Light and airy, these simple raspberry creme puffs are delicate in flavor and absolutely addicting! Not only are they easy to make, you can also make them ahead and store the shells and filling separately until ready to serve.
Table of Contents
Why you’ll love this recipe:
Wrapping up our month of choux pastry with these simple raspberry creme puffs!
If you’ve missed it, this month we’ve covered everything you need to know about classic choux pastry (pronounced as “shoe” pastry). Next we devoured chocolate glazed classic eclairs with vanilla pastry cream, and then this show-stopping pistachio eclairs filled with white chocolate pistachio mousse came to life!
It has been a delicious month indeed!
And we’ll close the month of May with these simple cream puffs filled with light and airy raspberry whipped cream. You’ll only need 2 ingredients for it: heavy whipping cream and raspberry jelly.
WHAT ARE CREME PUFFS?
It’s simple, creme puffs, also known as profiteroles, are little round pastry balls made of classic choux pastry and filled with all kinds of delicious fillings. Whipped cream filling is the easiest and thus a popular choice. But you can also fill cream puffs with ice cream, custards, pastry creams, etc.
Oh and by the way, you can spell them creme puffs or cream puffs, either way is fine!
Unlike my go-to choux pastry recipe, we are using half milk and half water to make the pastry shells. Milk adds richness to the pastry and makes the shells slightly tender.
Just look at that gorgeous hollow center though! So ready to be filled with delicious filling…
How to make smooth creme puff shells?
The secret to making nice and smooth cream puff shells is in the piping technique. Try to pipe the round with less ruffles. Get the biggest round piping tip you have (I use Wilton 1A), hold your piping bag at 90° and pipe the round with one big squeeze without any swirls.
Now once you’ve piped gorgeous rounds, level those peaks with a wet fingertips. Dip your finger in a bowl of water and gently push the peaks down. If you don’t level the peaks, the pointy peaks will burn and won’t look nice.
To make a sturdy whipped cream filling, I’m using my trusted technique that I shared here.
It’s best to fill your creme puffs right before serving, or at least couple of hours before. Whipped cream filling tends to soften the shells much quicker than other types of filling.
Also filled cream puffs should be stored in a refrigerator.
Enjoy!
Simple Raspberry Creme Puffs
Ingredients
For pastry shells:
- ½ cup (120ml) milk Note 1
- ½ cup (120ml) water
- ½ cup (115g) unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour sifted
- 4-5 large eggs at room temperature
For raspberry whipped cream:
- 2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
- ¼ cup raspberry jelly
- Powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper, or silicone mat.
- In a medium saucepan, combine water, butter, sugar and salt. Slowly heat the mixture over medium heat, stirring frequently to dissolve sugar and melt the butter. Once sugar is dissolved and butter is melted, increase the heat to medium high heat and bring the mixture to a boil.
- When the mixture is boiling, remove the saucepan from heat and add flour all at once. Quickly mix the mixture until all the flour is absorbed. (We just made panade!)
- Replace the saucepan back to burner and reduce the heat to medium. Cook the dough, continuously mixing with a wooden spoon. 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. (Note: It’s important to cook for at least 3-4 minutes to dry out the panade.)
- 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, about 2 minutes. (No mixer? No problem. You can mix it with a wooden spoon!)
- Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. This will help to get egg absorbed into the dough quicker. Don’t add more than 2 eggs at a time! This is important, as you might not need to add all the eggs. The dough should be smooth and shiny, thin enough to slowly fall into a ribbon, but too runny. (Read more details in this post!)
- At this point choux pastry is done and ready to be piped into whatever size you want. Uncooked dough can also be refrigerated for up to 3 days in an airtight container.
- Transfer the batter into a pastry bag and pipe into 1.5-inch rounds couple inches apart. Level peaked tops with a wet fingertip.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes, one baking sheet at a time. The pastry shells should be golden brown, crispy and puffed up. (Note: If the creme puffs go flat as they come out of the oven, it means they are slightly undercooked and needs to be bake a bit longer. Simply put them back in the oven and bake for a few more minutes.) Transfer the shells onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
- To make raspberry whipped cream, pour cold heavy whipping cream in a mixing bowl with whisk attachment.
- Beat the cream on low speed (speed 2 or 4 on stand mixer) until slightly thickens.
- Add raspberry jelly. Continue to mix on medium speed (speed 4) for a minute or two. You can increase the speed to 6 on stand mixer until the mixture reaches hard peaks. Keep a close eye on it, you don’t want to over-beat it, or it’ll turn into sweet butter. Transfer the filling into a pastry bag fitted with a piping tip of your choice. (I used Wilton here.)
- To assemble, using a sharp pairing knife, slice top of each creme puff horizontally. You don’t have to cut all the way through.
- Pipe the filling into each pastry shell and place the top of the creme puffs back.
- Arrange the filled creme puffs on a platter and dust with powdered sugar and serve.
Tips & Notes
Nutrition
Question: you say to cool the dough by mixing at low speed in the stand mixer but you don’t say what speed to use when mixing in the eggs.
you also say to only bake one pan at a time. Do I pipe the pastry onto another pan and leave it at room temperature? Does it need to be covered?
Hi, Kate. Thanks for reaching out. 1. Mix on low speed when adding the eggs. 2. I usually pipe one tray, put it in the oven. Then pipe the next tray and leave it at room temperature while waiting for the first tray to come out. It’s not necessary to cover while waiting for 30 min or so. Hope this helps.
Hi Shine,
Can i use strawberry jam instead of rasberry jelly? Thank you in advance
Absolutely, Shoby. Let me know how they turn out.