Famous Homemade Cream Puffs

These Famous Homemade Cream Puffs are light and airy cream puffs filled with vanilla pudding cream are always a hit with family and anyone I’ve served them to. If you want an impressive, pretty dessert for Christmas or any holiday, this one is it!

Cream Puffs always remind me of Christmas and Easter, but they really can be made for dessert any day of the year and be perfectly acceptable. “Timeless desserts” are the best and what I like to call them.

The lightness and fluffiness of this batter makes these turn out amazingly good. They taste the best fresh soon after you make them.

Ingredients:

• 2 (3.4 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup milk
• ½ cup butter
• 1 cup water
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 eggs

Instructions:

1. Mix together vanilla instant pudding mix, vanilla, heavy cream and milk. Cover and refrigerate to set.
2. Place the butter and water in a heavy saucepan over medium heat and bring to a rolling boil. Remove from heat and with a wooden spoon or spatula, quickly add the flour mixture. Return to heat and stir constantly until the dough comes away from the sides of the pan and forms a thick smooth ball (about a minute or two).
3. Transfer the dough to your electric mixer and beat with a mixer on low speed a minute or two to release the steam from the dough. Once the dough is lukewarm start adding the eggs one at a time and continue to mix until you have a smooth thick paste.
4. Spoon or pipe mounds of dough onto a baking sheet covered in parchment paper, spacing them a couple of inches apart.
5. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes and then reduce the oven temperature to 350.
6. Bake for a further 30 to 40 minutes or until the shells have browned and are dry inside.
7. PRICK EACH PUFF WITH A TOOTHPICK to allow steam to escape and prevent them from falling/flattening. Turn the oven off and, with the oven door slightly ajar, let the shells dry out for a further 10-15 minutes.
8. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack.
9. When the shells are cool, either split and fill them with the pudding mixture, or use a pastry bag to pipe the pudding into the shells. Dust with powdered sugar. Enjoy!