Discover how to make light, airy gluten-free cream puffs that taste just like the classic—plus a festive twist with a stunning croquembouche perfect for holiday celebrations.
Ingredients
Cream Puff
95GramsMilk
95GramsWater
90GramsButter
1GramSalt
1GramSugar
105GramsBob’s Red Mill 1-1 Gluten Free Flour
3Grams Xanthan Gum((Even if your flour already has it.))
3Eggs
Pastry Cream
365GramsCream
80GramsSugar
4Egg Yolks
1GramSalt
22GramsCornstarch
40GramsButter
3GramsVanilla
100GramsChocolate((I like to use dark chocolate))
Instructions
Pastry Cream
You can make this a day before to make assembly easy, as it needs to be cold for an hour or two depending on your bowl.
In a glass bowl, add in the sugar and egg yolks. Whisk until they are light in colour.
4 Egg Yolks, 80 Grams Sugar
Whisk in corn starch and salt.
22 Grams Cornstarch, 1 Gram Salt
In a sauce pan, eat the cream until it is hot.
365 Grams Cream
Slowly pour it into the egg yolks bowl and whisk as you do it so it does not scramble the eggs.
Pour it all back into the pot. And cook it on medium heat. It needs to thicken up and cook out the corn starch. Whisk it constantly.
Once thick, remove it from the heat, strain it with a sieve into a glass bowl as this removes any lumps. Whisk in butter and vanilla.
3 Grams Vanilla, 40 Grams Butter
Press plastic wrap on top of it so a film does not happen in the fridge. Place into the fridge until it is cold.
Cream Puff
In a pot add milk, water, butter, vanilla, sugar and salt. Bring it to a rolling boil.
Remove the pot off the heat and quickly add in the flour and xanthan gum. Work quickly to whisk it together to avoid it from clumping. Put it back on the heat to cook the moisture out of the dough. You do not want to cook it long, and need to consistently move it. You know when it is done because you try to bring it up the bowl and it rolls down without sticking.
Dump in into a bowl of a stand mixer. Beat it on medium to remove all the heat out of it.
Turn it down to a slow speed, mix 1 egg into it at a time. It is going to look separated, but keep going. Once all the eggs are in there, mix it up to high and let it beat together. It should come together into a silky glossy mixture. When you stop it after 2 minutes, it should fall off the paddle in a ribbon and end up with a V shape falling off the paddle.
3 Eggs
Put the mixture into a piping bag with a large star tip.
On a parchment paper lined tray, pipe 4-6” long lines. You should be able to get 8 per tray.
Place them into the freezer while you pipe the rest.
Place them into the oven for 30 minutes. DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN. The moisture helps puff them up.
After 30 minutes, open the oven to let out the steam and bake for another 7 minutes.
Remove them from the oven, and let them cool on the baking tray.
Assembly
Once the cream puffs and pastry cream are cool, you are ready to assemble.
Flip over the cream puffs to the bottom. Take a knife, and poke 1 hole into the bottom.
Then fill a pastry bag with the pastry cream. Pipe it into the 1 hole.
You can pick up the cream puffs to feel the weight difference when they are filled to the max.
In a shallow bowl, add in the chocolate and microwave for 45 seconds. Stir it and if it is not melted fully, put it back into the microwave for another 30 seconds.
100 Grams Chocolate
Take the filled cream puffs and dip the top into the chocolate and place onto a tray to dry the chocolate.
It is best to eat cream puffs the same day, but you can store them in the fridge and eat within 2-3 days.