Boozy Pumpkin Cream Puffs

Yum

It’s Fall, y’all which means it’s time for all things pumpkin and to start building up that alcohol tolerance so you don’t end up under the table at Thanksgiving after one glass of wine.

These boozy pumpkin cream puffs are the perfect starter kit—they combine a classic cream puff recipe with pumpkin spiced whipped cream spiked with bourbon.

They’re the perfect flavor combination for an adult dessert. But, if you don’t drink (no judgement here), you can definitely omit the alcohol and just make them pumpkin spice cream puffs.

Wait, But Are Boozy Pumpkin Cream Puffs Hard to Make?

As someone who would not consider themselves the best baker in the world, I can confidently say that these are much easier to make than you may think. The dough comes together surprisingly quickly, and the oven does most of the work for you to make them light and fluffy.

The only part of this recipe that I needed to practice was piping the puffs to make them Insta-ready. But even that was surprisingly easy once I got it down, and I’ve got a guide below to help you out too! They also don’t need to be piped perfectly for them to come out properly—I just have a food blog to run.

Do I Need Fancy Equipment to Make Cream Puffs?

No! As always, fancy equipment can make certain aspects of this process mildly easier, but they’re really not necessary. As someone who tested each aspect of this recipe with both fancy and common kitchen equipment, I can tell you from experience, it works either way.

Here is the equipment you need to make cream puffs:

To Make the Cream Puff Dough (AKA Choux dough):

• A medium-sized pot
• A wooden spoon
• A mixing bowl
• Measuring cups & spoons (obvi)

For Piping & Baking the Cream Puffs:

• A piping bag and ⅝ths piping attachment OR a quality, gallon-sized plastic bag (so the sides don’t rip) and a pair of scissors to cut a piping hole
• 1 baking sheet
• Parchment paper OR cooking spray if you don’t have parchment paper

To Make the Whipped Cream:

• Large mixing bowl
• Whisk OR hand mixer OR stand mixer

Okay So How Do I make Boozy Pumpkin Cream Puffs?

I’m so glad you asked. I promise it’s easy:

1. Make the dough: In a medium-sized pot, bring a cup of water to boil. Add a stick of butter (cause everything’s better with buttah, baby!), ½ teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of sugar.
2. Add flour: Once everything is boiling, keep the heat on medium and use a wooden spoon to stir in the flour. Continue to stir and cook the dough until a thin film starts to form on the bottom of the pot. Once that happens, turn the burner off and deposit the dough into a large mixing bowl.
3. Add the eggs: Stir the dough in the mixing bowl to release heat for about 3 minutes to keep the eggs from cooking (you can use a wooden spoon or use a hand or stand mixer). Add the eggs one by one and stir until fully incorporated before adding the next egg.
4. Pipe the cream puffs: Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper or cooking spray. Place the dough into the piping bag or ziplock bag (and cut off the tip). Pipe the cream puffs (more details on that below)
5. Once piped, mix 1 egg with a tablespoon of water (egg wash) and apply to cream puffs with fingers, being sure to pat down any pieces of dough sticking up. This will help the cream puffs have a lustrous look when they come out of the oven.
6. Bake: Set your oven to 375 degrees, and once up to temperature, bake for 28 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown.

   Be sure not to open your oven while these bake to ensure that the puffs fully inflate.

7. Make the Whipped Cream: In a large mixing bowl, combine heavy cream, confectioners sugar, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla and bourbon and beat until stiff peaks form. Divide whipped cream in half and fold in the pumpkin puree into half the whipped cream. Once combined, fold in the second half of the whipped cream until fully combined.
8. Fill Puffs: Remove puffs from the oven and allow to cool (10-15 minutes). Stuff the whipped cream into a piping bag, ziplock bag, or use a spoon to stuff the cream into the puffs just before serving. You can also choose to dust the puffs with confectioners sugar by placing some sugar in a sifter and shaking it over the puffs. Enjoy!

How to pipe cream puffs (Choux Dough)

Here are two ways you can pipe your cream puffs:

• Hold the piping bag steady and squeeze the dough out into a 1 ½ to 2 inch blob. The secret here is to continue to apply pressure and hold the piping bag down so that the dough expands outward instead of up. (This works best if you have a real piping bag). See a video demonstration of this technique here.
• Spiral the dough into 1 ½ to 2 inch width and continue to spiral up until the hole in the center is closed.

Other Tips and Tricks

Here are some other random things I learned from testing this recipe (and also tips I got from my roommate who is way more of a baker than I am)

• Use a light-colored pan, if you can, to cook the puffs. Dark colored pans attract more heat and turn anything you cook on them a darker color.
• Don’t open the oven while the puffs are cooking. As a self-proclaimed oven checker (how else will I know if my recipe is coming out right?!), DO NOT open the oven while your cream puffs are cooking. Instead use your oven light to check their progress. They’re done when they’re golden brown.
  • If your oven light isn’t working for whatever reason, you can very quickly, and very slightly crack the oven to see how the puffs are doing
  • But if you must do this, do so as infrequently as possible as opening the oven too much could make your cream puffs deflate.
• For the whipped cream: work with chilled ingredients, if you can. This will help keep the whipped cream as firm as possible. If you cannot chill your ingredients ahead of time, put your whipped cream in the freezer uncovered for 10-20 minutes (the alcohol will keep it from freezing too quickly) to stiffen it up a bit, while avoiding over whipping.
• For the whipped cream: Pour the bourbon in just before you start whipping. Leaving the bourbon in for too long before you start whipping can curdle the heavy cream. This shouldn’t be a problem if it’s left there for 5 minutes, but the longer you leave the bourbon in without whipping, the more likely the cream is to curdle.

Does It Matter If I Use Whipping Cream Instead of Heavy Cream?

The short answer is yes, but not much. The fat levels in heavy cream are slightly higher than in whipping cream, making for a creamier whipped cream than whipping cream. Especially because you’ll be mixing in bourbon and pumpkin, which both bring their own water contents with them, I’d recommend heavy cream.

But if all you have is whipped cream, that’s fine too, I would just recommend that you reduce the amount of pumpkin and bourbon by a tablespoon each or so.

What are the best occasions to serve Boozy Pumpkin Cream Puffs?

• Fall holidays (Halloween parties, Thanksgiving, etc)
• Any get togethers
• When you’re sitting on the couch on a Saturday night watching TV
• Literally any time (that you don’t need to be working, driving, or watching anyone’s children)

Can I Make Boozy Pumpkin Cream Puffs Without the Booze?

Of course! Just omit the bourbon and use the same measurements for the whipped cream. There is no alcohol in the dough.