Champagne Cream Puffs – Sprinkle Bakes

Toast the New Year with Champagne Cream Puffs! These bite-size pastries are filled with champagne pastry cream and dipped in rich chocolate ganache.

I’m squeezing in one last post for 2024 – because I can never resist the chance to create a toast-worthy treat for the New Year. For this year’s fête, I turned to three classic pastry elements: pâte à choux, pastry cream, and ganache. The choux recipe is my tried-and-true formula from the Sprinkle Bakes cookbook. It bakes into beautifully puffed, golden shells with just the right hollow for piping in luscious champagne pastry cream.

And speaking of the champagne pastry cream, it might look familiar – it’s from this recipe I shared over a decade ago! It’s a versatile filling perfect for cakes, pastries, or even just eating straight from a spoon. In these cream puffs, it adds decadent, luxurious flavor and boozy notes of sparkling wine that’s perfect for any celebration.

Pâte à choux, also known as choux pastry, is a versatile French dough used to
create a variety of pastries, including cream puffs, éclairs, and gougères. The dough
is made by combining butter, water (or a mixture of water and milk), flour,
and eggs. Unlike other pastries, it relies on its high moisture content to
produce steam during baking, causing the dough to puff up without the
need for a separate leavening agent.

Make the Cream Puffs

Begin with the pate a choux. It’s one of the simpler French pastry elements and doesn’t take a long time to whip up. I’ve even provided a video tutorial so you can see the process in action.

But, here’s the gist of it – to make pâte à choux, cook butter, water, and flour on the stovetop until a smooth dough forms and pulls away from the sides of the pan. Let it cool slightly, then beat in eggs one at a time until the dough is glossy and pipeable. (You can do this by hand or on a stand mixer – I chose the latter this time.) Pipe rounds onto a parchment or Silpat-lined baking sheet.

Bake at Two Temps

Bake at 425°F for the first 10-12 minutes. The high temp gives the puffs enough boost to puff up and hollow inside. Then lower to 350°F and bake for about 18-20 minute more. This dries the puffs and helps them keep their structure.

After baking, let the choux puffs cool completely. Then you can use them immediately, or store them in the refrigerator (or freezer!) until you’re ready to assemble. (More on this in the recipe notes.)

Make the Champagne Pastry Cream

Pastry cream is another French pastry building block that every baker should practice in their repertoire – and not in a perfunctory way – but because it’s delicious and useful! It’s used to fill tarts and pies, pastries, eclairs, doughnuts – you name it.

This champagne pastry cream is a simple mix of cream, egg yolks, champagne (or prosecco), sugar, and cornstarch. It’s whisked together, tempered with hot cream, then cooked until thickened. Butter and vanilla are stirred in for richness before chilling until firm.

There’s one true test to know if your pastry cream was successful; it must hold in the bowl of a spoon. Meaning, it should not be sauce-like. It should pile up on the spoon when you scoop it. If it doesn’t, that means it wasn’t cooked long enough.

Fill the Puffs

You don’t need a special decorator tip for piping or filling the puffs, but you will need a piping bag – disposable or otherwise – with a 1/2-inch hole snipped from the end.

Use a small sharp knife to create a slit in the bottom edges of the pastry shells. Transfer the chilled pastry cream to the piping bag and fill the cream puffs. Squeezing the shell will help hold it open while you pipe in the pastry cream.

Dip and Decorate

Ganache is a quick, 2 ingredient topping for these that adds a richness and shine. I couldn’t resist adding some sparkle with gold star sprinkles. Find the tiny stars for purchase here. But they’re also stocked at many craft stores in the baking aisle. The larger gold stars are from this set.

Make Ahead Instructions

The pastry shells and champagne pastry cream can be made ahead and stored separately in the refrigerator. The shells can even be stored in the freezer for up to 1 month! Assemble the Champagne Cream Puffs the day of serving. Again, find more storage, freezing, and thawing info in the recipe notes.

Champagne Cream Puffs aren’t just for New Year’s – they’re a rich and elegant bite for weddings, anniversaries, cocktail parties, or even Valentine’s Day. I hope you love them as much as we do.

Happy (almost) New Year, friends. And cheers with Champagne Cream Puffs!

