With a coffee liqueur filling and glaze, these beautiful little coffee cream puffs are pretty much a coffee dessert lover’s dream. Serve them with a glass of cool and creamy Bourbon milk punch!
For more liqueur-flavored desserts, also check out this Bavarian cream with hazelnut liqueur.
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Why make this recipe?
French cream puffs are a classic for good reason. They make a delicious and pretty dessert that’s fun to make and easy to eat. In the recipe here I added coffee liqueur to both the filling and the glaze. And rather than a more traditional custard or pastry cream filling, I went with a very easy coffee liqueur whipped cream filling instead. The sweet coffee flavor pairs beautifully with the rich pastry and makes each coffee puff a delicious individual dessert fit for a special occasion.
What’s in the cream puff shells?
Ingredient notes:
- This recipe calls for bread flour, which has a higher protein content than all-purpose flour. More protein means more gluten and therefore a stronger structure in the baked good. That’s important for something you want to puff up high during baking, such as these cream puffs.
- You won’t need to softened the butter for this pastry dough because you’re going to cook the ingredients.
What’s in the coffee cream filling?
What’s in the coffee glaze?
Recipe notes & tips:
- Fill the cream puffs 1 to 2 hours before serving for best results. After you’ve filled the puffs, transfer them into an airtight container and keep them in the fridge until you’re ready to serve them.
- Be sure to heat the dough long enough in the pot until it comes together into a large ball as shown in the photo for step 4. If the dough doesn’t get cooked enough, it won’t turn crumbly after whipping and will end up being too runny to pipe.
How to make cream puffs:
See full ingredients & instructions in the recipe card below!
Step 1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees F. and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside. Add milk, butter, sugar and salt to a pot or a saucepan.
Step 2. On high heat, stirring continuously, bring the mix to a boil.
Step 3. Turn the heat down to medium, then add bread flour and immediately start to stir with a wooden spoon.
Step 4. Stir the flour in rapidly and keep stirring until the dough comes together into a ball that peels away from the sides of the pot.
Step 5. Transfer the dough to a mixing bowl and whip with an electric mixer until it has cooled down to almost room temperature.
Step 6. Whip in eggs, one at a time, then the egg white.
Step 7. Fill the dough into a large piping bag with a large round tip and pipe about 20 small dollops (1 ½ to 2 inches in diameter) onto the baking sheet.
Step 8. Bake the puffs at 375 degrees F. for 20 minutes, then turn the oven temperature down to 325 degrees F. and bake for another 20 minutes until the puffs are golden brown. Let the puffs cool completely, then gingerly slice them in half horizontally with a serrated knife.
Step 9. Whip heavy cream, coffee liqueur and sugar to stiff peaks. Fill the whipped cream into a piping bag and pipe it onto the bottom halves of the puffs.
Step 10. Cover each puff with a top half, then make the glaze by whisking together powdered sugar and coffee liqueur. Drizzle the glaze on the puff tops, then let it dry.
Frequently asked questions:
Cream puffs are a classic French dessert. They consist of light and airy, baked pastry balls that are full of large air pockets (practically hollow) on the inside. The puffs are usually filled with whipped cream or pastry cream and drizzled with a sweet glaze or dusted with powdered sugar.
Cream puffs are made from choux (pronounced “shoe”) pastry, also called pâte à choux, which is a cooked French pastry dough. Choux pastry is used to make eclairs, churros, cream puffs, gougères (which are basically savory cream puffs) and profiteroles (cream puffs filled with ice cream).
Cream puffs are done baking when they have turned golden brown on the outside.
You can make cream puffs bite-sized or larger than that. (Keep in mind when piping the raw dough that the puffs will rise during baking.)
Store cream puffs in the fridge for no more than a few hours. Homemade cream puffs taste best when eaten the same day they were baked and I don’t recommend to keep them longer than that.
Yes, once cream puffs have been filled they do need to be refrigerated in an airtight container.
No, cream puffs need to be refrigerated after they’ve been filled. They are also best when eaten the same day they were baked.
Yes, if you store filled cream puffs longer than a few hours, they will get soggy.
Yes, you can freeze baked cream puff shells (unfilled and unglazed) in freezer bags. They won’t taste quite as good as freshly baked ones though!
For best results, fill cream puffs no more than 2 hours before serving.
Bite-sized cream puffs are finger food and can be eaten with your fingers. Cream puffs larger than that can be served on small dessert plates with a dessert fork.
More delicious coffee liqueur desserts:
- Chai White Russian12 Hours 10 Minutes
- Dark Chocolate Espresso Pots de Creme (no-bake)3 Hours 15 Minutes
Did you make this recipe? Please leave a star rating or comment! Thanks!
Full Printable Recipe
Coffee Cream Puffs (Coffee Choux Buns) with Coffee Glaze
Equipment:
- measuring cups and spoons
- baking sheet
- parchment paper
- pot or saucepan
- wooden spoon
- mixing bowls
- standing mixer or handheld mixer
- large piping bag with a large, round tip
- serrated knife
- whisk
- spoon
Ingredients:
For the choux pastry:
- 1 cup whole milk
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup bread flour
- 3 large eggs
- 1 large egg white
For the filling:
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons coffee liqueur, such as Kahlua
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
For the glaze:
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 2-3 tablespoons coffee liqueur, such as Kahlua
Instructions:
For the choux pastry:
- Heat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Add milk, butter, sugar and salt to a pot or a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring continuously.
- Turn the heat down to medium, then add the flour all at once and rapidly stir it in with a wooden spoon.
- Cook, continuing to stir, until the dough starts to peel away from the sides of the pot and comes together into a large ball.*
- Transfer the dough to a mixing bowl, then whip on medium speed until it's cooled down to lukewarm (2 to 3 minutes).
- Continuing to whip, add the eggs, one at a time, then add the egg white.
- Fill the dough into a large piping bag with a large, round tip and pipe about 20 dollops onto the baking sheet.**
- Bake for 20 minutes, then lower the temperature to 325 degrees F. and continue to bake until the puffs are golden-brown, about another 20 minutes.
- Let the puffs cool completely, then carefully slice in half horizontally using a serrated knife.
For the filling:
- Whip all ingredients to stiff peaks.
- Fill into a piping bag and fill into the cream puffs.***
For the glaze:
- Whisk liqueur and powdered sugar together in a bowl (use as much liqueur as you need to get a slow-moving mass). Drizzle the glaze over the cream puffs and let dry.
Notes:
Nutrition Information (Estimated):
Nutrition values provided on this website are generated from a nutrition database and are estimates only. The accuracy of the nutrition information for any recipe on this website is not guaranteed. Nutrition values can vary quite a lot depending on which brands are used.
anna @ annamayeveryday
Whoa, those look too good, great idea adding the coffee liqueur!
Nicole B.
Thank you, Anna! I love coffee liqueur, I could put it into almost everything. :)