Root Beer Float Cream Puffs 🍒

Ingredients:

Root Beer Reduction:

24 oz. root beer

Root Beer Pastry Cream:

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/4 cup granulated sugar

4 egg yolks

2 cups whole milk

root beer reduction (from above)

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, diced and softened

Cream Puffs:

1/2 cup water + 1 Tbsp.

1/2 cup whole milk +1 Tbsp.

1/2 tsp. granulated sugar

1/2 tsp. fleur de sel or other sea salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter

3/4 cup all-purpose flour + 2 Tbsp.

4 eggs

Vanilla Bean Whipped Cream:

2 cups heavy cream, cold

1 Tbsp. vanilla bean paste

1/2 cup powdered sugar

Garnish:

maraschino cherries, if desired

Detailed Steps:

Root Beer Reduction:

Pour the root beer into a medium saucepan and warm over medium-low heat until reduced to about ½ cup . It will take more time doing this over lower heat, but if you boil the root beer over higher heat the root beer will caramelize, and that won't work in the pastry cream!

Pastry Cream:

In a medium heatproof bowl, combine cornstarch, sugar, and egg yolks. Whisk to combine (mixture will the thick).

In a medium saucepan, heat milk over medium heat until milk just begins to bubble around the edges.

Slowly pour about one cup of the hot milk mixture into the egg mixture, whisking constantly. This will temper the eggs. Pour the egg mixture into the saucepan and, stirring constantly, cook over medium heat until thickened.

Once the mixture is thick, add the root beer reduction and butter and stir to incorporate.

To ensure that your pastry cream is velvety smooth, you can strain it through a fine-mesh strainer at this point if you'd like (I always do). Scrape pastry cream into a bowl and cover with plastic, pressing the plastic to the surface of the cream so it doesn't form a skin. Chill completely before using.

Cream Puffs:

Preheat oven to 400° F. Line baking sheet with parchment and set aside.

Combine water, milk, sugar, salt, and butter in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.

Once boiling, and while still on the heat, add the flour. Quickly beat mixture with a wooden spoon until smooth and shiny. Mixture will pull away from the sides of the pan. (Do not underbeat or cream puffs may deflate later!)

Once mixture is thoroughly combined, scrape it into the bowl of a stand mixer. Turn the mixer on low speed. With mixer running, add eggs one a time, allowing each egg to incorporate and mixture to become smooth before adding the next.

Transfer batter to a pastry bag and cut a hole in the end (about ⅓" across). Pipe mounds of choux pastry at least 2" apart, each about 2" across and ¾" tall . With those dimensions, you get about 24 cream puffs.

Place the baking sheet in the oven and turn the oven off. Bake 10 minutes with the oven off. Turn oven back on to 350° F and bake another 10 minutes. Then, turn the oven off again, leaving the cream puffs to finish baking for another 10 minutes (This is 30 minutes in the oven total). Resist the urge to open the oven until baking is complete, as this could deflate your cream puffs!

Once the cream puffs are baked, remove from the oven and poke a hole in the top of each with a toothpick. This will allow any residual steam to escape (otherwise, your cream puffs could deflate…sensing a trend here?). Allow cream puffs to cool completely.

For Whipped Cream:

Place cold heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla bean paste in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Start the mixer on low speed, and gradually increase the speed to high. Whip until the cream thickens and forms peaks.

Assembly:

Scrape the chilled pastry cream into a piping bag fitted with a small, round piping tip (I used a no. 7). If you don't have a small piping tip, you can use a small paring knife or chopstick to help you poke the hole in the bottom. Repeat with the remaining cream puffs.

Gently poke a hole in the bottom of a cream puff and fill with the pastry cream. You'll be able to feel the puff expand a little as you fill it.

Try not to overfill, or it will leak out the hole in the bottom. I placed each filled cream puff onto a small piece of parchment so that I could move them without making a mess with any pastry cream that may leak out.

Top each cream puff with vanilla bean whipped cream and a cherry, if desired.

Yields: 24