The Common Mistake To Avoid When Baking Cream Puffs

No matter the occasion, cream puffs are always a welcome addition to the dessert table. Each choux-shelled custard is a delightful treat, perfect for bridging the gap between lunch and dinner or providing sweet relief after a main meal. They consistently turn out perfectly, provided you don't skip the crucial step of cooking the dough twice. That said, you're just one seemingly trivial step away from ruining your choux à la crème patisserie. After mixing the dough, piping it, and placing the cream puffs in the oven, avoid the mistake of opening the oven door while your pastry bakes.

You may have heard that frequently opening the oven door is one of the biggest mistakes in baking, but in the case of cream puffs, opening it at all — especially within the first half hour — is a surefire way to ruin them. When you open the oven door, cooler air rushes in, lowering the overall temperature inside, which can cause these delicate pastries to collapse. This is the essence of choux pastry, which is the dough used to make cream puffs: It relies on a stream of constant, steady heat while it's baking. The steam builds up inside, inflating the cream puffs so they emerge as beautiful balls of pastry, ready to be filled. If the steam escapes, the cream puffs deflate, and the pastry loses the structure and appeal that makes cream puffs crave-worthy.

Unlike a cake that can be leveled with a bread knife and covered with icing, collapsed cream puffs are a whole different ball game. You can't simply pipe custard filling into the deflated choux pastry to compensate for the lack of structure. At the very least, it won't be easy. By definition, the choux pastry should have a hollow core that's ready to house the pastry cream, which is essential to what makes cream puffs deserving of their name. Thus, many bakers emphasize how crucial it is to avoid opening the oven door when making cream puffs because the integrity of this dessert relies on this pivotal step.

Most importantly, remember that choux pastry is made with water, flour, and eggs; it contains no leavening agent to help it rise. The dough is kept extremely light so that the steam can act as a rising agent, lifting the pastry into round, puffy forms. If you must check on your cream puffs out of curiosity, wait at least 30 minutes to allow the dough to bake enough to hold its structure. Even then, it's best to look in the oven window, if it has one, or take only a very quick peek and shut the oven door immediately. The last thing you want is deflated chocolate cream puffs sitting at the dessert table.