Best 9 Mini French Puffs Recipes

GOUGèRES (FRENCH CHEESE PUFFS)

Steps:

• Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat it to 425°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Bring the milk, butter, and salt to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Add the flour all at once, lower the heat to medium and, using a wooden spoon, immediately start stirring energetically. The dough will form into a ball and there will be a light film on the bottom of the pan. Keep stirring for another two minutes or so to dry the dough: Dry dough will make puffier puffs.
• Turn the dough out into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or work by hand in a large bowl with a wooden spoon and elbow grease). Let the dough sit for a minute to cool, then add the eggs one by one, followed by the white, beating on medium speed until each one is incorporated before adding the next. The dough may look as though it's separating or falling apart -- just keep going, and by the time the egg white goes in, the dough will be smooth. Beat in the mustard, followed by the cheese. Give the dough a last mix-through by hand.
• Scoop or spoon out heaping tablespoon-sized balls of dough (I use a 1.5-tablespoon cookie scoop), and drop the dough on the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between the mounds. (The scooped dough can be frozen on the baking sheets.)
• Slide the baking sheets into the oven and immediately turn the temperature down to 375°F. Bake for 15 minutes, then rotate the pans from front to back and top to bottom. Continue baking until the gougères are puffed, golden, and firm enough to pick up, another 15 to 17 minutes. Serve immediately -- these are best directly from the oven. Storing: Although the puffs are best served hot out of the oven, they are still nice (although flatter) at room temperature that same day. If you want to keep baked puffs longer, freeze them and then reheat in a 350°F-oven for a few minutes.
• Make-Ahead/Freezer Instructions: Scoop the dough and freeze on a parchment-lined baking sheet, then pack them in an airtight container. You can bake them straight from the freezer; just give them a few more minutes in the oven.
• Note/Variation: Dorie adds ⅔ cup walnuts or pecans, lightly toasted and chopped, to these gougères. My family prefers them without nuts but it's a nice variation to try. Add them along with the cheese.

FRENCH BREAKFAST PUFFS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously grease muffin cups with butter.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat together softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Blend in eggs until well incorporated. Slowly mix in flour mixture, alternating with milk, until all ingredients are blended. Stir in vanilla.
• Divide batter between muffin cups so that they are about 2/3 full. Bake until edges are starting to turn golden and a toothpick inserted in center comes clean, about 20 to 25 minutes.
• While muffins are baking, pour melted butter in a bowl. Mix sugar and cinnamon together in another bowl. As soon as muffins are done, allow them to cool for just a minute or two before turning them out of the pan. Dip the top of each muffin in butter, allowing it to soak for about 10 seconds, and then press it into the cinnamon sugar mixture until generously coated. Serve warm.

FRENCH TOAST PUFFS

Steps:

• For the ginger butter: Place the butter, agave and ginger in a food processor and process until smooth. (If no processor is available, you may use softened butter and whisk all ingredients instead.) The butter should have a smooth consistency, ready to be dipped into.
• For the french toast puffs: Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F, using convection if available. Spray a large baking sheet with cooking spray.
• Put the bananas, oat milk, coconut, sugar, cinnamon, turmeric, nutmeg, vanilla and salt in a blender and blend until smooth. If there are a few small chunks of banana, don't worry, it will add to the texture of the puffs.
• Put 1 loaf's worth of bread chunks in a large mixing bowl, followed by the batter. With a spatula or fingertips, gently fold everything together. Take care not to overmix. Homogenous is boring, so we are looking for the bread to be mostly intact, moistened by the batter. Let sit for 5 minutes. The texture should now be soft and wet, not soupy (if it's soupy, add more bread).
• When the correct texture is achieved, it will be easily scoopable with a golf-ball-sized cookie scoop. Scoop out all of the bread-batter mix onto the prepared baking sheet. Keep it funky and scoop larger amounts than the scoop can hold, like a scoop of hard ice cream. Bake until golden brown and crispy on the outside, 10 to 15 minutes. (Browned and slightly crunchy on the outside, and soft on the inside, is our goal.) Eat with hands, dipping into Vermont maple syrup and ginger butter.

