Easy Cream Puff – Oma's Windbeutel 

by: Gerhild Fulson  / Oma Gerhild shares easy, authentic German recipes you can trust, rooted in family tradition and featured in her cookbooks.

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Cream Puff Swans — easy enough for little kids to help you. Made with a traditional German recipe for Windbeutel.

Oma's easy cream puff recipe, aka Windbeutel, is among one of the most impressive quick dessert recipes you'll ever make. They can be filled with whipped cream, pudding, fruit, almost anything! Why, one can even stuff them with a savory filling and make appetizers.

Making Brandteig pastry (choux pastry) is easy enough for beginner bakers and it's one I've made with my granddaughters many times.

Make these cream puff swans (instructions below)... easy enough for your grandkids to help you assemble ... and so much fun making memories!

Or, make eclairs, by piping the dough into oblong shapes, about 3" long and 1" wide. They are shown below, glazed with chocolate and served with fresh fruit.

OR, make a Cream Puff Cake, also shown below!

Christmas Cream Puff ideas:

Christmas Tree Cream Puffs

1. Stack small, medium, and large cream puffs on a cone-shaped base to create a “tree.”
2. Drizzle with green-tinted white chocolate or sprinkle with powdered sugar for “snow.”
3. Decorate with edible pearls or sprinkles as ornaments.

Wreath Cream Puffs

1. Arrange cream puffs in a circular pattern to form a wreath.
2. Use powdered sugar or green icing for color, and add red candied cherries or cranberries as decorations.

Snowman Cream Puffs

1. Stack three different-sized cream puffs vertically.
2. Use melted chocolate for the eyes and buttons, and a small carrot-shaped candy for the nose.

Cream puff Tips ...

• Once filled, the cream puffs should be served within a few hours. They will keep in the fridge, but the sooner they are eaten, the better. 

• As an alternative, add 1 package instant vanilla or chocolate pudding mix to 2 cups heavy (whipping) cream and whip.
• Cocoa can be used or even instant coffee powder (about 1 tsp) shown below, right.
  

• For fruit lovers, add some fresh fruit, such as strawberries, blueberries, kiwis, almost anything!
• Dust the tops of the cream puffs with icing sugar by placing about 1 teaspoon icing sugar into a small sieve. Tap the sieve lightly to "snow" the sugar lightly on top of the puffs.
  

Chocolate Glaze

A chocolate glaze on top is delicious as well. For this, use about 3 tablespoons of cream, 2 ounces of semisweet or unsweetened chocolate, and 1 cup powdered sugar.

In a small pot, melt the chocolate slowly in the cream. Whisk in the powder sugar until smooth. Dip the tops of the filled cream puffs in the glaze. Let set on a wire rack until the glaze has set. That's what I did for these eclairs shown above left.

Serve with extra whipped cream if desired, and/or fresh fruit.

How To Make Cream Puff swans

Here's Lydia with her Cream Puff Swans she made for her 15th birthday dinner party. A favorite with us all.

Lydia made these easy cream puff swans using the same easy recipe for regular traditional cream puffs.

To make the swan puffs, remove ¼ of the dough and use it to pipe the swans heads/necks. Do this by piping with a small tip the number "2". Make as many of these as you have puffs.

Bake the head/neck for about 10 minutes. Then bake the puffs.

When cooled, cut the top off. Cut that into 2 pieces to form the wings. Fill the puffs with whipped cream, insert the head/neck and place add the wings. Voila! Swan Cream Puffs!

Your Kids Will love to Help!

My 11-year old granddaughter, Lydia, making cream puffs for her own birthday celebration.

Lydia helping me make cream puffs, over a decade ago!

Even though the results look amazing, the process of making the dough is so easy. And it's actually fun to cut the puffs apart, pull out the soft insides (tastes like pancakes), and then fill them.

Not many 11-year olds can tell their friends that they know how to make cream puffs or Pâte à Choux! 

Two years later ... she makes these cream puff swans all by herself!

13-year old Lydia made these for Mother's Day for us all to enjoy! Had so much fun watching her bake in my kitchen!

Lydia making her cream puffs all by herself.

Can You Make cream puffs in The Air Fryer?

