White Chocolate Cream Puffs – Light and airy puffs are filled with homemade white chocolate pastry cream and finished with a dip in melted white chocolate.
And just like that, Christmas is over. It’s so sad to see my favorite time of year pass us by. But fear not!! We still have New Year’s Eve to look forward to!!
With that in mind, I’ve got a yummy dessert that is elegant enough to serve at any New Year’s Eve party, but much easier to make than you’d think. But before I get to that, let me list out some yummy appetizers that you can also throw together for your party this year. Because as much as I love going straight for the dessert first, you can’t have a party without something savory too!
When planning out appetizers, you want to make sure to include something that’s easy to eat and also filling enough to keep people energized all night. Here are a few ideas for your menu:
- Mini Pesto Grilled Cheese – mini treats are always a hit at parties. And you can’t go wrong with cheese and pesto!
- Goat Cheese Stuffed Sweet Peppers – goat cheese never disappoints!!
- Tomato & Whipped Feta Crostini – this hearty crostini is so refreshing and so easy to make
- Pigs in Blanket Wreath – and finally, don’t forget to include some options with protein to keep bellies full!
Alright, now that you have your appetizers all planned out, let’s get to the dessert!
My mom always loved to serve mini desserts during the holidays – mini cheesecake bites, mini eclairs, and mini cream puffs. They came frozen from the grocery store so they were super easy for her to thaw and serve.
Those memories from my childhood inspired me to make my own mini desserts. Say hello to my White Chocolate Cream Puffs!
I know cream puffs sound intimidating to make. But trust me, if you’ve tackled recipes like these macarons or these doughnuts, these cream puffs will be a piece of cake!
To make the cream puffs, there are two major steps: make the puffs and make the pastry cream. I recommend making the pastry cream first because it needs to be chilled for a few hours to help it thicken.
The pastry cream is basically a homemade pudding made with milk and egg yolks. It’s finished off with white chocolate to give it extra depth of flavor.
For the puffs, it’s much easier than any dough you’ve made in the past because…wait for it…there’s no yeast! The puffs get their height from lots of eggs.
Once you make the dough, you put it in a piping bag to help form perfect circles and then just bake until golden brown. See, how easy is that?!
After the puffs are made, they’re ready for filling and then a finish in some melted white chocolate.
To give you a little more confidence when making these cream puffs, here are some tips:
- When making the pastry cream, make sure you keep an eye on it – it will thicken pretty quickly so you’ll want to remove it from heat as soon at it does.
- The dough is made by adding eggs to a hot dough one at a time. Make sure to stir each egg vigorously into the dough to keep it from scrambling in the hot dough.
- To make the puffs easier to fill, I always punch an X into the bottom with a pairing knife. Then, I simply insert the piping bag into the X and fill the puff until full.
There you have it – the perfect dessert to serve at your New Year’s Eve Party next week. In fact, it’s great for any party you have in the New Year!
Here are all the kitchen tools and serveware that I used in today’s recipe. For each item sold below, I make a small commission. I only recommend items that I own and love so you can trust that each recommendation is tried and true. Thank you for supporting CPA!
White Chocolate Cream Puffs
Ingredients
For the white chocolate pastry cream:
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1/2 cup sugar divided
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 5 large egg yolks
- 4 tablespoons butter unsalted, cut into pats
- 6 ounces white chocolate chips
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
For the puffs:
- 1/2 cup butter unsalted, cut into pats
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 cup water
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup flour
- egg wash (1 egg whisked with 1 teaspoon water)
- 6 ounces white chocolate chips
Instructions
To make the white chocolate pastry cream:
- Start your cream puffs by making the pastry cream first so it has time to chill in the fridge. In a medium saucepan, add milk and 1/4 cup sugar and place over medium heat until steaming but not boiling. In a medium bowl, combine remaining 1/4 cup sugar, cornstarch, salt, and egg yolks by whisking together.
- Once milk is warm, ladle in a little milk into egg yolk mixture and stir together vigorously to combine. Ladle in a little more and repeat until all of milk is in egg yolk mixture. Pour mixture back into saucepan and place over medium heat. and whisk frequently.
- Once it reaches a boil, turn off heat and whisk quickly to help it thicken. Add butter and whisk until melted. Add white chocolate chips and whisk until melted. Place into medium bowl and add vanilla extract and whisk to combine. Cut a piece of plastic wrap and place directly onto pastry cream to help prevent a film from forming on top. Refrigerate until chilled, about 3-4 hours.
To make the puffs and assemble:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or baking mats. Set aside.
- In a medium saucepan, heat butter, sugar, salt, and water together over medium-high heat until it boils. Immediately add all of the flour and stir with a wooden spoon. Continue to stir over heat until a firm forms on the bottom of the pan. Remove from heat and transfer dough to a medium bowl to cool down for 3 minutes.
