Easy Strawberry Cream Puffs Recipe (video)

Watch Strawberry Cream Puffs Video Tutorial

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Ingredients for Cream Puffs

This impressive dessert recipes requires just a few ingredients! Here’s what you’ll need to make these cream puffs filled with strawberries:

• Water, Flour, Butter, & Salt: for making the pate a choux dough, or the profiterole shells. Use regular, all-purpose flour and unsalted butter for best results.
• Eggs: for making the dough. I recommend having the eggs at room temperature for this recipe.
• Strawberries: fresh strawberries are the best choice for this recipe. If the berries are out of season, frozen and thawed strawberries will also work but I don’t recommend using them to garnish the cream puffs.
• Cream Cheese: either softened cream cheese or mascarpone cheese can be used to stabilize and thicken the whipped cream filling.
• Heavy Cream: use very well chilled heavy cream to ensure the frosting keeps its shape!

How to Make Pate a Choux Dough

Cream puffs or profiteroles are one of my favorite desserts to make. Once you master making the pate a choux dough, the varieties are endless. The pate a choux dough used to make these cream puffs is super simple and requires just 5 ingredients! – eggs, water, flour, butter and a pinch of salt! Here’s how to make it:

1. Into a small saucepan, add the butter and water. Cook the mixture over medium-high heat until the butter is melted and comes to a boil.
2. Add the flour all at once and stir until the a dough ball forms, about 1 minute.
3. Transfer the dough into a large mixing bowl and allow it cool until warm to touch, about 10 to 15 minutes.
4. Once cooled, begin adding the eggs, one at a time. Use a hand-mixer or whisk to mix the egg into the dough after each addition. Transfer the dough into the prepared pastry bag, packing the dough into the bag without air pockets.

Baking the Puff Pastry Shells

1. Preheat the oven to 425F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Pipe small to large dollops (depending on preference) onto the parchment paper, spacing them at least an inch apart.
3. Bake the profiteroles at 425F for 10 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 350F and bake for an additional 30 to 35 minutes, until golden brown. Do not open oven door during the baking process; the cool air will cause the profiteroles to collapse!
4. Once they are baked, allow them to cool completely on the tray. Once cooled, use a serrated knife to cut them open in half.

More Tips for Making Profiteroles

Here are a few tips for making pate a choux successfully!

• When baking the cream puff shells, resist the temptation to open your oven door! These shells are very temperature sensitive and can collapse easily with a blast of cool air.
• Bake the shells until they are a deep golden color; under-baking will also cause them to collapse.
• I recommend filling the pastries the same day, once they cool. The shells can and will go stale if left out uncovered.

Common Recipe Questions

Can I make these cream puffs ahead of time?

Yes, you can make these ahead of time. You can prepare the cream puff shells ahead of time and keep the stored in an airtight container. Fill the profiteroles the day you plan to enjoy them.

Can I freeze these?

Yes, you can freeze cream puffs! Keep the stored in an airtight container in the freezer and defrost in the refrigerator.

Can I use other fruit and/or berries?

This recipe will work great with other fruit and berries such as raspberries, blueberries, etc.