Gluten Free Divine Cinnamon-Honey Stuffed “Choux” Cream Puffs

These Gluten Free Divine Cinnamon-Honey Stuffed “Choux” Cream Puffs are pillows of pastry pleasure! You may think you do not like a cream puff because you have only had the dry, tasteless store bought version; ours are anything but. They are slightly crispy on the outside, soft and pillowy on the inside and stuffed with an incredible honey-cinnamon cream filling that would make just about anything taste delicious. Yes, please.

Years upon years (or maybe hours…) of trial and error went into perfecting these Gluten Free Divine Cinnamon Honey “Choux” Cream Puffs. The end result was well worth the struggle. These puffs of joy are even fun to make, but the keyword for success with this recipe is precision. In most of our recipes, if you add a little extra of this or that, they will still turn out great. Cream puffs though, are not quite so. But don’t worry! We’ve got your back and will walk you through it, step by step.

Tell Me More About Cream Puffs

Cream Puffs, or Choux (pronounced shoo) in France, have longstanding prominence in the pastry world. Aptly named Choux, french for cabbage due to their irregular shape, are hollow pastries filled with a number of fillings. Some forms of Choux include savory fillings such as seafood or mushrooms, while others fit into the dessert category, such as eclairs or of course, cream puffs! More on the history here. And cream puffs, as any good Wisconsinite will tell you, are the headliners of the Wisconsin State Fair.

Bonus Dad Joke:
Q: How does a Cream Puff sneeze?
A: Aaahh-“Choux”!!!

How Do I Cook The Cream Puffs?

Our cream puff recipe, as mentioned above, took numerous batches/attempts. Each attempt meant learning more and more about making cream puffs & also meant eating more and more cream puffs! I know… and I truly appreciate your sympathy, as it’s a rough life having to taste test so many delicious cream puffs. After all of this rigorous work, one would think I would be sick of these, but I’m not. They are so pleasant to eat, I so say, ‘more, please’!

Really, How Do I Cook The Cream Puffs?

Heat butter, milk, salt and water over the stove, then add a flour mixture. Let that cool and add some eggs. Bake and stuff. Easy, right? Well, sort of. It’s definitely simple, but this recipe need precision, and that means exact measurements and following the order of instructions exactly how we say. In regards this precision and for our followers benefit (aka YOU!), we tested two separate gluten free 1:1 flours since all people have different favorites. I used King Arthur’s Measure for Measure GF Blend and Hillary used Namaste Gluten Free 1:1 Flour Blend. My initial attempt was semi-successful, while Hillary’s proof with Namaste fell flat (no pun intended). After much discussions and research, I went back to the “test kitchen”, shoved aside my sons toys & trinkets, and worked hard. Six batches later, we bring you our *mostly* foolproof recipe.

What Else Do I Need To Know?

Beyond ingredients, precise temperatures are a crucial element in making cream puffs. First, when you melt your butter and bring milk to a simmer. If your milk hasn’t reached a simmer, your flour won’t bind into a ball as its introduced. Again, when you beat your eggs into the batter, you want the ball of batter to be under 141°F to avoid the eggs cooking upon contact. And finally, your oven temperature… You want your oven to be preheated to 400°F and upon entry of your baking sheets you want the temperature to quickly regain that temperature. My oven is finicky, as the baking initiates, I stop and restart the oven to ensure the proper temp.

Tips and Tricks for Making Gluten Free Divine Cinnamon-Honey Stuffed “Choux” Cream Puffs

• You could also fill the choux pastry with the a more traditional whipped cream like in our Easy and Elegant Old Fashioned Fudge Pie. Beat heavily until thick.

• Do jumping jacks while the pastry is baking and while its cooling. You’ll thank us for this tip after eating an entire batch of cream puffs in one sitting.

• When waiting for your dough to cool, spread it out in a large bowl. This will increase surface area and how quickly it cools off.

• When measuring flour for a recipe that that calls for precision, either sift your flour or take a whisk and run it around all of your flour, then scoop your measuring cup in the flour (don’t press the flour down) and level off with a knife across the top.

• In order to fill these with the delicious cream filling, the puffs need to be completely cooled. If you don’t want to wait that long (and who doesn’t love a warm pastry?), then serve them with the whipped frosting on the side in a pretty little dish for dipping. It’s a beautiful presentation and a great way to eat this as quickly as possible!

