Takoyaki Cream Puff – mini, bite-sized eclairs pop with vanilla filling. A fun way to enjoy your cream puffs, with green tea and drizzle with white chocolate.
I forgot how old I was when I first entered the kitchen arena. I only remembered helping my mom when our house helpers went back to her hometown for holiday, and mom let me ‘played’ with her ‘instruments’ while watching her cooking. Afterward, I helped her with the dishes. And I still remembered reading through her cooking notes, which sometimes I refer to as her ‘bible’. It’s a thick 500-pages cookbook which she wrote herself, just like her own diary. She sometimes added clipped pictures or interesting recipes she found on the newspaper or magazines. I have no idea how many books she has collected to date, but she definitely passed the habit to me. Thankfully, we have a blog nowadays, so at least I don’t have to worry about cluttering another corner at home.
Speaking of recipes, cream puffs or eclair was one of the first recipes I baked on my own. It took me three or four tries before I baked ‘perfect’ cream puffs. At that time, I was less than ten years old. I remembered that my mom did not lend her hands in order to make me learn it all by myself and I could proudly call it my own creation. But she was there the whole time, gave me her support, answering any questions I had. It’s funny that each time I failed she always teased me of spending too much of her baking essentials, lol. But she was impressed when it’s all done – at least that’s what I think.
For me, the most challenging part of making cream puffs is to ‘wait patiently’ for the flour to cool down before adding the eggs. I failed many times, but I learned my lesson.
Since then, cream puffs have always been my favorite, simply because I love custard. Anything custard is always delicious. Here’s a quick and easy recipe to make cream puffs… in the form of takoyaki. If the original shape of eclairs bore you, try this one.
Other dessert recipes you should try:
- No-Bake Salted Caramel Oat Squares – these No-Bake Salted Caramel Oat Squares are heavenly. They are perfect for breakfast or snack and involve hearty oatmeal and chocolate. Win, win, win.
- Raspberry Puff Pastry Tart – Puff pastry danish or raspberry danish pastry. Whatever you call this, this easy tart is sure to impress the guests on any occasions — crispy, buttery, flaky puff pastry tart makes an easy summer dessert.
Takoyaki Cream Puff
Ingredients
Choux Pastry:
- 100 gr butter
- 250 cc water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 130 gr cake flour
- 3 medium eggs
Vanilla fillings:
- 2 yolks
- 50 gr cornstarch
- 75 gr sugar
- 500 ml milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Choux pastry: In a pot, combine butter, water, and salt. Add flour, and mix well. Let it cool.
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
- Using a wooden spoon or stand mixer, beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each until the dough becomes sticky.
- Drop by tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown. Centers should be dry.
- When the shells are cool, either split and fill them with the pudding mixture, or use a pastry bag to pipe the pudding into the shells.
- Vanilla fillings: Mix cornstarch with 1/2 milk and yolk. Set aside.
- In a pot, combine milk and sugar; then add the cornstarch mixture. Keep stirring until you reach the right (pudding thickness) consistency.
Christy says
Oh my, I can’t believe you made eclairs at 10. I barely could make Mickey Mouse Pancakes from Bisquik. These look so heavenly.
My cookbook obsessed mind wants to know what cookbook was your Grandmothers Bible?
Toni | 2 Aussie Travellers says
They are so adorable but my taste buds will be really confused. I love both takoyaki and Japanese shu cremes. What have you used for the sauces and toppings effect on this recipe, I can’t see it in the ingredients?
Linda says
Hi Toni, I used melted chocolates, dark and white; plus chopped pistachio. Let me know when you get a chance to try them. They are so fun to make 🙂