Homemade Cream Puffs Recipe (With Vanilla Cream Filling)

These Homemade Cream Puffs are made with Pate a Choux dough. They are then filled with a semi-homemade vanilla pastry cream and sweet berries. This is an excellent dessert for anytime of year.

Jump to Recipe

If you enjoyed my semi-homemade Snowflake Cream Puffs, you will enjoy these as well. These Homemade Cream Puffs are perfect for holidays, BBQs, and pretty much any occasion that calls for a sweet treat.

I have always wanted to make my own cream puff dough from scratch and have often been inspired by cooking shows.

One day, I was watching a kid’s baking show and pretty much every child made their own Pate a Choux dough, also known as “shoo” pastry dough.

That is when it dawned on me that I need to give it a whirl. If 8 year old kids could make this type of dough, so could my 34-year old self. Afterall, it is really simple and features basic ingredients like flour, water, butter, salt, and eggs.

What you Need to Make Cream Puff Dough

If you want a super simple cream puff short cut dough, you can follow this recipe and use store-bought puff pastry. But, if you are reading up to this point, chances are you want to give the Pate a Choux dough a try.

Ingredients

• 1 cup of water at room temp
• 1 stick of unsalted butter
• 1 cup of all-purpose flour
• 1 pinch of salt
• 4 large eggs

Instructions

In a medium stockpot, bring the water and butter to a simmer on medium heat.

Add the flour and stir with a wooden spoon until combined going in a clockwise motion. The dough should start to form. Stir for an additional minute to cook off some excess liquid.

Remove pan from heat for 5 minutes to cool it down before adding the eggs.

Once pan is cooled, add in salt and eggs one at a time while rapidly stirring.

Transfer the dough into a large pastry bag to pipe onto your parchment-lined baking sheet.

Be sure to pipe the cream puff dough onto the baking sheet leaving 2 inches of space between each.

Bake puffs at 425 degrees fahrenheit for 18- 30 minutes depending on their size. Mine cooked for 25 minutes to a perfect, golden-brown (2 baking rounds since mine were larger sized).

Pate a Choux Cream Puff Tips

Baking time varies depending on size. Keep on eye on your puffs. They will be ready once they a puffed up, golden-brown, hallow, and dry (uncooked puffs will be moist still).

You can bake these earlier in the day to stuff later. Store them in an air-tight container until you decide to fill them.

How to Make Semi-Homemade Vanilla Pastry Cream

Making semi-homemade vanilla pastry cream is super easy! Typically, I stuff my cream puffs with vanilla real whipped cream, but for these Berry Cream Puffs, I wanted to make a vanilla pastry cream.

The ingredients for semi-homemade pastry cream are super common which is always a good thing!

Ingredients

• 1 box of vanilla pudding mix
• 1 cup of cold milk
• 16 ounce of cold whipping cream

Instructions

In a large bowl, whisk together the milk and pudding mix. Allow pudding to firm up for about 5 minutes.

In a stand mixer, whip heavy cream until stiff peaks form (about 6 minutes).

Fold in whipped cream into the pudding mixture. Make sure to do it gently so the cream has an airyness to it.

Pipe pastry cream into carefully sliced Cream Puffs. Top cream side with berries, and add the top puff shell. Sprinkle with confectioners sugar and enjoy!

These Homemade Cream Puffs lasted 24 hours in the fridge while covered tightly. I do not have any personal experience beyond this time frame since these FLEW! They were *that* delicious!

More Cream Puff Recipes You’ll Love

• Snowflake Cream Puffs
• Raspberry Chocolate Cream Puffs
• Blackberry Vanilla Cream Puffs
• Strawberry Heart Cream Puffs
• Chocolate Cream Puffs