Easy Cream Puffs (Classic German Windbeutel Version)

white plate topped with 3 filled cream puffs

5 from 8 votes

Easy Cream Puffs (Classic German Windbeutel Version)

These easy cream puffs are perfectly fluffy and filled with homemade vanilla whipped cream. This is the cream puff recipe for how they're commonly eaten in Germany, where they are called Windbeutel (translating to 'wind bags'). They're so much better than the store-bought, frozen version!

Prep Time20

Cook Time25

Cooling Time15

Total Time1

Course: Brunch, Coffee, Dessert, Kaffee, Snack

Cuisine: French, German

Keyword: cream puff recipe, easy cream puffs, German cream puffs, Windeutel recipe

Servings: large cream puffs

Calories: 193kcal

Equipment

1 handheld mixer with traditional beaters (or stand mixer with paddle attachment)
1 piping bag for piping on the dough and whipped cream
1 large star-shaped decorating tip for piping on the dough and whipped cream

Ingredients

Cream Puff Dough (Pate A Choux / Brandteig)

30 grams butter I use salted butter and leave out the extra salt below.
150 milliliters water
1 teaspoon sugar
100 grams all-purpose flour
1 pinch salt
3 eggs large

Whipped Cream Filling

200 milliliters heavy whipping cream
2 Tablespoons powdered sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Make The Dough

Preheat your oven to 220℃/425℉ on the standard/conventional setting (or 200℃/390℉ convection setting).
Combine the water, butter, sugar and salt in a saucepan over medium heat until boiling.
30 grams butter, 150 milliliters water, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 pinch salt
Add the flour using a wooden spoon and stir rapidly until the water is soaked up.
100 grams all-purpose flour
Using the wooden spoon or a rubber spatula, press the dough down onto the bottom of the pan and turn it over using the spoon/spatula. Continue for a couple of minutes or until you see white marks on the bottom of the pan.
Transfer the dough to the bowl of your standmixer (or a large steel or glass bowl) and allow to cool for 3 minutes.
Using a handheld mixer (and standard beaters) or a standmixer (and the paddle attachment), add in one egg at a time until combined. I start at medium speed, then turn to the highest speed setting until the egg is worked in completely.
3 eggs
Scrape the dough into a piping bag fitted with a large star decorating tip. Pipe dough into 8 little piles onto a baking sheet covered in parchment paper. Leave plenty of room between each puff, as they will expand in size. I use a circular motion. Any spiky tops can be patted down with a wet finger, so they don't burn.
Bake for about 25 minutes and DO NOT PEAK. If you peak, you risk your Windbeutel collapsing. Remove from oven once finished baking and allow to cool completely before cutting in half and filling. You can also fill them using a filling tip without cutting them in half.

Make The Whipped Cream Filling

Combine the heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar and vanilla and beat until stiff peaks start to form.
200 milliliters heavy whipping cream, 2 Tablespoons powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Fill the cream puffs either by cutting the cream puffs in half and piping on the whipped cream (I use the same large star-shaped decorating tip) or by leaving the cream puffs whole and using a filling tip.
Dust in powdered sugar (optional).

Video

Notes

Helpful Tips

Cook the dough until a white film forms at the bottom of the pan. Keep pressing the dough down using a wooden spoon or a rubber spatula, turn it over, and continue this motion until a white film starts to show up at the bottom of the pan.
Work in one egg at a time using an electric mixer. I used my stand mixer for this part. I messed up my first batch because my hand-held electric mixer is broken and thought I could whisk the eggs in by hand. Big mistake. Not only is it a massive arm workout, but it's hard to not get lumps in the dough if working the eggs in by hand. On my second try I used my electric standmixer and the paddle attachment. I adjusted the speed from medium when just adding the eggs to high once they started getting worked in (to prevent dough from flinging everywhere). The final dough will be a stretchy, batter-like consistency.
After piping the dough onto the baking sheet, get rid of any spiky tops by patting them down with a wet finger, so they don't burn.
Don't open the oven door. Check on your cream puffs through the glass door instead. Just like souffles, the cream puffs will deflate if they're checked on too soon (and that's very sad). Bake them for the whole 25 minutes (I usually bake them on the convection setting).

Nutrition