Maple Cream Puffs (Choux à la Crème)

And one exceptionally versatile pastry.

When I was about 10 years old, I made my first batch of choux pastry. It happened somewhat randomly — as a project that a friend and I tackled while we waited out a spell of bad weather — but the story of what evolved from that choux pastry is now firmly a part of my family’s oral history.

My friend and I were baking a recipe for Cream Puffs (or “Puffed Explosions”) from My First Baking Book by Rena Coyle. And while we were both reasonably pleased with our results, my parents — no strangers to cream-filled pastries — were stunned by what we had accomplished. My mom, if I remember correctly, promptly melted some chocolate to put on top of her pastry before enjoying it. At the same time, my dad was busy analyzing and dissecting the two components of the puffs (choux and pastry cream), deeming the cream worthy of repeating with his own two hands.

To this day these little puffs are one of my proudest baking moments. My parents’ reactions exemplify exactly what baking is about for me: bringing joy (and perhaps a little awe) to the people I care about. This is also the reason why I cherish being able to write recipes for others to bake. I want nothing more than for you to experience that joy and pride from the things you bake.

And that’s the spirit of this recipe. In My First Baking book (which I still have) the cream puffs fall in the “Big Deals” chapter. They’re fancy for sure, but they’re also one of the most accessible pastries I know.

Cream puffs can be filled with anything from custard or pastry cream to sweetened whipped cream to ice cream (think profiteroles). You can top them with chocolate sauce (ganache — we’ve been there!), ice or glaze them, coat them in a caramel shell, or simply dust them with confectioners’ sugar. The realm of possibility within the world of cream puffs is just about as vast as your imagination will let you go.

Then, beyond the simple, elegant, and indulgent cream puff, you have an incredible array of choux-based French pastries to explore. Éclairs are perhaps the most well known here in the States, but here’s a quick summary of some others to consider (my goal is to eventually have recipes for all of them!):

• Chouquettes: Unfilled bite-sized rounds of choux pastry that are coated in pearl (or nib) sugar before they’re baked. Here’s the King Arthur recipe I developed for them a couple of years ago.

• Religieuse: Two cream puffs — one small and one large — typically filled with chocolate, mocha, or coffee pastry cream and stacked on top of one another with a buttercream glue. Because the completed pastry often resembles a little person or creature, they can often be found decorated as such. See Nicola Lamb’s recent recipe for a lamb version for Easter.

• Gâteau Saint-Honoré: A round of butter pastry (puff or shortcrust) with a ring of choux pastry piped around the perimeter is baked then the interior is filled with chiboust and whipped creams and topped with cream puffs filled with pastry cream.

• Paris-Brest: Choux pastry ring baked with flaked almonds on top then cooled, cut in half horizontally, and filled with a praline crème mousseline.

• Pets-de-Nonnes: Deep-fried balls of choux pastry rolled in sugar and typically eaten for Mardi Gras.

• Pièce Montée (Croquembouche): A conical tower of cream puffs filled with pastry cream and held together and decorated with a sticky caramel “glue”. I did in fact consider turning this recipe into a pièce montée, but I’ll wait until we’ve all had a little more practice with choux pastry and cream puffs!

And with that, let’s get on to our recipe!

Maple Cream Puffs

These 3-bite puffs filled with maple pastry cream are a taste of the sugaring season here in Vermont (and elsewhere!). While the maple flavor won't smack you over the head, if you have even the slightest of discerning palates, you'll notice it. It's the touch of flavor you didn't know you were missing in vanilla pastry cream.

The recipe gives you the option of two toppings. The first requires a little more precision and more time at the stove, while the second is a simple stir-together glaze. I like both, though the first delivers a little more maple flavor. You can also skip both toppings and leave your pastries ungarnished. They're delicious every way! 

Here are several more tips to help you along your maple cream puff journey (and here's a printable version if you find that helpful):

— For the best, most robust maple flavor, I suggest using the darkest Grade A maple syrup you can find. The Dark & Robust or even Very Dark & Strong grades from the collective of small family farms at Maple Farmers are both excellent choices.  
— I use a 50:50 combination of water and milk to make my choux dough. Water makes the baked pastries more crisp while milk adds tenderness.
— I like to mix the choux pastry by hand since it doesn’t need vigorous mixing to bring it together. If mixing by hand is difficult or painful for you, you can certainly use a mixer. Follow the same instructions for stirring together and cooking the initial liquid-butter-flour mixture then simply transfer it to a mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer to incorporate the eggs one by one.
— It’s important to resist opening the oven door while the pastries are baking. Doing so will release the steam that allows them to puff!
— Filling a piping bag can be awkward. The way I like to do it is by placing the bag funnel-down (or corner-down for a zip-top bag) into a pint-sized glass. You can then roll or fold the edges of the open top (or the zippered opening) down over the perimeter of the glass to get it to stand sturdily. 
— If you simply don’t want to mess with a piping bag, you can fill the puffs by cutting off the top third and spooning the pastry cream into the base before replacing the top. Filling your puffs this way will also mean that you’ll want to spoon your topping onto the pastries as opposed to dipping them.

