Cream Puff Rosette Pastries
As those of you who follow my blog on a regular basis already know, I love simple food. Learning the basics and being able to create many variations based on the core foundations is a skill that will get you far.
Pate a choux is a pastry dough that is very versatile but really easy to prepare. Cream puffs and eclairs are some of the most well known variations of this dough that you are all probably familiar with. You can be even more creative using the basics of the pate a choux dough by making it into a delicious and elegant Lady Fingers Cake or even light and fluffy dumplings in Chicken and Dumplings Soup.
I was inspired by a recipe I saw on one of my favorite Russian cooking websites, and based the creation on Alton Brown’s and Martha Stewart’s pate a choux recipes. This is another beautiful variation of the cream puff dough with homemade whipped cream and endless options of garnishes. I decided to pair the crisp and airy pastries with creamy and fluffy whipped cream and spruced them up with berries, chocolate and nuts.
Ingredients:
Pastries:
1 cup milk
6 Tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 3/4 oz flour (approximately 1 cup and 3 Tablespoons)
1 cup eggs (4 whole eggs and 1 or 2 egg whites)
Whipped Cream:
1 cup heavy cream
6-7 Tablespoons powdered sugar
1-2 teaspoons vanilla
For garnishing:
chocolate, chopped nuts or fruit (blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, kiwi, orange, cherries, etc)
Making the Pastries:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
Place a bowl and whisk attachment into the freezer to chill, to prepare for whipping cream later.
In a medium saucepan, pour in the milk and add the butter, sugar and salt. Bring the mixture to a simmer, until the butter melts. 
Add the flour, all at once and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon, keeping the saucepan on low heat, until the dough comes together in a ball and the flour is all incorporated.
(I measured the flour by weighing it using a kitchen scale. Measuring flour by weight is the most best way to do it.)
Transfer the dough the bowl of a standing mixer and mix for 2-3 minutes, until the steam is no longer coming up as the dough is mixed. 
(You can also use a hand mixer instead of a standing mixer.) This will cool the dough enough to add the eggs without scrambling them.
Place all the eggs into a liquid measuring cup. You need the amount of eggs to equal one cup. You will use 4 whole eggs and 1 or 2 egg whites, depending on the size of the eggs. 
Add the eggs one at a time to the dough and continue mixing, until the egg is completely mixed in and is smooth.
You can even mix up this dough by hand. Cool the dough for at least 10-15 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing vigorously with a large wooden spoon until the dough is smooth. If you mix it up right in the saucepan, you’ll have less dishes to wash.
Transfer the dough to a piping bag using a star tip. 
Pipe out the dough into a rosette shape. 
You should have about 24 rosettes total, 12 rosettes per baking sheet if you are using the half sheet sized baking sheet. 
Bake the pastries for 10-15 minutes at 425. Decrease the temperature to 350 and continue baking for another 10-15 minutes.
When you take the pasties out of the oven, poke them 3-4 times on the side with a toothpick, to release steam and prevent the pastries from becoming gummy inside. Cool.
Making the Whipped Cream:
Take the bowl and whisk attachment out of the freezer.
Pour in the heavy cream, powdered sugar and vanilla. 
Mix until soft peaks form. It IS possible to overwhip heavy cream, so watch it carefully, or you will end up with butter.
Assembling the Pastries:
Pipe the whipped cream on top of the cooled pastries. 
Garnish with chopped nuts and shaved chocolate or any fruit of your choice.
It is best to serve these pastries right away. You can make the pastries ahead of time and then pipe the whipped cream and garnish the pastries right before serving. However, I have kept them in the refrigerator overnight and the texture was still perfect the next day. The berries became a little droopy, but otherwise were just as great.
- 1 cup milk
- 6 Tablespoons butter
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 5¾ oz flour (approximately 1 cup and 3 Tablespoons)
- 1 cup eggs (4 whole eggs and 1 or 2 egg whites)
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 6-7 Tablespoons powdered sugar
- 1-2 teaspoons vanilla
- chocolate, chopped nuts or fruit (blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, kiwi, orange, cherries, etc)
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Place a bowl and whisk attachment into the freezer to chill, to prepare for whipping cream later.
- In a medium saucepan, pour in the milk and add the butter, sugar and salt. Bring the mixture to a simmer, until the butter melts.
- Add the flour, all at once and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon, keeping the saucepan on low heat, until the dough comes together in a ball and the flour is all incorporated.
- Transfer the dough the bowl of a standing mixer and mix for 2-3 minutes, until the steam is no longer coming up as the dough is mixed. This will cool the dough enough to add the eggs without scrambling them.
