Gram's Cream Puffs - French Profiterole
Original Family Card

View the authentic handwritten recipe document.

Ingredients

Servings:
Pastry
  • ▪ 1 cup Hot Water
  • ▪ 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons, 1 stick) Unsalted Butter
  • ▪ A Pinch of Salt
  • ▪ 1 cup Flour
  • ▪ 3 Eggs (unbeaten, room temperature)
Filling
  • ▪ 1 cup Milk
  • ▪ 1 cup Sugar
  • ▪ 2 Eggs
  • ▪ 4 tablespoons Flour
  • ▪ 1 teaspoon Vanilla
Dessert

Gram's Cream Puffs - French Profiterole

A holiday indulgence. This classic mid-century American heirloom version of Pâte à Choux is most likely from the original promotional cookbook published by the Royal Baking Powder Company. The company published these booklets to sell their product: baking powder. They added baking powder to everything—including traditional choux pastry. The note on the hand written recipe: "No baking powder as in Royal Cook Book page 24, follow Grams recipe" is a reminder that real, authentic cream puffs must rise purely from the steam of the cooked flour and eggs, and that adding baking powder (as the Royal booklet instructed on page 24) would ruin the classic hollow structure.

The filling is a beautiful, decadent vintage stovetop vanilla custard (crème pâtissière).

The Pâte à Choux and Crème Pâtissière in this recipe is used for Éclair as well.

Prep: 15 mins
Cook: 30 mins

Instructions

Pastry
  • While boiling stir in 1 cup sifted flour. Take from the stove + stir to a smooth paste. After it cooks stir in 3 unbeaten eggs one at a time + stir 5 min. Drop [1 tsp] on greased tin [2 in apart] + bake in hot oven.[425°F-450°F 30 min]
    • Filling
    • Heat 1 cup milk. Mix 1 cup sugar 2 eggs, 4 tablespoons of flour. Mix well + add to milk. 1 teaspoon Vanilla. Stir while cooking until it thickens.
      • Assembly
      • Slice pastry horizontally an fill with the filling
      • Dust with powdered sugar or drizzle chocolate ganache
      • Or make Éclair