Pumpkin Cream Puffs

Move over pumpkin pie, pumpkin cream puffs are in town! Super light crust meets dreamy soft and smooth pumpkin filling, match made in the kitchen…

Pumpkin season is officially started in my kitchen!!

I know, I’m a bit late to the party. But hey, when you’re busy chasing a super fast and fearless 8-month-old all day every day, things get a little bit tardy…

As I was flipping through this beautiful cookbook about all things pumpkin (Pumpkin It Up!) for an inspiration, my eyes were landed on these gorgeous pumpkin cream puffs. And you guys know just how much I love those gems!

But first, quick news!

I received this beautiful book to review among other top cooking and baking products of the season for 2016 Fall Food Awards by AOL Lifestyle. Along with other food bloggers (aka judges), we’ve tested cool kitchen gadgets, small appliances, and cookbooks to select the best of the best. The winning products will be announced on October 13th! So check back and find out the hottest kitchen products of the season.

Now let’s get back to these little profiteroles…

Don’t be fooled by the fancy name though. These little cream puffs are effortless as they look, I promise! Remember the little munchkin I had to chase around? Yeah, my baking assistant… ahem, boss, who sometimes demands my undivided attention. He and I were able to make these little cream puffs in just under an hour! I say, it’s super good!!

Oh, and can we just talk about that filling for a sec?? It’s the best thing ever! So light and smooth and pumpkin-y.

Funny story…

At around 9:30pm, after we sent off the whole batch of these cream puffs to the ranch, I was telling Garrat, “Man, I wish I had reserved couple of those cream puffs for us.” And he’s like, “Yeah, at least some of the filling would have been great.” To which I jumped off the couch and rushed to the fridge, because I DO have some leftover filling!!! Now imagine, two of us in front of an open fridge in the dark kitchen, digging into a bowl of pumpkin cream filling with our spoons! Naughty moment for sure… Garrat is usually good at enforcing no-sweets-after-eight rule, but he made an exception, because that filling was completely worth it!

Also, if you follow my Instagram stories, you’ve seen how much my little man loved this pumpkin filling too! After couple of spoonfuls, he was hooked!

What was your first pumpkin recipe this season? And what are you loving so far?

As always, thank you so much for stopping by!

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Pumpkin Cream Puffs

Yield: About 24 cream puffs

Ingredients:

For pastry shells:

• 1 cup water
• ½ cup (115gr) unsalted butter
• 1 cup (125gr) all-purpose flour
• 4 large eggs
• ¼ teaspoon salt

For filling:

• 1 cup (240ml) heavy whipping cream, chilled
• 4oz (115gr) cream cheese, softened
• ½ cup pumpkin puree
• ½ cup (65gr) powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Directions:

1. To make the pastry shells, preheat oven to 400°F (200°C). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper, or silicone mat.
2. In a medium saucepan, combine water, butter and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium high heat.
3. Once the butter is melted and mixture is boiling, add the flour all at once, reduce the heat to medium. Using a wooden spoon, continuously stir the mixture. The dough will start to form into a ball. Keep mixing for another 3-4 minutes until light crust forms on the bottom of the pan.
4. Transfer the dough into a mixing bowl with paddle attachment and mix it for a few minutes on low speed until the mixture is at room temperature. (Alternatively, you can use a wooden spoon. Mixer is not required here!) Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. This will help to get egg absorbed into the dough quicker. The dough should not be too runny, yet not too thick.
5. Transfer the batter into a pastry bag and pipe into 1.5-inch rounds couple inches apart. Level peaked tops with wet fingertip, if needed.
6. Bake for 23-25 minutes, rotating the sheets top to bottom and back to front half way. The pastry shells should be golden brown, crispy and puffed up.
7. Transfer the shells onto a cooling rack to cool completely. (If the pastry shells fall flat when you remove from oven, it means they are under-baked. Simply put it back into the oven and bake for another 3-5 minutes, or until they puff up again.)
8. To make the filling, in a mixing bowl with whisk attachment whip the heavy cream until soft peaks form.
9. In another mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and pumpkin puree until smooth. Add powdered sugar and pumpkin pie spice and continue to beat until nice and fluffy.
10. Fold in the whipped cream until well combined.
11. When ready to serve, cut the cream puffs horizontally, fill the puffs with filling and replace the tops. If desired, dust with powdered sugar for decoration and serve.

Make-ahead Tip: Pastry shells can be made a day or two in advance and stored at room temperature, covered. The filling also can be made ahead, but needs to be refrigerated, covered. It’s best to fill the cream puffs the day you plan on serving them.

Original recipe is from Pumpkin It Up! by Eliza Cross.

All images and text ©Shinee D. for Sweet & Savory

All photographs and content on Sweet & Savory by Shinee is copyright protected, unless otherwise noted. Please do not use any of my photos without my authorization. If you would like to share my recipe, you may re-write the recipe in your own words, or simply link back to this post for the full directions. Thank you for your cooperation!