• A good visual indicator that it’s time to add your flour, is that your stove-top liquid mixture if starting to rise in level.

• If you don’t have a food processor, heavy duty blender or stand mixer, you can mix the dough + eggs with a strong hand mixer. Please beware though, if you do NOT have a strong, heavy duty hand mixer this mixture will ‘kill’ your hand mixer. If you are looking for a great option, try this 400W hand mixer. It can handle a large load of work, fit tidily in your cabinet, and not die. I’ve killed 3 hand mixers in the last year… this one has been the best!
  
• The pictures were from 1/2 inch piped batter, if you’re looking for taste and looks, I would suggest piping with a 1/2 inch open star piping tip. (Don’t feel ignorant, I had to look up the name too…). It’s the tip with a lot of tiny little points. Check out this link from the Webstaurant Store for examples: Piping Tips

Gluten Free Divine Cinnamon-Honey Stuffed “Choux” Cream Puffs

5 from 5 votes

Course: Dessert, SnacksCuisine: French, American, Wisconsonian

Servings

20

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

16

minutes

These Gluten Free Divine Cinnamon Honey Stuffed “Choux” Cream Puffs are pillows of pastry pleasure! They are slightly crispy on the outside, soft and pillowy on the inside and stuffed with an incredible honey-cinnamon cream filling that would make just about anything taste delicious.

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Ingredients

• “Puff” Choux Pastry

• 1 Cup 1 Milk (2% or Whole)

• 1/2 Cup 1/2 Water

• 6 Tbsp 6 Butter

• 1+1/4 Cup 1+1/4 King Arthur Measure for Measure GF Flour (or your preferred gf 1:1)

• 1/2 Cup 1/2 Tapioca Flour

• 1 tsp 1 Xanthan Gum

• 1+1/2 tsp 1+1/2 Himalayan Pink Salt

• 1 Tbsp 1 Sugar

• 4 Eggs 4 Large Eggs, whisked

• Cinnamon Honey Cream

• 1 Cup 1 Heavy Whipping Cream

• 1/2 tsp 1/2 Cinnamon

• 1/2 tsp 1/2 Himalayan Pink Salt

• 2 Tbsp 2 Honey

• 1 Tbsp 1 Powdered Sugar

• Additional

• 1/2 Cup 1/2 Powdered Sugar (optional)

Directions

• Puff Pastry-Choux
• Preheat oven to 400°F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment.
• In a medium bowl, combine the Xanthan Gum, tapioca flour and gluten free 1:1 flour. Mix until thoroughly blended.
• Combine the milk, sugar, cream, salt, and butter in a separate medium to large sized sauce pan.
• Cook the ingredients over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the butter is melted and a steady simmer has started.
• Turn off the heat and vigorously mix the flour into the liquid ingredients. The ingredients will form a ball of dough.
• Continually mix the dough over a low heat for 1 more minute to extract excess moisture. The dough should just start to leave a film on the bottom of the pan.
• Turn off heat and let the dough cool to touch. (5-7 minutes temp below 140°F)
• In preferably a food processor, stand mixer, or heavy duty blender add the dough, start mixing and gradually pour in the 4 (pre-whisked) eggs.
• Mix until uniform and there are zero clumps. The texture should hold its form and look mostly smooth, yet still be easily scooped onto a spoon.
• Wet with water or grease or grease a large spoon. (The dough is very sticky)
• OPTIONAL: You can also pipe the batter using a pastry bag and a 1/2in tip.
• Scoop the ingredients with the spoon into 2 Tbsp blobs onto a lined baking sheet.
• Space about 2 inches apart. Wet your hands and smooth any rough edges on the dough balls.
• Bake for approximately 16-18 minutes, rotating the pans in the middle.
• The caps of the puffs should be slightly golden brown and the dough should have puffed up and out.
• Remove from the oven and allow the puffs to cool.
• Once completely cooled, split each pastry in half with a serated knife and fill with cream (recipe below).
• Dust the top with powdered sugar.
• Cinnamon-Honey Whipped Cream
• In a medium sized mixing bowl add the heavy whipping cream, cinnamon, powdered sugar, honey and salt.
• With a hand-mixer, mix until stiff peaks form, akin to frosting texture.
• Scoop or pipe into the cooled Choux pastries!

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