Easy French Cream Puffs Anyone Can Make

What's up everyone? Today we're making choux au craquelin. First we need butter, soft enough to mix but not melted. Add about a quarter cup of regular white sugar and mix until it's nice and smooth. These cream puffs taste like they came straight from a pastry shop and all you need are simple ingredients but there are a few tricks to get them just right and I'll show you exactly how. Add half a cup of all-purpose flour right into the butter and sugar and mix it into a dough. Mix until it comes together into a soft dough ball. Now you need a sheet of parchment paper. Place the dough on it. Press it down a bit with your palm then cover with another sheet. This way it's going to be way easier to roll it out. Grab a rolling pin and roll the dough out nice and thin. You're aiming for about an eighth of an inch thick. Thin but not paper thin. Carefully transfer the dough onto any flat surface or cutting board and pop this in the freezer and leave it there until it's ready for its turn. Time to make the choux pastry. It's pretty easy but there's one important detail I'll mention in a bit. Pour some water into a saucepan with a thick bottom. Toss in a piece of butter and throw in a third of a teaspoon of salt. Set the heat to medium and wait for the butter to melt. Once the butter is melted give it a stir until smooth then let it come to a boil. Now turn the heat to low and toss in all the flour in one go. No need to sift the flour. Stir everything with a wooden spoon and keep mixing until it comes together nice and smooth. So here's the important detail guys. You want to dry the dough really well. It usually takes me about five minutes. If it's too moist the puffs might collapse or turn out dense but if you dry it properly that's the secret to getting them tall, hollow inside, and perfectly shaped. And now we'll need to let the dough cool for a bit. I just move the dough into a clean bowl and then I spread it out a bit to help it cool faster. What matters is that the dough's warm not hot. Now that the dough's cooled down we can start adding eggs. Add them one at a time to make mixing easier and control the texture. It'll be lumpy at first but don't worry. It gets smoother as you mix. Add the next egg and mix it in again. But this isn't the texture we're looking for. Not yet. So I'm adding the third egg but this time I'm cracking it into a separate bowl and I'm gonna add it in parts just to control the texture and make sure the dough doesn't get too runny. Add half first. Mix it up and see how the dough's looking. It's not there yet. So I add the rest of the eggs and give it a good mix. It's still too thick. Not quite the texture we need. Gotta add one more egg. Doing it in parts again. If the eggs are big three usually do the trick but not this time apparently. And we mix again. You want it smooth and shiny. Thick but soft enough to pipe. When you lift the spoon it should stretch and drop off kind of like a v-shape. Now pop it into a piping bag and set it aside. Now back to the crackling. Take it out of the freezer. Peel off the parchment paper and we'll need to cut out little circles. These will be our crunchy tops. Use a glass to cut them out. Ideally about two inches in diameter. If it's too firm to cut let it sit for a minute. It'll soften up fast. Now place a sheet of parchment paper on your baking tray and use that same glass to lightly mark circles. I like to dust it with a bit of flour. It helps mark the right size for the cream puffs. All right let's finally pipe this dough guys. Keep the bag straight and fill in those circles. Now take one of those crackling circles. Place it right on top of each puff. Perfect. Now pop them in the oven. See the video description for baking temperature and time. In the meantime we're gonna make our custard. We'll need two tablespoons of regular all-purpose flour. But if you've got cake flour even better. I actually prefer it that way. Add four tablespoons of sugar and a pinch of salt to balance things out. And just give it a good mix until everything's nice and smooth. Now we need three egg yolks. Crack the eggs and separate the yolks from the whites. Then put the yolks into a separate bowl. Next up pour two cups of milk into a saucepan. Preferably one with a thick bottom. Set it on the stove and turn the heat to medium. Heat the milk until it's just about to boil. Gradually add the dry ingredients we prepared earlier. Sprinkle in a little at a time stirring right away. If you pour it all in at once or don't mix quickly enough you'll end up with lumps. Cook the mixture until it thickens about one minute. Then slowly pour in the eggs in a thin stream to temper them. Now pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan with the rest and stir everything together. Cook the cream for about three minutes whisking constantly until it thickens to a smooth velvety texture. Pour the custard into a cool bowl to stop the cooking. You can strain it for a smoother texture but it's optional. Once the custard has cooled to about room temperature cover it with some plastic wrap. Make sure it touches the custard surface so it doesn't form a skin. Pop the custard into the fridge to cool and sediment. About 20 to 30 minutes should do it. All right let's whip the cream. Grab a super cold bowl. Freezer cold is even better and pour in one cup of heavy cream. It whips up much better this way. Start whipping on low speed and once you see some foam turn it up to medium and keep going. Once soft peaks start to form and the cream thickens add a tablespoon of sugar. Keep going until you've got stiff peaks. Now take the chilled custard out of the fridge. It's nice and set exactly how we want it. Scoop the custard into the whipped cream and beat it on low speed until everything's smooth and combined. That's the consistency we want. If you're enjoying this video and this beautiful cream puff filling now's a perfect time to like and subscribe to the channel. Take the cream puffs out of the oven and give them a little time to cool down. Ah they look absolutely adorable. They're so crunchy guys. Can't wait to see what's inside. Now scoop the cream into a piping bag. Poke a little hole in the bottom of each puff and squeeze the cream inside. All right time to cut these open folks. Pro tip fill them right before serving so they stay nice and crisp. And here they are a crunchy crust with delicate cream that melts in your mouth. Definitely worth making. Thanks for watching guys. Make sure to like and subscribe and I'll see you later.