With Valentine’s day right around the corner, I wanted to share one of my family’s favorite desserts. I call them Easy Bavarian Cream Puffs! They are divine and perfect for the sweetie in your life. I will be sharing two recipes with you. One is a typical cream puff recipe and let me tell you, it will not disappoint. Cream puffs always used to intimidate me, that is until I got brave enough to try them. They are surprisingly easy to make. You will be shocked.
Just a warning.
They are always a crowd pleaser, so be prepared to see jaws drop, eyes pop, and lots of praise. There will also be jealous onlookers wishing they would have thought to bring a cool dessert like that, but we wont worry about those people. Let’s just focus on the positive here.
The other recipe is my easy knockoff version of Bavarian cream. Real Bavarian cream takes longer, and is a bit more temperamental than I like, but if you have the time, by all means go ahead and make the real stuff!
Both recipes are wonderful for using up those farm fresh eggs. Some weeks we can go through our eggs so quick, but other weeks I feel I have more than I know what to do with. That’s when a recipe like this can come in very handy. This recipe uses 7 eggs, so for those of you with chickens keep this recipe on hand. 🙂 Hope you enjoy my easy Bavarian cream puff recipe!
Easy Bavarian Cream Puff Recipe
Easy Bavarian Cream:
Ingredients:
1 cup Sugar
3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 tsp. Fine Sea Salt
3 cups milk
3 egg yolks
2 tbs butter
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
Method:
In a medium sauce pan, mix your sugar, flour and salt with a whisk.
Gradually add the milk and mix well. In a separate bowl whisk egg yolks and add to the pan. Mix well.
Bring mixture to a boil over medium high heat stirring constantly until mixture becomes thick and has the consistency of pudding.
Take off heat and add butter and vanilla to the pan, stirring until well combined and butter is melted.
Cool completely. I put mine in the fridge to help speed up the cooling process. You have just created a vanilla custard. This is heavenly on its own, but to give it a Bavarian cream texture it needs to be a little lighter. We do this by taking a 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream, whipping it until soft peaks form and gently folding the whipped cream into the custard mixture.
Now you have what I consider an easy version of Bavarian cream. Place into a piping bag to be used in the cream puff recipe.
Cream Puff Recipe:
Ingredients:
1/2 cup of butter
1 Cup of water
1/4 tsp. fine sea salt
1 cup flour
4 eggs
Method:
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. In a sauce pan bring butter, water and salt to a boil. Add 1 cup of flour to the boiling liquid all at once and stir until a ball forms.
Take pan off heat and let mixture cool for 5 minutes. After the flour mixture has cooled, start beating in the eggs, one at a time. Mixing well after each egg.
Mixture should be smooth and glossy after you beat in your 4th egg.
Place dough by spoonfuls on a parchment covered baking sheet and bake for 40 minutes at 400 degrees.
Remove cream puffs from the oven and let cool.
Cut cream puff half way through the center with a knife and pipe in your easy Bavarian cream. Sprinkle tops with powdered sugar and enjoy!
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Below I have included the printable versions of these recipes. Hope you enjoy them!
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup all purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 3 cups milk
- 3 egg yolks
- 2 tbs butter
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup whipping cream
Instructions
- In a medium sauce pan, mix your sugar, flour and salt with a whisk. Gradually add the milk and mix well.
- In a separate bowl whisk egg yolks and add to the pan. Mix well. Bring mixture to a boil over medium high heat stirring constantly until mixture becomes thick and has the consistency of pudding.
- Take off heat and add butter and vanilla to the pan, stirring until well combined and butter is melted. Cool completely. I put mine in the fridge to help speed up the cooling process.
- You have just created a vanilla custard. This is heavenly on it's own, but to give it a Bavarian cream texture it needs to be a little lighter in texture. We do this by taking a 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream, whipping it until soft peaks form and gently folding the whipped cream into the custard mixture.
- Place into a piping bag to be used in the cream puffs.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup of butter
- 1 cup of water
- 1/4 tsp . fine sea salt
- 1 cup of flour
- 4 eggs
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
- In a sauce pan bring butter, water and salt to a boil.
- Add 1 cup of flour to the boiling liquid all at once and stir until a ball forms.