Active time: 1 hour
Inactive time: 2 to 3 hours
Baking time: 50 to 55 minutes
Total time: 3 hours 50 minutes to 4 hours 55 minutes
Yield: about 10 cream puffs

Ingredients
Maple Pastry Cream
- 1 1/2 cups + 1/2 cup (340g + 113g) whole milk
- 1/2 cup (156g) maple syrup, dark preferred
- 4 large egg yolks
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup (30g) cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Choux Pastry
- 1/4 cup (57g) water
- 1/4 cup (57g) whole milk
- 4 tablespoons (57g) unsalted butter
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon (10g) maple syrup, dark preferred
- 1/2 cup (60g) unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2 large eggs

Maple Syrup Caramel Topping (optional)
- 1/2 cup (156g) maple syrup, dark preferred

Maple Glaze Topping (optional)
- 3/4 cup (85g) confectioners’ sugar
- pinch of salt
- 2 tablespoons (20g) maple syrup, dark preferred
- 1 tablespoon (14g) unsalted butter, melted
- 2 to 6 teaspoons water, milk, or cream

Garnish (optional)
- chopped pecans or walnuts

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a large sheet pan (13” x 18 3/4" or half-sized is adequate) with parchment paper.
2. To make the pastry cream: In a medium saucepan combine 1 1/2 cups (340g) milk and the maple syrup. Bring just to a simmer over medium-high heat then remove from the heat.
3. In the meantime, whisk together the remaining 1/2 cup (113g) milk, egg yolks, salt, and cornstarch in a medium bowl.
4. Slowly pour about half of the hot cream into the egg yolks, whisking constantly to combine.
5. Pour the egg-milk-maple mixture back into the saucepan and return to low heat. Whisking constantly, heat until thick and your whisk leaves lines in the cream as you’re stirring.
6. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the butter and vanilla until melted and fully incorporated.
7. Let the pastry cream cool at room temperature for about 20 minutes then pass it through a fine-mesh strainer into a medium bowl.
8. Refrigerate the pastry cream (uncovered) until completely chilled, about 2 hours.
9. To make the choux pastry: Combine the water, milk, butter, salt, and maple syrup in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
10. Remove the pan from the heat, add the flour, and stir with a stiff spatula until smooth and paste-like. 
11. Return the pan to medium heat and cook the paste until it dries out and there’s a film on the bottom of the pot, about a minute.
12. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside for about 10 minutes to cool to lukewarm.
13. Beat in the first egg with your spatula until fully incorporated; it’ll resist coming together at first, but keep stirring and you’ll get there. Repeat with the second egg. The pastry will become smooth and glossy.
14. Scoop 2-tablespoon-sized mounds of the choux pastry onto the prepared pan — they should be 1 1/2" to 2” wide at their base and 1” to 1 1/2" tall — spacing them 2” to 3” apart on the pan. 
15. Bake the puffs for 15 minutes then reduce the oven temperature to 350°F and bake until they’re a rich golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes longer, without opening the oven door. 
16. Remove the pastries from the oven and turn off the oven. Use the tip of a paring knife to make a 1/2" slit along the side of the puffs. Return the pastries to the turned-off oven, leave the door open ajar (you can prop it open with the handle of a wooden spoon if it won’t stay open on its own), and allow the pastries to release steam for another 5 minutes. 
17. Remove the pastries from the oven once again and transfer them to a rack to cool completely.
18. In the meantime, transfer your pastry cream to a piping bag or clean gallon-sized zip-top bag. Twist the wide or zipper end of the bag to keep the cream from seeping out. Right before you’re ready to fill your pastries, cut a 1/4" opening at the tip of the piping bag or from one of the corners of the zip-top bag.
19. To fill the puffs: Poke the sharp tip of a paring knife into the bottom center of the puffs. Twist the knife to make a somewhat round hole that’s about 3/8" in diameter then remove the knife. 
20. Working with one puff at a time, put the 1/4" opening of the piping or zip-top bag into the hole and squeeze the cream into the puff, using your senses to gauge when you think the puff is completely full (this will take practice). Remove the bag and return the cream puffs to the pan.
21. To make the caramel: Bring the maple syrup to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Use a candy thermometer or digital thermometer to measure the temperature of the syrup regularly, and once it reaches 235°F to 240°F remove the pan from the heat.
22. To make the glaze: Combine all the ingredients for the glaze in a small bowl — starting with the lesser amount of water, milk, or cream — until smooth. Add enough liquid to get a consistency that’s somewhere between corn syrup and runny honey: you’ll need a lesser amount of water or milk and a greater amount of cream.
23. Dip the tops of each pastry into the caramel or glaze then return to the pan. Top pastries with chopped pecans or walnuts if desired. Set the pastries aside to allow the topping to set before serving. Both the caramel and the glaze do not refrigerate well, so it’s best to wait to top the pastries until you’re just about ready to serve them. 
24. Filled, untopped pastries can be kept in the refrigerator for several hours before serving. Unfilled pastries can be stored, lightly covered, at room temperature for several days or in the freezer for up to 1 month. Reheat pastries in a 250°F oven for 10 to 15 minutes until they become crispy on the outside again. Unused pastry cream can be stored in the piping or zip-top bag with the ends sealed (or in a covered container or bowl) for several days as well. Leftover glaze can be covered and stored at room temperature also for several days. Leftover caramel will solidify and turn opaque; it’s still delicious when enjoyed as a candy, but useless when it comes to topping cream puffs.

---

Phew, we made it! Despite the long instructions, hopefully you found the process of making cream puffs to be relatively straight forward. Please share any questions you might have, and if you make these, I’d love to know how they turn out for you. As always, any feedback is welcome too.

Enjoy!