.
- Cut off the tip of the cream piping bag, just enough so you can insert cream into the holes. Fill all puffs so they are almost full. This should be around 15g of cream per puff.
- Then, take the piping bag with the strawberry filling and cut off the tip, just enough so it fits in the holes. Fill each puff, around 8g per puff.
- Place all cream puffs on the plate, cover with plastic wrap, and leave in the fridge for an hour. Dust with powdered sugar and serve!
Mia
My husband is obsessed with these cream puffs. They’re so yummy!
Anna
Thank you for your comment, Mia.