- Take pan off heat and let mixture cool for 5 minutes.
- After the flour mixture has cooled for 5 minutes, start beating in the eggs, one at a time. Mixing well after each egg. Mixture should be smooth and glossy after you beat in your 4th egg.
- Place dough by spoonfuls on a parchment covered baking sheet and bake for 40 minutes at 400 degrees.
- Remove cream puffs from the oven and let cool.
- Cut cream puff half way through the center with a knife and pipe in your easy Bavarian cream. Sprinkle tops with powdered sugar and enjoy!
To see more of my from scratch recipes go here. Also head on over and follow me on Pinterest where you will see I have a great love for all things food!
My grandmaw use to make these for us and I always looked forward to having this special treat from her. Thank-you for sharing your easy receipe, now I can try to make them for my grandchildren, and share more special memories about cream puffs.
Does this bavarian cream freeze well?
I am not sure how it freezes! I haven’t had a chance to try it out yet. I have wanted to but it is always gobbled up too fast! 🙂 If you do freeze it let me know how it goes!
Umm, do you use a convection oven? Or a conventional. That temp and time seems a bit drastic. Don’t know of anything you can bake that long without resulting in some extra charcoal for the grill!!
I have frozen it in Napolons and defrost very well when put into room temperature. I also freeze ahead of time if taking to a picnic on a hot day. And makes easier to slice napoleons when frozen first.
I wish I had all the ingredients to make this right now!
can you tell me how many the pastry puffs recipe yields?
Thank you!!
It made about 30 for me. Depending on the size you pipe them you might be able to get more out of the pastry puffs. Also this recipe can be doubled!
These cream puffs loom delicious! I just wanted to confirm the time/temp. It’s 40 minutes at 400 degrees??? That seems like a long time at such a high temp? But I’ve never worked with dough like this so maybe it can take the heat just fine.
Yep, that is the correct time. 🙂
They actually have to dry out. I also store in a brown paper bag for a day before filling.
I also put my choux in a paper bag & filled the day after…excellent idea!
I made this recipe with my daughters, it was easy to follow and they turned put great! The cream filling was delicious, we made 24 puffs. Thanks for sharing, so much less expensive to make them from scratch at home.
Glad you liked them!
I think that this could be a huge crowd pleaser…the problem is that in my family, we call them “poppers” you can just pop them in your mouth, one after the other after the other lol a variation on this is raspberry cream, lemon, blueberry etc
I love Crème Puffs, Butter, Bacon, Sometimes Burger King. I just added you to my favs. You would think that I weigh 250. I am an occasional eater but I do like to serve others. Thanks, Karrie. I will have to adjust how many I make because I don’t like throwing food out.
What a fantastic website!!!!! Sooo much to read, I really appreciate having it!!
Claire
I am a bit confused. Heavy whipping cream is like milk texture and the photo looks like you are using whipped cream. Should I use cool whip or the heavy whipping cream that is like milk?
Use the whipping cream that is like milk. Before adding it to the rest of the ingredients you whip the cream. It will be a thick custard by the time you are done and so delicious!
Do you add the whpping cream in the hot mix or after it is cold?
After it is completely cooled add in the whipping cream!
What is the expected yield with this quantity. It looks like you have 15 on your cookie sheet but a commentor said they made 24. Just wondering. They look delicious.
Thanks,
—Linda
It really depends on how big you pipe the cream puffs out. I usually get 24 out of this recipe unless I make them really big. But I also use two pans to cook them to make sure they aren’t crowded on the pan! Happy eating!
do you have to cover these while baking them
No, I didn’t need to. If you feel like they are getting too brown, feel free to cover them with foil though.
This recipe is great! I tried it for the first time and the only thing I would say is that while making the cream I almost let the bottom of the moisture burnt, so one really needs to be very careful and constantly stir and I would use low heat instead. Also, the puffs tend to stick to my parchment paper if I don’t get them off quick enough when they are done rendering them bottomless and useless because they can’t hold the cream. So once they are out of the oven I get them off as quick as I can. That said, the recipe yields 24 large puffs for me, more than enough in most cases. Absolutely yummy! Thanks Karrie!
can these be made ahead of time and refrigerated for a few nights?
Yes, but they are best made fresh.
