How to Make Homemade Cream Puffs 👵 Easy Choux Pastry - Southern Baking

Duration: 11:47 1392 transcript words EN summary

Video summary

The video demonstrates how to create homemade cream puffs using a straightforward choux pastry method that relies on simple ingredients like butter, water, flour, salt, and eggs. The process begins by melting a stick of butter with a cup of water in a pot until it reaches a rapid boil, after which sifted flour is added quickly. The mixture must be stirred vigorously with a whisk or spatula until it forms a cohesive ball that pulls away from the sides of the pan, indicating that the moisture has evaporated sufficiently to create the right texture for the dough. Once the dough has cooled slightly, eggs are incorporated one at a time to restore elasticity and stickiness to the mixture. The baker notes that while beating by hand is traditional, using an electric mixer can be helpful for those with limited arm strength, ensuring the dough reaches a smooth, bread-like consistency without overworking it. After achieving the perfect texture, the batter is scooped onto a baking sheet or piped into shapes and baked until they rise high and develop a golden-brown crust, resulting in light and airy pastries that are then allowed to cool completely on a rack. To finish the dessert, the baker prepares a creamy filling by mixing vanilla instant pudding with milk, taking care not to over-whip it so it remains smooth rather than stiff. The baked puffs are carefully cut open or pierced to inject this rich cream inside, and some are additionally dipped in melted chocolate wafers for an eclair-style treat. The final product is described as incredibly creamy with a distinct eggy flavor that resembles egg custard pie, offering a delicious and easy-to-make Southern dessert that brings tradition and comfort to the kitchen.

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I have always wanted to make cream puffs. And they're pretty simple. I don't know why I had never done it. You're just going to use a half cup of butter, which is a stick. And you're going to bring it to a rapid boil with a cup of water. So, the first thing I'm going to do is let that melt. Then we're going to add the water, get it to boiling. Then after you do that, you add a cup of sifted flour to it. So, I'm just going to go ahead and put the flour into my sifter. We're going to add a little salt to it. And there's salt in my butter as well, so I'm not going to put a whole lot of salt in here. You know, I've never made them, but I just looked at this recipe and it looks so simple. I told Chris, "We're making some today." We're going to add a cup of water to that butter. I'm going to put a lid on it, and it's going to come to a rapid boil. All right. All we got to do is wait on this to come to a nice boil. It looks like it's already getting there. Look at there. Look at there. Quick. Quick. Especially with a lid. Now, I want it to be all the way across boiling. All the way across boiling. Get together. >> [snorts] >> Okay. Looks pretty nice to me. Pretty nice to me. Here we go. Cup of plain flour with a little bit of salt, cuz And now we're just going to stir it with a stove whisk. And you're supposed to beat it until it forms a ball. We're going to come back over here with it. Cuz I would imagine the cooler it gets then the more it's going to form the ball. All right, I'm going to use a spoon. Spatula. Now you're going to add your eggs one at a time. This is my first time. Y'all I have lymphedema in my arm. I don't have enough strength in my arm just to beat this by myself. And I've tried using different utensils and I'm just going to use a mixer. And be done with it. You're going to add each egg until it starts getting sticky again. See how it turned sticky again? So you're going to mix it in there. Not while it looks still separate like that, but you got to stir it good until it's sticky. Just like that. That'd be good. That looks like bread dough. Trying to get it let go. Perfect consistency now. For a it. I'm going to spray this. It's a little quarter cut scoop. And uh you can use a You're going to put these 2 in apart on a cookie sheet. And you can use a piping bag if you want to. But I know everybody can scoop them out. And not everybody can pop them. So this is how we're going to make them today. Then we're going to make some delicious cream to fill them with. It's a real pretty dough and the consistency looks beautiful. So I think we did it right, y'all. Even if it did take a minute to figure it out. You know what? That's all right. When you get in the kitchen sometimes, it just takes a minute to figure stuff out. I'm borrowing borrowing a couple. This one's really little. But we'll just let him be a little one. Or I might could scrape out enough if I try hard enough. I get me a little thing to make that one just a little bit bigger. Yeah. All right, girls. These are not for you. Boy, these are pretty, y'all. Now that was an easy dessert. Here rose the highest. Look at that. It's just so pretty. I can pull this off and eat it. This little piece for me. All right. Now we're going to let them cool all the way down. I'm going to pull them off this uh pan. Let me pull this over here. And let them slide off onto the cooling rack. Okay dokey. This is easy. You use a cup of milk, one container of vanilla instant pudding, a small 3.4 oz. You put your pudding in the cup of milk first, and you mix that up. You do it at a low speed. So it don't splatter everything. Two. It's nice to mix this up in this four-cup measuring cup because then you don't have to get anything dirty but one thing. Now you don't want to over whip it, but you're going to check it. It's not quite at a stiff peak yet. Um you don't want to over whip it. Just a couple seconds more. Let's see it. Very creamy and delicious for a cream puff. And Chris has decided he wants me to dip them in chocolate like an eclair. Okay, we're going to heat up some chocolate wafers. So we're going to put this in the microwave and melt it. And if you've ever bought chocolate wafers, what I like about them compared to real chocolate is they're easier to melt. They are thinner when you melt it, so you can dip it easier, okay? And they're good. If you'll notice the tip I'm going to fill these with is long and slender, and I actually don't have a piping bag this would fit in. So, I'm going to make me a piping bag. And I'm making it skinny at the bottom because this is skinny. And we're just going to fill this like that. Now, I'm going to push that down in there out of my way, and we're going to cut the end of this off so that'll stick out. Got to be careful not cut it off too big though. That looks good. Now, what you're going to do is you're just going to take your cream puff and you're going to put your tip in it as far as you can and squeeze. You just kind of pull it out as it feels, okay? Just kind of pull it out so we don't squeeze it out the other side like I just did. Flip it upside down. Dunk it. Just like that. Dunk it. Shake it. Dunk it and shake it. We're going to see how this looks. I'm just going to try to open it and see what happens. Because they do taste so much like egg custard, y'all, I think it would be so good to put a little bit of cinnamon and nutmeg in the the cream. Y'all, if you've ever had one like that, tell us. But, I want you to see how pretty the bread is inside of it. And the next time I might I might actually stuff some at the very end. Mix in a little cinnamon and nutmeg in one. See next time. That looks good, don't it? Let me get a bite. That's the creamiest cream puff I've ever had. My friend that visited me told me I'll do. Eat them. And you'll have them in a lot of the areas up there that you go. So, y'all probably had a fresh one. And this is the first time I've ever had a fresh one. >> Y'all, I had to taste these two cuz I've never had one that's homemade, either. Um and I got to tell you, I mean, that's good. This If you want the sweeter, get the chocolate. The puff pastry is so eggy. It has such a egg flavor to it that it really does taste like a egg custard pie. >> That's really good. >> That's the flavor. Delicious. >> Hey, y'all. Welcome back to Collard Valley [music] Cooks. I'm so glad you've joined us again. We aren't just making meals in here. We're keeping [music] traditions alive, one spoonful at a time. Today, we're going to go back to the basics. No fancy [music] stuff. Just honest, soulful flavors of the South >> [music] >> that sustained our family for generations. Well, it's [music] food that feeds more than just your hunger. It feeds your heart. So, come on in and let's make some memories in the kitchen today. [music]