If you’ve never made a cream puff from scratch, you’ll be surprised at how easy it is. But no one has to know but you! We have an awesome cream puff pastries recipe. The key is to dehydrate the dough by cooking it on the stove – this is what creates the rise. You know they are done when you remove the puffs from the oven and a light tap on the bottoms sound hollow. Don’t you just love a good cream puff? We do! And we especially love them for this patriotic dessert!
If want to stay out of the kitchen and join in the holiday festivities, simply make and bake the shells ahead of time. Once cooled, place the shells on a cookie sheet and put them in the freezer. Put the shells in a resealable freezer bag once cooled. Freezing them on a cookie sheet before putting them in a bag keeps them from sticking together or damaging their delicate shells.
When you are ready to fill the shells, take them out of the freezer and put in the refrigerator to thaw for an hour before filling (you can create the filling a day or two ahead of time as well and keep in the fridge). Just fill the shells, decorate and arrange on a platter with blueberries. It doesn’t get much easier than this and everyone will ooh and ahh over these seemingly difficult but simple to make treats!
Watch Cheryl make these easy cream puff pastries!
red, white and blueberry dessert
what you'll need
- 3 1/2 oz instant vanilla pudding mix 2 packages
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup water
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 4 large eggs
- 2-3 teaspoons milk as needed
- 1 cup powdered sugar plus more for dusting
- 1 pint blueberries
- food coloring red
let's do it
- Mix cream, milk and pudding mix. Cover and refrigerate to set.
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- Bring water and butter to a rolling boil in large pot. Mix flour and salt and add to pot. Stir with wooden spoon until mixture forms a ball (mix quickly to avoid lumps).
- Add to stand mixer with beater attachment. Pulse a few times to cool mixture slightly. Beat in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each.
- Drop by teaspoon onto baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake 30-35 minutes until golden brown and centers are dry.
- Fill with pudding mixture using a pastry bag once puffs are cool. Add 1 tsp milk at a time to powdered sugar in small bowl. Mix until thick icing is created.
- Add red food coloring and mix well.
- Dust tops of cream puffs with powdered sugar. Drizzle icing on one half of each cream puff to create red and white stripes.
- Assemble flag by lining up cream puffs on platter. Add small plate of blueberries in top left-hand corner.
