Pâte à Choux

Pâte à choux dough is a very easy and fun to make dough that can be piped and baked into cream puffs (as my pictures display), eclairs or even paris-brest.  They are best filled with pastry cream, custard, chiboust cream... or even just sweetened whipped cream if you are short on time like me. :)

Recipe:

8 oz. Milk (1 cup)

8 oz. Water (1 cup)

Pinch of Salt

8 oz. Butter, cubed (1 cup- 2 sticks)

12 oz. Bread flour

1 lb. Eggs

Bring the milk, water, salt and butter to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Once the butter is melted add the flour all at once and vigorously stir and break up all the flour chunks in the mass of dough as it cooks. Once the mixture pulls away from the sides of the pan (about 3 minutes) turn off the heat. 

Transfer dough to your mixer. With the paddle attachment mix the dough for a few minutes to cool it down. Add the eggs, 2 at a time, and beat them until smooth before adding each addition. 

Scoop dough into your pastry bag (outfitted with a tip that has a large opening). Line a few baking sheets with parchment paper. Pipe the dough into cookie dough sized balls for cream puffs, thick lines for eclairs and thick rings for paris-brest. 

Bake at 400º F until golden brown- about 15-20 minutes depending on your oven and how many pans you have in at the same time. 

Cool completely before filling with cream of your choice. 

Baked cream puffs before filling

I used a pastry bag with a large tip to fill the cream puffs. I pushed the tip into a weak spot on the side of the cream puff and I gently filled until cream started to pop out of the opening

You can dip tops in chocolate, drizzle some on the tops, or leave them plain if you prefer