Oreo Cream Puffs
Whether you call them Oreo Cream Puffs or Cookies and Cream Cream Puffs, these perfect little puffs are seriously yummy! This Oreo Cream Puff recipe features the classic puffed up pastry that is topped with a crackly chocolate craquelin topping! And for the pièce de résistance – the Oreo Cheesecake Filling! Drooooool. The Oreo Cheesecake is made of crushed Oreos and mascarpone cheese that has been folded with sweetened whipped cream! Seriously delicious!
HOW MANY EGGS?
The most finicky part of making these oreo cream puffs is the amount of eggs you use! If you notice, my recipe says 4-5 eggs, which may seem weird – is it 4 or is it 5, how many do you add? Well the answer is, it depends. The amount of eggs you need is completely dependent upon the humidity, weather, and water content of the eggs. Too much moisture in your batter will lead to cream puffs that do not puff! This is why you have to add your eggs in one at a time, until completely incorporated. It is also why you need to check your batter after the addition of the 4th egg. For some, this 4th egg is all they need, while others may need a 5th. I typically always end up using 5 eggs, as I live in the cold, very dry prairies, however, I still check my batter after the 4th egg, every. single. time. What you’re looking for is a batter that comes off your paddle in a nice “V” shape. If it sticks to your paddle but does not form a V, it needs more eggs!
WHY TURN THE OVEN OFF MID-BAKING?
The initial high temperature of making the cream puffs is essential to creating the structure of the cream puffs and forming the steam that cream puffs up the cream puffs. If we did not turn off the oven/lower the temperature, the outside of the cream puffs would burn. It is super important to note that under no circumstance should you peak into the oven at all during the first 20 minutes of baking! Even the smallest breeze of cold air into the oven could cause the cream puffs to deflate.
HOW DO I KNOW WHEN THEY ARE DONE?
It can be hard to tell when cream puffs are done. Sure, they should look golden on top and puffed, but the cream puffs can look this way and still not be 100% finished on the inside. If you pull the cream puffs out even the slightest bit too early they will deflate. The best way I have found to test for doneness is actually to remove just one of the cream puffs from the oven, wait 45 seconds, and see if the cream puff has deflated. If deflated, they are obviously not done, but if the puff holds its structure, then you’re good to go!
ALLOWING THE Oreo cream puffs TO COOL IN THE OVEN
The point of allowing the oreo cream puffs to cool in the oven is to reduce the likelihood of the cream puffs deflating. Sometimes the drastic temperature drop from the oven to room-temperature can cause the cream puffs to collapse. So allowing them to cool in a cracked oven ensures they will not collapse, and also dries them out a little bit more as well. As well, poking a small hole, after the cream puffs have been removed from the oven for good, also allows the cream puffs to dry out more, as it allows any residual steam to escape from the inside.
Making the Oreo Cream Puff Filling
The best thin about these Oreo Cream Puffs? The filling of course! And what’s the best thing about the filling? It’s incredibly easy to make!
1.Separate & Crush Oreos: Separate the Oreo cookies and the filling. Throw the Oreos cookies into a bag and using a rolling pin or a meat mallet, crush the them until they are well crushed (alternatively you can use Oreo crumbs)
2. Mix Oreo filling with mascarpone: Add the Oreo fillings to a bowl with the mascarpone cheese, and mix the two together with a spoon until they are well-combined.
3. Make whipped cream: Add heavy cream, vanilla, and confectioners sugar to a large bowl or stand mixer and beat until stiff peaks have formed.
4. Fold mascarpone and Oreos into whipped cream: Pour the mascarpone mixture into the bowl with the whipped cream, and using a rubber spatula, fold the two together until well-combined, then fold in the finely crushed Oreo cookies!
WHAT IS MASCARPONE?
Mascarpone is an Italian cream cheese. It is smooth in texture, like cream cheese, but is rather neutral in flavor, unlike tangy cream cheese. Mascarpone is high in butterfat which gives in a creamy, buttery texture and flavor. I like to think of mascarpone as basically super thick cream, and as such it works well in a variety of way and recipes. However, if you do not have access to mascarpone, feel free to substitute it with regular cream cheese!
How to Store Cream Puffs?
A mentioned below in the recipe, the filled Oreo Cream Puffs should be kept in the fridge until they are ready to be enjoyed for up to 2 days, due to the presence of so much dairy in the filling. The unfilled cream puff shells, however, can be stored in the freezer until you are ready to use them. The filling does not freeze well though, so therefore should be made only when you are ready to consume it – but it easily downsizes, so you can easily just make a smaller batch!