Related recipe: Champagne Jelly Shots with Pomegranate Bursting Boba

Champagne Cream Puffs

Heather Baird

These elegant cream puffs are a showstopper for any celebration. Light and airy choux pastry is filled with luscious champagne pastry cream, then dipped in silky chocolate ganache. They’re finished with gold star sprinkles for a touch of festive sparkle. Perfect for New Year’s, weddings, or any occasion worth toasting!

Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 45 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine French

Pate a Choux

• 3/4 cup water
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 large eggs
• egg wash 1 egg +1 tablespoon water, beaten

Champagne Pastry Cream

• 1/2 cup heavy cream divided
• 1/2 cup champagne or prosecco
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 5 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 whole egg
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoons vanilla

Ganache

• 6 oz. semisweet chocolate chips or finely chopped bars (1 cup)
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• Gold star sprinkles optional

Pate a Choux

• Preheat an oven to 425◦F degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpats.

• Combine water, butter, salt and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and stir occasionally. At boil, remove from heat and sift in the flour, stirring to combine completely.

• Return to heat and cook, stirring constantly until the batter dries slightly and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.

• Transfer to a bowl or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, and stir 1 minute to cool slightly.

• Add 1 egg and mix. The batter will appear loose and shiny at first. As you stir, the batter will become dry-looking like lightly buttered mashed potatoes. It is at this point that you will add in the next egg. Repeat until you have incorporated all the eggs.

• Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a ½-inch round open tip (or directly from the bag opening without a tip). Pipe 13-15 choux about 1 inch-part in a baking sheet. Choux should be about 1 1/2 inches wide. Repeat the process on the second sheet.

• Using a clean finger dipped in hot water, gently press down on any tips that have formed on the top of choux when piping. You want them to retain their ball shape, but be smoothly curved on top.

• Brush tops with egg wash.

• Bake the choux at 425◦F until well-puffed and turning lightly golden in color, about 10-12 minutes. Lower the temperature to 350◦F degrees and continue baking until well-colored and dry, about 18-20 minutes more. Remove to a rack and cool.

Champagne Pastry Cream

• In a medium bowl, whisk cornstarch in 1/4 cup of the heavy cream, set aside. Combine the remaining heavy cream, sugar and 1/2 cup champagne in a saucepan; heat until the mixture just starts to bubble – don’t let it boil or most of the champagne flavor will cook out. Once the sugar is dissolved, remove from heat. Let cool 5 minutes.

• Beat the whole egg and egg yolks into the cornstarch/heavy cream mixture. Pour the mixture into the saucepan in a thin stream while whisking constantly and vigorously. Return the pan to the heat and cook, whisking constantly until thickened. Remove from heat and beat in the butter and vanilla.

• Pour the mixture into a bowl and cover the surface with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm and well set, about 4 hours.

• When the pastry cream is set, give it a stir and transfer to a disposable piping bag with a ½-inch hole snipped in the end. (Or fit with ½ inch decorator piping tip.) Cut a slit in the bottom edge of each choux pastry shell and fill with the pastry cream.

Ganache

• Place the chocolate and cream in a medium microwave-safe bowl. Heat at 100% power in the microwave for 1 minute. Let the mixture stand for 1 minute.

• Whisk together until a smooth, shiny ganache forms. Dip the tops of each puff into the ganache and replace on the baking sheet or on a wire rack. Immediately top with star sprinkles, if using.

• Leftovers will keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. While the choux pastry shells may lose some crispness, the flavors remain delicious!

Make-Ahead Instructions:
Both the choux puffs and champagne pastry cream can be prepared in advance and stored separately to save time.

• For the Puffs: Once baked, allow the puffs to cool completely. Store them in an airtight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, or freeze them in a freezer-safe bag for up to 1 month. To refresh frozen or day-old puffs, place them in a 300°F oven for 5–7 minutes to restore their crispness before filling.
• For the Pastry Cream: The champagne pastry cream can be made up to 4 days ahead. Store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator and stir it briefly before using to fill the puffs.

Assemble the cream puffs just before serving by piping the pastry cream into the puffs, dipping in ganache, and decorating with sprinkles.
Assembled cream puffs (filled and dipped) can also be stored in the refrigerator for a couple of days.

Keyword champagne cream puffs, champagne pastry cream, cream puff recipe, elegant dessert recipes, ganache, gold star sprinkle desserts, pate a choux