CREAM PUFFS.​

Crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside! This delicate French dessert will have you drooling — the sweet, homemade, smooth cream cheese filling feels like a little bit of heaven in every bite! With this simple recipe, you’ll make plenty to share.
Prep: 45 m • Preheat: 450° • Bake: 20 m • Yields: 60+

The creamy filling

An original Cream Puff would be filled with a homemade vanilla whipped cream. I, for one, would prefer a little more flavor than that! I’m obsessed with cheesecake and sweet cream cheese, so I decided to choose that as my filling. Every bite is so smooth and just absolutely addictive!

Get creative

You can totally be creative with these Cream Puffs! If you don’t like sweet cream cheese, you could choose to fill them with whatever you please. Regular whipped cream, Nutella, chocolate frosting, jelly, or whatever else you could think of!

Complimenting the Cream Puffs

I thought the perfect way to compliment these delicious Cream Puffs was to have a side of melted semisweet chocolate, strawberries, and some more sweet cream cheese! You could dip the strawberries in the sweet cream cheese, the Cream Puffs in the chocolate, the strawberries in the chocolate, or whatever it is! Everything compliments nicely!

Leftover cream cheese filling

If you wind up with leftover cream cheese filling, simply microwave it in a small bowl for 15 seconds and stir. It’ll become a creamy dip for sweet strawberries as a side! It’s delicious.

What you need

The Puffs
  • ​1/2 cup water
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 cup flour
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 1 stick unsalted butter, cubed
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 tsp salt

The Filling
  • ​1 package cream cheese
  • 1 stick unsalted butter
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3 cups powdered sugar

Useful Tools
  • ​Piping bag (or ziplock bag)
  • Electric Mixer (optional)​

The Method

The Puffs
  1. In a medium-sized saucepan, add the water, milk, butter, sugar, vanilla extract, and salt on medium-high heat. Stir with a silicone spatula until butter is completely melted. Allow the mixture to boil for 1 minute, then remove from heat.
  2. Add the flour to the saucepan and combine with the mixture until it’s dough-like. Be sure to get all the sides. Then, flatten it evenly across the bottom of the pan and return to medium-high heat.
  3. Allow the dough to begin sizzling. Once you hear the little cracking sound, begin to fold the dough. Once you can push the dough around cleanly side to side, it’s done. Remove from heat.
  4. Using a silicone spatula, continuously fold the dough to allow all the steam to release and evaporate.
  5. Add in one egg at a time, stirring vigorously until the egg is completely combined into the mixture. Then, continue adding the rest of the eggs one at a time, stirring vigorously after each one. This may be an arm workout! You could choose to do this part with an electric mixer.
  6. Fill a piping bag with a small (but not too small) circular tip (or ziplock bag with the corner tip cut 1/4 inch) with the creamy mixture. You can lightly spray a large, flat baking pan with a nonstick spray and preheat your oven to 450°.
  7. Begin to pipe on the pan in a circular motion, first making a swirl about an inch wide, then slowly rising up. Use the same technique you would for a soft serve ice cream cone! Be sure to leave about a 2 inch space between each one.
  8. After you pipe, dab your finger in a small bowl of water and gently tap down any of the pointy tips that were made from piping.
  9. Bake the puffs at 450° on the bottom rack for 10 minutes. Then, lower the heat to 350° and continue to bake for another 10-12 minutes. You’ll know they’re done when the tops are golden brown! And it’s okay if the bottoms come out a little dark — it’s bound to happen!
  10. Allow the puffs to completely cool. Meanwhile, work on the sweet cream cheese filling!
The Filling
You can skip this step if you’re choosing to fill your Cream Puffs with homemade whipped cream or Nutella.
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  1. ​In a large bowl, add the butter and cream cheese. Beat with an electric mixer or KitchenAid Mixer until smooth and combined. Scrape the sides as needed.
  2. Add the vanilla extract and half of the powdered sugar, and beat for about a minute on low speed. Be sure to scrape the sides as needed!
  3. Add the remaining powdered sugar and blend for a minute or until completely combined and smooth.
  4. Optional: Cut up tiny pieces of strawberry or blueberry and blend into the cream cheese to add fruit to your Cream Puffs!
  5. Fill a piping bag with a small circular tip or a large ziplock bag with the corner tip cut 1/4 inch with the the sweetened cream cheese.

Filling the Cream Puffs
The funnest part!
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  1. ​With a small knife, carefully cut a tiny hole in the bottom of each puff. Do not cut too deep or too large. The puffs will be hollow!
  2. ​Slowly pipe the sweet cream cheese filling into each puff. Don’t pipe too fast or it’ll break the puff!
  3. Top all your Cream Puffs with powdered sugar and enjoy!

Watch the video