Vegan Cream Puffs (Choux Pastry)
These simple cream puffs are crispy with a slight chew. And the best part is that filling them is easy because they're hollow inside!
Equipment
- rubber spatula
- saucepan
- mixing bowl
- piping bag
- half sheet baking tray
- parchment paper or silicone baking mat
- small sharp knife
Ingredients
- ¼ cup water (60g)
- ¼ cup unsweetened soy milk (60g)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
- ½ tbsp sugar (6g)
- 2 tbsp vegan butter (28g)
- ½ cup all-purpose flour (65g)
- ½ cup Just Egg (125g)
- 2 tbsp unsweetened soy milk (30g) (to mix with the Just Egg)
Instructions
- Prepare your filling. If using our pastry cream recipe, prepare it first and place it in a piping bag in the refrigerator.
- Prepare and gather the ingredients for the choux pastry. Using the second listed amount of soy milk, mix it together with the Just Egg. Set aside for later.
- Combine the water, soy milk, sugar, vanilla extract (if using), and butter in a small saucepan on medium heat. Mix it with a rubber spatula until the butter dissolves and then leave it for a few minutes until it starts to simmer.
- Once the liquid ingredients begin to simmer, carefully add in all the flour. Turn the heat to low. Continue to mix until the flour is incorporated and no white flour spots remain. The mix will thicken into a dough and almost form a ball. It should come off the sides of the pan easily. This shouldn’t take more than about 3 minutes.
- Scoop the dough out of the pan and into a mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Avoid using a plastic bowl as the dough will be hot. Smash the dough down and flatten it to help release the heat. Leave it to cool for a few minutes. Alternatively, you can mix the dough over some ice or some ice packs to help it cool more quickly. You can also mix the dough for a few minutes in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment.
- Once your dough is just barely warm or room temperature, add in the Just Egg mixture a few tablespoons at a time. The amount is up to you. We’re just trying to avoid mixing a ball of dough sitting in egg soup—that would be more difficult to mix! Mix it with the rubber spatula and allow it to fully incorporate in between each addition. The final consistency should just barely run off the spatula and look pipe-able. Add more soy milk a tablespoon at a time if your mixture is still too thick.
- Preheat the oven to 400° F.
- Line a half sheet tray with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Scoop the choux mixture into a piping bag with a 1/2 inch opening or smooth tip.
- Pipe small mounds of batter, about 1 inch wide, by keeping the tip close to the parchment paper. If you make them 1 inch wide, they puff out to a little less than 1.5 inches after baking. This method gets you about 30 small cream puffs. If you would like bigger ones, pipe bigger mounds, you will just end up with fewer puffs. You can wet the tip of your finger and gently flatten the little tips that will form when you pipe the choux puffs.NOTE: Unlike traditional non-vegan choux, these do not puff as much.
- Place the baking tray into the middle rack of the oven. Allow the puffs to bake until evenly golden brown. It could take from 40-45 minutes. Do not open the oven door while they are baking! This will lower the temperature of the oven and could interrupt the production of the steam inside the puffs that they need to... puff. You can check on their color in the final few minutes of baking.
- Once the puffs are golden brown, turn off the oven and leave the oven door open a crack for 10 minutes to allow the inside of the puffs to continue to dry out while also cooling down.
- Remove the baking tray from the oven. The puffs will still be warm. Poke a hole in the bottom of each puff with a small sharp knife. Rotate the tip of the blade when you insert it to make the hole. This allows the remaining steam to escape and helps to prevent them from deflating. NOTE: Bake for closer to 45 for a more hollow center and crispier outside.
- If you are filling your puffs with pastry cream, use a piping bag with a small tip. Insert the tip into the hole on the bottom of each puff. You will feel the cream push back a bit when you’ve filled each hole with enough of the pastry cream. Wipe off any excess cream from the hole. Repeat on each puff.
- Feel free to top your puffs with some powdered sugar, chocolate ganache, or caramel.
