Cream puffs tutorial

Hi everyone!

I think that cream puffs are one of the easiest and most adorable deco sweets to make. I said easy because now I know how to make them and I would like to show it to you, so you could make your own ones :)

Cream puffs, in UK called profiteroles, are just little puffed pastries filled with cream, and usually topped with chocolate glaze. Most of you know them very well. They are one of the most popular desserts here in UK, especially on Christmas, so I thought that I will make some for my market day.

I made couple of bread rolls in the past so now I thought that I could make cream puffs, as they are very similar to bread rolls. Well, I was wrong. Bread rolls have more or less symmetrical pattern on the top, whether cream puffs are more chaotic. In my opinion, off course :)
I tried to search for a tutorial on how to make them, but I couldn't find it. Maybe it's too obvious for many how to make them, but it wasn't for me. And so I created my own way of making them and here you have my little cream puffs tutorial :)

First you have to colour your air dry clay with acrylic paint off course :) I used a bit of ochre colour.
Then you make a little ball in a size of cream puff you want to have.
Divide it in four more or less similar size parts. I wanted to have rather simple cream puff so I divided it in four. They don't have to be perfect ball shape, because cream puffs are not perfect when they raise in the oven :)

Take three balls (I chose bigger ones) and join them together.

Put fourth one on the top and squeeze them gently together.

Try not to squash them and try to keep it in shape.

I also joined them together underneath, by smudging the creases, so it wouldn't fall apart.

This is difficult part for me as I don't know how to explain it properly in English :D

Using pointed tool (I used knitting needle (???) in small size) smudge and dab the creases, trying to separate the parts a little.

(It's very similar process to making macaroons  I think.)

And here's the easy part :)

Using rough brush (I used nail brush as it's harder that toothbrush) make the texture on the dough.

Don't push too hard and if your creases become smaller, repeat dabbing them and then use brush again until you'll get desired look.

After your cream puff will dry it's time for baking! :) I used raw sienna colour and a make up sponge.

You can just paint them once but I like to do it in two parts. First I use wet sponge with a little bit of paint. I paint the whole dough and I get kind of light coloured background.
After that I use rather dry part of the sponge with more paint and gently apply the paint on the higher parts of the dough.

One tip for you is to dab the sponge with paint onto the piece of paperfirst and then on the cream puff, to get even colour on the dough.
After the puffs are completely dry, you can cut them in the half and fill with cream :)

I hope this tutorial will help some of you and you could make your own Christmas cream puffs! :)
If you have any questions please feel free to ask.

And thank you for visiting my blog! :)