Yes, you can! A few years after the above photos of Lydia making the cream puffs, she experimented with the recipe to make them in her Instant Pot Vortex Plus Air Fryer Oven. 

Go to cream puffs made in air fryer oven ->

Alana's Cream Puff Cake

Alana's Birthday Cream Puff Cake

Here's the cake my other granddaughter, Alana, wanted for her 16th Birthday celebration. A huge cream puff!

I followed the recipe as above for the dough. I then piped it several times in an 8-inch circle onto parchment paper. It baked for just a few minutes longer than the cream puffs.

I filled it with whipped cream that I added Whip-it to. I needed 3 cups of heavy (whipping) cream (with 3 packages of Whip-it) to fill this properly.

The chocolate glaze is made by pouring 1 cup of hot heavy (whipping) cream into a bowl with 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips. I let that stand about 5 minutes and then stirred it well. Let it cool slightly before pouring it over the cake.

Keep chilled until ready to serve. LECKER!

This Cream Puff Cake is similar to Paris-Brest, only that one is filled with a praline flavored cream. 

From Oma's heart to your table

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Oma says:

Puff pastry recipes are such easy desserts to make, really! Another name for them is Pâte à Choux.

It may sound like a strange method for making dough, but once you've tried it, you will fall in love with the ease at making such impressive desserts.

Ready to Bake These Cream Puffs?

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Easy Cream Puff Recipe – Oma's Windbeutel 

This easy cream puff recipe, aka Windbeutel, is among some of the most impressive quick dessert recipes you'll find. They are great filled with whipped cream, pudding, fruit, almost anything!

If you want to make eclairs, pipe the dough into oblong shapes, about 3-inch long and 1-inch wide. Or turn them into swans!

Prep Time 30 minutes

Bake Time 30 minutes

Total Time 60 minutes

Servings:

Makes about 20 - 25 puffs

Ingredients:

• 1 cup water
• ½ cup butter
• pinch salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 large eggs
• 2 cups heavy (whipping) cream
• 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
• 2 pouches Dr. Oetker Whip It to stabilize whipped cream (see hints below)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. In a medium-sized pot, bring water, butter, and salt to boil, until butter is melted.
3. Remove from heat and add flour all at once, stirring until smooth and mixture comes away from the sides of the pan
4. Return to heat and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
5. Cool slightly (just a few minutes). Using either a wooden spoon or a mixer, beat in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each one. 
6. Drop by tablespoons onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving space between puffs. 
7. Bake 20 to 30 minutes or until golden and crisp. Do NOT open oven door during first half of baking or puffs will collapse.
8. Immediately upon removing from oven, cut a small slit in side of puff to release steam.
9. Prepare the filling by whipping the cream, sugar, and  Whip It according to the package instructions.
10. Once cooled, either split puffs with a sharp knife and fill them with whipped cream or use a pastry bag to pipe the cream into the center of the puff through the side slit.

Notes/Hints:

• Once you split the baked puffs, remove any 'doughy' parts from inside the puff, before filling with the cream.
• Below are the instructions for making swans.
• To make eclairs, just pipe the dough into oblong shapes, about 3 inches long and 1 inch wide.  Shown below, they are glazed with chocolate and served with fresh fruit.
• Don't have Whip It? Add 2 tablespoons powdered sugar instead or 2 tablespoons vanilla instant pudding powder.

To make the swan puffs:

• Remove ¼ of the dough and use it to pipe the swans heads/necks. Do this by piping with a small tip the number "2". Make as many of these as you have puffs
• Bake the head/neck for about 10 minutes. Then bake the puffs.
• When cooled, cut the top off. Cut that into 2 pieces to form the wings. Fill the puffs with whipped cream, insert the head/neck and place add the wings. Voila! Swan Cream Puffs!

*  *  *  *  *

Unless otherwise noted recipe, images and content © Just like Oma | www.quick-german-recipes.com

07.25.2021 revision update

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Hi, I'm Oma Gerhild! As a food writer and cookbook author, I'm always looking to find ways to pass on my German heritage using local ingredients. Quick and easy. That's my goal. Wunderbar food. That's the result.