I will admit it now…I never mastered making cream puffs before I baked gluten-free. I always had trouble with them not rising properly, or with them staying soggy in the middle. My Grandma was really good at making them though, and she’d whip up a batch if they were coming over for supper, filled with pudding or whipped cream.
These cream puffs are awesome though. Totally crisp, with a beautiful hollow in the middle. The trick, I believe, is in making the “Choux Paste”, which is the dough that can be used to make Cream Puffs, Éclairs, or Crullers. You have to be sure to fully incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet before adding the eggs. Add the eggs slowly, adding one at a time and making sure that it is fully mixed in before adding the next.
Yields 12 servings
Ingredients:
- 2/3 cup white rice flour
- 1/3 cup sweet rice flour
- 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
- Pinch salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the white rice flour, sweet rice flour, xanthan gum, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.
- In a medium sauce pan, bring the water and butter to a boil. Once they have reached a boil, pour all of the dry ingredients in at once, and stir with a wooden spoon until the dry ingredients are completely incorporated, and the mixture looks similar to play dough.
- Place hot dough into a large mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high speed for a minute or two to cool the dough down a bit. With the mixer on medium speed, add one egg at a time. Beat dough until the egg is completely incorporated before adding the next one. Repeat until all 4 eggs have been added.
- Mix on medium-high speed for 1 minute, until the dough is smooth.
- Spoon the dough (about a 1/4 cup per cream puff) onto prepared baking sheet, leaving about 2-inches between cream puffs.
- Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Turn off the oven, open the door, and pierce each cream puff with a sharp knife. This will help any steam trapped inside them to escape, giving a nice crisp cream puff. Leave the cream puffs in the oven, with the door open a few inches, until the oven has cooled completely.
- Once cream puffs have completely cooled, fill them with a sweet or savory filling. They are best served the same day, but can be stored in an air tight container. To crisp unfilled cream puffs again, place in a 400 degree F oven for 10 minutes.
Note: The Choux Paste can be frozen to use later. Spoon the dough onto a wax paper lined baking sheet and place in the freezer. Once they are frozen, store in a zipper seal freezer bag. To bake, place frozen dough onto parchment lined baking pan, and let come to room temperature before baking (about 15 minutes). Bake the same way you would if you were baking immediately.
Those look amazing!!!!
Thanks, Beth! They tasted great too. Hope you give them a try!
What type of filling did you decide to use? The filling looks really yummy~:)
The filling is super simple – heavy whipping cream beat with vanilla pudding mix (added enough to make it nice & thick, plus it stabilizes it) and raspberry extract, with a drop of red colouring for the pink colour. Topped it with some homemade hot fudge sauce (from Brown Eyed Baker’s site). DELICIOUS and pretty.
Oh my, I can’t wait to make these! It’s been so long since I’ve had a cream puff!
http://www.sarahbakesgfree.com
-Sarah
You’ll love them!
With the variety of fillings you can do, the options are endless. Followed your blog on FB & Pinterest, love your site, Sarah!
WOWW!!! I’m thinking these would make a perfect anniversary dessert!!! Thank you for the recipe!
Oh, they would be! Bake what you need, freeze the rest, and it’s perfect! Happy Anniversary!
Hmmm! I think the recipe could be cut in half. I don’t have any room in my freezer.
Company coming in August.
Absolutely! Cutting in half would be easy, since it has 4 eggs! I always find recipes with 3 eggs difficult to halve.
Another beautiful recipe mastered! I just told another friend about your website, she loves it!!
Thanks, Betty! I appreciate it!
Jeanine, I use Jules GF flour would it work?
I’m not sure, since I haven’t ever used Jules GF flour blend. If you do try it, let us know how it works!
Jeanine, these look devine! How long do they keep in an airtight container? I’d like to make them ahead of time, just need to know how much time they have!!
xRx
…also thought you might be pleased to know that a chef (who is not coeliac) said he could not tell the difference between the ones I made and regular gluten filled choux pastry.
Good job!
I made these today as a Christmas treat and they were divine. The dough puffed up beautifully even though I made my cream puffs quite large. This tasted just like the delicious cream puffs I used to eat before I got diagnosed with celiac disease. I used the cream puff filling recipe from the food and wine magazine’s website and put dark chocolate sauce on top. My family could not believe how good they were. I will absolutely be making these again.
Correction: I used the chocolate sauce from the Food & Wine website and the filling from the gluten free cream puff recipe on Seriouseats.com. I am sure these would be delicious with any filling and topping however. Again, this was an amazing cream puff recipe. Try it!
Thanks Jennie, after a few trial, i finally get a great result. After nearly a decade not eating cream puff, theybtaste so good !!!
Hi! I really appreciate you publishing this recipe online! I love to bake, even more so french pastries. I bring them to my French class (I’m in highschool), but unfortunately my teacher and one of my close friends are gluten intolerant. I can’t express how glad I am to not only find a recipe that is gluten free and works for high altitude, but is also delicious! Thanks a bunch!
That is so great of you for baking so that your teacher & classmate can both partake too. Glad that the recipe worked well for you!
I decided to whip up these goodies yesterday to accommodate diabetic and gluten-free. I subbed part of the brown rice flour with oat flour and found them to be wet on the inside although they puffed and looked amazing. Would baking them longer be helpful or do I have to use the brown rice flour? I added unsweetened Greek yogurt, mixed berry yogurt and chopped fresh strawberries to slightly sweetened whipped cream. The taste was fabulous.
Hi Tilly! It could be the difference – the original recipe calls for white rice and sweet rice, so it could be that the oat flour was a little too heavy. But if they still puffed well, a few more minutes of baking may have helped them too. Did you pierce the cream puffs after baking, and leave them in the oven with the door cracked open? That step should usually help the trapped steam to escape. The filling sounds amazing!! Perfect dessert for those gluten and sugar free!