- Once slightly cooled, add 1 egg to dough and stir vigorously until combined into dough. Repeat with rest of eggs, one at a time.
- Transfer mixture to a large pastry bag fitted with a large piping tip. Pipe 1 1/2 inch rounds onto prepared baking sheets (about the size of a macaron). Make sure to space out about 2 inches apart. Dip your finger into water and smooth out the tops of each dollop of dough.
- Gently brush each dollop with egg wash. Bake puffs for 30 minutes until they've risen and turn golden brown on top. Once finished, remove from oven and let cool completely before filling.
- Once the puffs are cooled and the pastry creme is chilled, it's time to assemble! Place pastry cream in a pastry bag fitted with a small round tip. Using a pairing knife, cut an X into the bottom of the puff. Stuff the x with the tip of the pastry cream bag and squeeze the pastry cream into the puff until you feel that it's full. Repeat with the rest of the puffs.
- Once all puffs are filled, melt the 6 ounces of white chocolate chips in a small bowl by microwaving for 30 seconds. Stir and microwave another 30 seconds. Dip the tops of each puff into melted white chocolate and place on wire racks to let the chocolate harden. Serve immediately or within 24 hours.
Notes
Pin for later:
Other treats you might like:
Chocolate Chip Cookie Bites with Fudge Frosting
Nutella Macarons
Churro Marshmallow Bites
Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake Pops
These cream puffs look absolutely incredible! White chocolate is such a dreamy filling. I make similar ones but always struggle with getting the pastry shell perfectly hollow. Your tips on the choux technique are really helpful. I recently shared my own pastry experiments on vidglory if anyone wants to check out more dessert ideas.
These cream puffs look absolutely divine! White chocolate filling is such an elegant twist on the classic. I have been experimenting with different pastry doughs lately and choux pastry is definitely one of the trickiest to get right – your tips here are really helpful. The key is definitely not opening the oven door too early. Beautiful presentation too!
These cream puffs look stunning! I love the idea of dipping them in white chocolate too. Cream puffs are one of those desserts that look so fancy but are surprisingly doable at home. I recently used an AI image tool to create some fun food photography backgrounds for a baking blog I help with, and it made such a difference in the final photos. Your step about piping the dough into circles is great advice for beginners. Definitely saving this recipe!
Who can resist mini desserts?! I love that you have taken a memory of your mom and store bought desserts and made your own at home. These look so delicious!
Thanks so much! Love love mini desserts, too!
I love cream puffs, they are like nice little surprises, depending on what you fill them with:) These look like fun!
I don’t think I’ve ever seen cream puffs with chocolate on top! What a great idea. We have a family friend who makes cream puffs for every holiday gathering, and I eat WAY too many of them. They are so addictive
They really are!
I HAVE to make these soon! I haven’t had cream puffs in months and never with white chocolate. You got me definitely wanting a couple of your white chocolate cream puffs right now, makes me so hungry!
Haha yesss! Mission accomplished!
These look so yummy! I love that you made these on a silpat! I’m super sad Christmas is over too but these cream puffs will quickly bring me back in the holiday mood! Thanks for sharing!
Looove my silpat!! Hope you get to try these out soon!
These are absolutely GORGEOUS! My FIL grew up in Belgium and makes awesome cream puffs, but he’s never used white chocolate with them. I’ll have to suggest this for next time! YUM!
It’s a great way to change them up a bit, while keeping the essence of the cream puff the same!
My favorite way to eat cream puffs is stuffed with pastry cream. My kids love them.. SO creamy… Love the white chocolate tops..
Aw thanks so much!
I Can’t wait to try these. Looks so yummy
I just adore mini desserts! These white chocolate cream puffs look like the perfect dessert for New Years Eve… I can’t wait to try them!
OMG I don’t even remember the last time I made cream puffs. The pastry dough is so fun to work with….almost like Play Doh!! These are perfect bites of deliciousness!!
It really is!! Love them so much!
I love cream puffs! I’ve never even considered making them myself at home, though! This is a great idea, and I can’t wait to give it a try!
You’re gonna love em!!
These look soo tasty!! I love having mini dessert options, they’re so much easier!
These look so yummy! My grandmother made cream puffs all the time for the holidays when we were young. Love that these are small, perfect for small bites of dessert for a holiday gathering!
A lot of my friends to me their grandmother’s made cream puffs for the holidays! Love that!
These look beyond delicious. Nothing better than something homemade with love! I will have to add these to my list. Thanks for sharing. Ps. I’m craving cookies now. haha
Haha story of my life!
Oh. My. Goodness!! These look delicious! My mouth is watering now. Will have to make these soon!