With a coffee liqueur filling and glaze, these beautiful little coffee cream puffs are pretty much a coffee dessert lover’s dream.
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Why make this recipe?
French cream puffs are a classic for good reason. They make a delicious and also very 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. The sweet coffee flavor pairs beautifully with the rich pastry and makes these puffs a delicious dessert for a special occasion.
Ingredients needed:
For the 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.
For the filling:
For the glaze:
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.
Recipe notes & tips:
- 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.
- 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.
Frequently asked questions:
Cream puffs are a classic French dessert and consist of light and airy, baked pastry balls that are full of large air pockets 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.
Once cream puffs have been filled, yes, they do need to be refrigerated in an airtight container.
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, 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!
More coffee-flavored desserts:
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Full Printable Recipe
Coffee Cream Puffs
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.
Kitchen Nostalgia
Nicole, your Cream Puffs look so tempting! I’ve only tried them with pastry cream and/or plain whipped cream, but adding coffee liqueur sounds fantastic since I like all coffee desserts.
I also wanted to tell you that I just went through your Photoshop for Food Bloggers Advanced Video Course. Even thought I’m not a Photoshop newbie, it was still very useful to me. While I was using layers and masks together with stamp tool, your method is easier and time saving. Thank you for that!
Nicole B.
Oh, I love hearing that! I’m so happy that you found the course useful! :)
Stacey @ The Sugar Coated Cottage
These are what my dreams are made of, lol. Really beautiful and coffee liqueur adds an element of luxury. Take care.
Nicole B.
Thank you so much, Stacey! Hope you’re having a great weekend. :)
Wendi Spraker
Nicole,
I LOVE these light and airy shots you achieve – as much as the darker shots really. I have to admit that a coffee cream puff would be just the perfect thing right now as I sit here cruising my favorite food blogs and having my coffee. I think I am going to check out that awesome cookbook too. Aren’t cookbooks the best? I’m a cookbook aficionado (you could translate that into ‘hoarder’ – lol). Thanks for another great recipe and photo!
Nicole B.
Thank you so much, Wendi! I agree, cookbooks are the best, I have a whole bookcase full of them. :)
Summer
These look so decadent and delish ♥
summerdaisy.net
Nicole B.
Thank you so much, Summer! :)
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. :)