FRENCH BREAKFAST PUFFS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 12 muffin cups or line cups with paper muffin liners.
• In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. In a separate bowl, cream together 1/2 cup sugar and shortening. Beat in egg. Stir flour mixture into shortening mixture alternately with milk. Beat well. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
• Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes. While muffins are baking, combine 1/2 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon.
• Remove muffins from oven and muffin pan. Immediately, dip the tops of the muffins into the melted margarine, then into the sugar/cinnamon mixture. Repeat with each muffin, until all muffin tops are covered. Serve warm.

FINGER-LICKING GOOD MINI CREAM PUFFS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400°. In a small saucepan, bring water and butter to a rolling boil over medium heat. Add flour and salt all at once; beat until blended. Cook, stirring vigorously, until a film forms at the bottom of the pan, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat; let stand 10 minutes., Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition until smooth. Continue beating until mixture is smooth and shiny. Drop dough by 1-in. balls 1-1/2 in. apart onto parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until puffed, very firm and golden brown, 25-30 minutes. Cool on wire racks., Meanwhile, whisk together pudding mix and milk for 2 minutes or until thickened; let stand 5 minutes. Fold in whipped topping. Cut puffs in half. Fill cream puffs with vanilla filling; replace tops. Dust with confectioners' sugar; serve immediately.

FRENCH BREAKFAST PUFFS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease 12 muffin cups.
• In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Set aside.
• In a separate large bowl, cream together the sugar and shortening. Add the eggs and mix again. Alternate adding one-third of the flour mixture and one-third of the milk to the creamed mixture, beating well after each addition.
• Fill the muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake until golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the muffins from the pan and set aside.
• To make the coating, melt the butter in a bowl or glass pan. In a separate container, combine the sugar and cinnamon.
• Dip the warm muffins in the butter, coating thoroughly.
• Then roll in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Don't be afraid to really coat 'em up. Let the kids help!

FRENCH BREAKFAST PUFFS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 15 medium muffin cups, 2 1/2x1 1/4 inches.
• Mix shortening, 1/2 cup sugar and the egg throughly in large bowl. Stir in flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg alternately with milk. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.
• Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.
• Mix 1/2 cup sugar and the cinnamon. Roll hot muffins immediately in melted butter, then in sugar-cinnamon mixture. Serve hot.

CLASSIC CREAM PUFFS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
• In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, combine butter, sugar, salt and 1 cup water. Bring to a boil and quickly stir in the flour with a wooden spoon. Continue to stir until a film forms on the bottom of the pan.
• Remove from heat and transfer contents to a bowl to cool slightly, about 3 minutes. Add 4 eggs, one at a time, stirring vigorously to entirely incorporate egg after each addition.
• For the egg wash, whisk together the remaining egg with 1 tablespoon water. Set aside.
• Transfer the pate a choux to a large pastry bag fitted with a 5/8-inch plain tip. Pipe 1-1/2-inch rounds onto each prepared pan. Gently smooth the pointed peaks with a moistened finger, rounding tops to ensure even rising. Brush tops with reserved egg wash. Bake until puffs rise and are golden brown, about 30 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks. Puffs can be stored at room temperature for up to 1 day.
• Transfer pastry cream to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/8-inch plain round tip. Insert the tip into the opening of each pastry, and pipe to fill with pastry cream. Serve immediately.

MINIATURE FRENCH BREAKFAST MUFFIN PUFFS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees.
• Grease bottoms of 36-48 small muffin cups.
• Mix shortening, 1/2 c sugar, and egg thoroughly.
• Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg.
• Stir flour mixture and milk alternately into sugar/shortening mixture.
• Fill greased muffin cups 2/3 full.
• Bake 15 minutes or until golden brown.
• Dip immediately in melted butter, then in mixture of cinnamon/sugar.
• Serve hot.