Thank you so much for sharing this super easy cream puffs recipe. I will definitely try this. :*
OMG!!!! It actually worked. I have always wanted (and dreamed of ) making these and never got the courage and a recipe that I thought was doable!! Thank thank thank you! I have made the puffs and the cream and tonight will get the proof of the ‘pudding’. So excited.
This will be my 4th time making these now, they are fabulous. My daughters wedding is Saturday, do you think if I made them on Friday they would still be great, or soggy? Thank you for the FYI as well as the recipe!
I am so glad you like this recipe! I would make just the shells on Friday and store them at room temperature, lightly covered. They should be great for Saturday’s wedding. If you want them a bit crisper on Saturday, refresh them in a 350°F oven, lightly covered with foil, for about 3-5 minutes. Your best bet is to make the cream no more than several hours ahead of time, unless you stabilize it with whipped cream stabilizer. Then you can have it whipped Friday also. Fill puffs with the cream just before serving. If you can’t manage that – fill no more than several hours ahead, and refrigerate until ready to serve. Happy Wedding!
I so appreciate your reply, but as to the whipped cream stabilizer, how much? I will be making 100 of these little gems. Thank you!
Can you double the Bavarian Cream recpie?
You can double it but make sure you use a larger pan and make sure you combine the ingredients well. 🙂
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I cant wait to make this please send my e mail
YAY! Making these for book club tomorrow night because the book takes place in “Bavaria”. I was thinking man I wish I could make Bavarian cream because the other ladies in book club probably would, but I was thinking it would be way above my skill set haha, I’m brave enough to attempt this recipe!! Thank you so much for sharing it 🙂
Can this Bavarian cream recipe be baked after it is made? Like in mini pie crusts?
Bake your mini pie crusts first and then fill with the Bavarian cream and you won ‘t need to bake it again. Enjoy!
To make them less messy to eat and really be poppers, I use a pastry bag and time and fill from the bottom.
omg thank you so much for this wonderful recipe,i made them today they are in fridge now for the final set.i made them just like the recipe, well all most,i used the leftover egg whites in the cream,i didn’t have a need for them and couldn’t waste lol. I made them larger so i got 12 good size puffs,the hardest thing for me was piping with pastry bag so i ended up spooning filling in came out fine and i put chocolate on top!!!!! love love the recipe thank you, i look forward to trying some of your other recipes. thanks again, charlene
OMG! I made a very huge mistake! i put 1/2 cup of butter instead of 2 tbsp in my Bavarian cream 🙁
I’m letting it to cool completely right now, i just don’t know what will happen after it cools down. I’m so stupid and laughing at myself at the same time. Is there anything I can do with this? Thanks
I’m sure a little extra butter will still taste good? Right? I’m not sure but give it a try!
My son and I made this last night for a German project. It was simple and a hit! Loved it.
Thanks!
LOVE this recipe! Can’t wait to try it! Could I make the Bavarian cream custard the night before letting it cool all night and then add the whipped cream the next morning before filling puffs?
Yes totally!
I had made these using the same recipe for the dough but was given a tip that they could be baked in a muffin tin. Did so, looked beautiful, let them set overnight as recommended, next a.m. puffs had sunk and was not puffy. Since there was not a puffed top I was unable to slice/cut to put in the filling. My reason for the muffin tin is because I wanted a generous individual serving and am not very good at judging sizes consistently. Any suggestions as to why they sunk? The cooked dough tasted good BTW.
I just made 100 for football team meal! OMG, they are delicious and I can’t wait to watch them mow on them! I used to make these when I was a kid and when my mom passed, I lost the recipe. Thank you so much!
Ok, first time trying to make ‘puffs’. I have the filling made with a different recipe. I’m glad I made it first. Half way through making the ‘puff’ dough, turns out it’s a VERY thick dough. My hand mixer gave out when adding the 4th egg.
Should have known better.
Next time I’ll use my stand mixer with the dough hook. Although this isn’t quite the dough it’s for, I hope it’ll work.
Now to go buy a new hand mixer…..
Hi I think this custard will be perfect for a boston crème pie will it work? also can I make the custard on Monday night add the whip crème on Tuesday night and put it on cake on Wednesday afternoon? Thank you so much
Chrissie
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