- Place all the eggs into a liquid measuring cup. You need the amount of eggs to equal one cup. You will use 4 whole eggs and 1 or 2 egg whites, depending on the size of the eggs.
- Add the eggs one at a time to the dough and continue mixing, until the egg is completely mixed in and is smooth.
- Transfer the dough to a piping bag using a star tip. Pipe out the dough into a rosette shape. You should have about 24 rosettes total, 12 rosettes per baking sheet if you are using the half sheet sized baking sheet.
- Bake the pastries for 10-15 minutes at 425 degrees. Decrease the temperature to 350 degrees and continue baking for another 10-15 minutes.
- When you take the pasties out of the oven, poke them 3-4 times on the side with a toothpick, to release steam and prevent the pastries from becoming gummy inside. Cool.
- Take the bowl and whisk attachment out of the freezer. Pour in the heavy cream, powdered sugar and vanilla.
- Mix until soft peaks form. It IS possible to over whip heavy cream, so watch it carefully, or you will end up with butter.
- Assembling the Pastries:
- Pipe the whipped cream on top of the cooled pastries.
- Garnish with chopped nuts and shaved chocolate or any fruit of your choice.
- It is best to serve these pastries right away. You can make the pastries ahead of time and then pipe the whipped cream and garnish the pastries right before serving. However, I have kept them in the refrigerator overnight and the texture was still perfect the next day. The berries became a little droopy, but otherwise were just as great.
22 Comments
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Oksana
Absolutely beautiful. Wow! Thank you!
olgak7
Thanks, Oksana:).
Nina
Hi, Olga!
I love your pastries! They look absolytely beautiful and I’m 100% sure taste will be soooo delicious because everything I tried on your website were soooo good.
I have an idea dipping the berries in jello syrup and the put them on the top of your pastries.
Thanks much for your website. I love it
olgak7
That’s a great idea, Nina!
Thank you so much for your kind words:).
Alla
They’re beautiful 😉 great job Olga!
natasha
My rosettes did not come out as pretty as yours and still everybody loved them. Some puffed out so much that I snipped off the top and filled them with cream. I’m definitely making these again 🙂
olgak7
Thanks, natasha!
I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed them.
Vita
Olga, you are a Genius!!! I can’t wait to bake these wonderful pastries.
olgak7
I hope you like them! I’d love to hear your feedback when you’ve tried them:).
Lesya
Hi, Olga! Thank you for the recipe and your blog in general. I have a question on these puffs. Do they have a big hole inside or are flat because of poking? Thanks.
olgak7
Since you pipe the rosette thinly, they will be somewhat puffed up but you won’t have any big holes like in cream puffs. Poking the rosettes with a toothpick will allow the steam to escape so that the center will not be soggy.
Viktoriya
this recipe looks amazing! One question if I were to premake the dough the night before and bake it and then do the cream the next day for party guests would the dough still taste that same? Or is this one of those best to eat on the day made recipes??
olgak7
I’ve never pre made this dough, so it’s hard for me to tell you for sure. This dough is so quick to make, that I don’t think it’s worth making ahead of time. You can bake the pastries ahead of time and then add the filling when serving. That might be another option to consider.
Viktoriya
ya thats what I waS wondering if i just premake the pastries ahead of time and add the creme the next morning will they still be soft or they get hard?
olgak7
Yes, Viktoriya, you can bake the pastries ahead of time and then add the frosting right before serving.(I wrote about this in the recipe.)
patrice
Creampuffs are my favorite and yours are so beautiful! I love the rosette look. Thanks so much for sharing!
olgak7
Thank you so much Patrice.
I love the dough for cream puffs; it’s so versatile and SO good.
Tanya
Thank you for these wonderful recipes. Do you have any recipes on your blog for dessert that you can make few days ahead and they would still be good? I’m hosting Christmas lunch and trying to prepare far ahead.
Thanks 🙂
olga
Hi Olga, do we have to add 1-2 egg whites or it’s optional?
olgak7
You need a total of 1 cup eggs, 4 whole eggs and however many whites it takes to have 1 cup total.
Julie
This is an absolute favorite recipe of mine! It has always turned out until this time; I can’t understnand why, maybe it’s because my butter is homemade? My dough was a little runny so they aren’t really holding their shape. They’re in the oven Puffing up beautifully, but the shape lost its rosette look&I’m just wondering what could it be?
olgak7
Possibly your eggs were larger, or you didn’t cook the batter long enough on the stove. I’m sorry it was giving you trouble, Julie. It’s frustrating when something doesn’t turn out.