Alright, let me tell you what I did the other day. I had this bag of store-bought mini cream puffs sitting in the freezer, you know? And they were… okay. But it got me thinking, I could probably make better ones myself and freeze them. So, I decided to give it a shot.
Making the Puff Shells
First thing, I got out a saucepan. Put in some water, a stick of butter, tiny bit of sugar, pinch of salt. Brought that all to a boil. Nothing fancy, just the basics.
Once it was bubbling, I dumped in the flour all at once. Took it off the heat right away and started stirring like mad with a wooden spoon. You gotta work fast here. Mixed it until it pulled away from the sides and formed a sort of dough ball. Let that cool down for maybe 10 minutes. You don’t want to cook the eggs when you add them.
Then came the eggs. Cracked one in, beat it into the dough until it was totally mixed. It looks weird and separated at first, but just keep mixing. Did that with a few more eggs, one at a time. The dough ended up smooth and glossy. That’s the choux pastry done.
Next, I scooped the dough into a piping bag. Didn’t have a fancy tip, just snipped the end off. Squeezed out little blobs onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Tried to make them small, like bite-sized. Honestly, they weren’t all perfectly uniform, but who cares? Home cooking, right?
Baked them in a hot oven. Started high, then turned it down. Watched them puff up and get golden brown. Took them out when they felt light and hollow. Left them on the counter to cool completely. Very important – gotta be totally cool before filling.
Filling and Freezing
For the filling, I kept it simple. Just whipped up some heavy cream with a little powdered sugar and a splash of vanilla. Whipped it until it held stiff peaks. You could do pastry cream, but I wanted quick and easy.
Once the puff shells were cool, I poked a small hole in the bottom of each one. Used the tip of a small knife. Then, I filled another piping bag (or you could use a sturdy zip-top bag with the corner snipped) with the whipped cream and squeezed the filling into each puff until it felt full.
This is where the “frozen” part comes in. I arranged all the filled mini puffs on a baking sheet, making sure they weren’t touching. Had to use two sheets, actually. Put the sheets flat in the freezer. Left them there for a few hours until they were frozen solid. Like little rocks.
Once they were hard, I tossed them all into a big freezer bag. Squeezed out the air and sealed it up tight. Stuck the bag back in the freezer.
The Result
And that was it! Now I have a whole bag of homemade frozen mini cream puffs ready to go. Just grab a few whenever I want a little treat. They thaw just slightly on the way to your mouth, kind of like ice cream bites but with that nice puff pastry shell. Way better than the store-bought ones I had before. Simple process, really satisfying result.
