Angel Cloud Cream Puffs – The Perfect Ending

When I entertain my favorite part of the meal is dessert.  I enjoying looking through yummy dessert recipes, trying to decide which will be the perfect ending for the meal I have planned.  I recently wrote about having a young family over for dinner along with my son and his wife.  Dinner included Cheesy Tomato Basil Chicken, a garden salad and Parmesan Butter Pan Biscuits.  I wanted an easy but impressive dessert.  I also wanted a dessert that a toddler would enjoy.

As I browsed through recipes I came upon Angel Cloud Cream Puffs.  Seeing this recipe brought back memories from my childhood.  My grandmother often made cream puffs for dessert at family gatherings.  My mom loves to tell the story about how much I love cream puffs.  I guess I was about two years old.  We were invited to dinner at my grandparents and cream puffs were served for dessert.  My grandmother always filled them with a custard-like mixture similar to the filling in Angel Cloud Cream Puffs.  I guess I was very quietly eating my cream puff when my mom looked over to see me licking my plate clean.  I didn’t want to miss one bit of that delicious dessert.

Remembering that story was enough to convince me that Angel Cloud Cream Puffs was the perfect dessert to serve.  Cream puffs are quite easy to make and really look impressive so this recipe fit the bill perfectly.  The custard, cream puffs and sauce can all be made a day ahead if you are crunched for time.

The first step is to make the custard filling.  This comes together very quickly with the help of an  instant pudding and pie filling mix.  Just place the pudding mix in a medium bowl and slowly stir in the milk with a wire whisk until the mixture is smooth and slightly thickened.

Add the sour cream and yogurt.  Whisk until smooth.  Cover and refrigerate at least 1 ½ hours.

While the custard is refrigerating make the cream puffs.  Heat the oven to 400°F.  Combine the water, butter and salt in a 2-quart saucepan.

Cook over medium heat until the mixture comes to a full boil; that means there are bubbles all over the surface.

Leave the saucepan on the heat and vigorously stir in the flour until the mixture forms a ball.

Remove the pan from the heat.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until smooth.

Drop dough by ¼ cupfuls, about 3 inches apart, onto ungreased baking sheets.  I have a ¼ cup scoop to use but you can use a measuring cup or large spoon too.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until puffed and lightly browned.  Pierce each puff gently with a fork to allow the steam to escape.  Cool completely.  Store loosely covered if you make them a day ahead.

This recipe has a lovely berry sauce to serve over the custard-filled cream puffs.  I served it along with chocolate sauce (I just purchased some at the grocery store) so my guests could select which sauce they preferred.  Some chose both!  To make the berry sauce place the thawed berries in a 5-cup blender container or food processor bowl.

Cover and blend at high speed until smooth.

Add the sugar and liqueur (I used a little orange juice instead) and mix well.

Just before serving, cut each cream puff in half.  Scrape the soft dough from the inside of the cream puff, if desired.

Only fill as many cream puffs as you plan to serve.  Fill each cream puff with about ¼ cup custard.  You can also add some cut-up fruit.  I served the cream puffs with just the custard filling.  A little sprinkle of powdered sugar adds a touch of sweetness.  Serve with the berry sauce (and/or chocolate sauce) drizzled over the top.  Everyone loved the cream puffs!  Here are Ryan and Amanda getting ready to dig in.

And, here are Kirby, Annie and Kendall ready to eat their cream puffs.

Angel Cloud Cream Puffs were the perfect ending to a wonderful meal.  While we were eating dessert I told the story about how much I liked cream puffs as a child so Ryan couldn’t resist teasing me by licking his plate once he finished – makes a mother proud :)

Please take a moment to rate and review this recipe once you give it a try or leave me a comment.  

Becky Wahlund is the Director of the Test Kitchens for Land O'Lakes and writes for our Recipe Buzz® Blog.