Get the Recipe: Oreo Cream Puffs
Ingredients
Chocolate Craquelin Topping
- 1/2 cup Dark Brown Sugar
- 7 tbsp Unsalted Butter,, softened
- 14 tbsp (105g) All Purpose Flour
- 2 tbsp (15g) Dutch Processed Cocoa Powder,, sifted (regular cocoa can be used as well)
Cream Puffs
- 1/2 cup Whole Milk
- 1/2 cup Water
- 1/2 cup Unsalted Butter,, cubed, at room temperature
- 1 tbsp White Sugar
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 cup (120g) All Purpose Flour
- 4-5 Large Eggs
Oreo Cheesecake Filling
- 40 Oreos
- 24 oz Mascarpone Cheese
- 2 cups Heavy Cream,, chilled
- 2 tsp Vanilla
- 1 ½ cups Confectioners Sugar
Equipment
- Stand mixer
Instructions
Chocolate Craquelin Topping
- Add all ingredients into a medium sized bowl, then mash together with a spatula until an uniform looking dough forms.
- Place the dough between 2 pieces of parchment paper, then roll the dough out to be about 1/8” thick and aim for a relatively even rectangle shape. Place into the freezer for at least 30 minutes, while you make the choux.
Cream Puffs: Making the Choux
- Preheat oven to 475°F. Prepare 2 baking sheets by lining them with parchment paper. Also prepare a pastry bag by adding a plain ½” tip.
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, add milk, water, butter, 1 tbsp sugar, and salt, and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Add flour in the pot, all at once, and begin to stir very quickly. A ball of dough should form relatively quickly. Continue cooking, stirring vigorously, until a dry film begins to form on the bottom and sides of the saucepan. Remove from heat.
- Place dough into a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, and beat for about 30 seconds to a minute, to cool the dough down. Add one egg and beat until completely incorportated (the dough should look dry again). Continue adding eggs one at a time, ensuring that each is completely incorporated before adding the next, scraping at the sides of the bowl occasionally. After the 4th egg, place remove paddle from mechanism and place deep into the batter, if the batter forms a nice “V” shape off the paddle, it is ready. If the batter still looks thick and does not form a nice “V” then add another egg. Dough should be thick and very sticky, but also shiny and smooth.
Cream Puffs: Piping & Baking
- Add dough to the piping bag, and pipe directly onto parchment lined baking sheets. Pipe about nine 2” rounds per baking sheet (about 18 total).
- Cut out 18 rounds out of the cold craquelin topping, about the same diameter as the piped cream puffs. Place each round onto a piped cream puff, lightly pressing it down to secure it.
- Place into the 475°F oven, for exactly 1 minute then immediately turn the oven off. After 9 minutes, turn the oven back on to 350°F, and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Rotate pans and bake for another 10 minutes, or until the cream puffs are puffed (~ 30 minutes of total baking time). To ensure the cream puffs are finished, remove one of the oven and check if it deflates within 45 seconds – if it deflates they are not finished.
- When done, turn the oven off, and crack the oven 1/3 way open. Allow cream puffs to cool for 30-45 minutes in the cracked oven. Then, remove from oven and allow to cool completely before filling.
Oreo Cheesecake Filling
- Prep the Oreos by separating the cookies and the filling. Finely crush the cookies, then set them aside.
- In a large bowl, mix together the Oreo fillings and mascarpone cheese until well-combined.
- In a large bowl or a stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment, add the heavy cream, confectioners sugar, and vanilla. Beat until stiff peaks have formed. Add mascarpone mixture to the whipped cream and fold until well-combined. Then fold in the finely crushed Oreos.
- Using a serrate knife, cut off the top of each cream puff. Using a spoon or a piping bag fitted with a large star tip, fill each cream puff with filling. Then place the top back then enjoy immediately or keep in the fridge until ready to serve.
Hi Amie, thank you for sharing this puffs recipe. Normally in baking puffs, do you turn on the fan mode?
Hi, I typically bake them in standard mode and not in convection, however my ovens’s standard mode uses a fan (just not as strong as the convection fan!)
Thank you
☺️
Hi, thanks for your recepie 😊💜 Please put the amount of butter in gram as well
it’s 113g of butter!
Hi! Thanks for sharing! may i know can i skip Mascarpone Cheese?
Hi there! You could try replacing the mascarpone with cream cheese, although the flavor will be more tangy.
Hello Amy, thanks for sharing the recipe! Can i subtitute creamcheese/mascarpone with gelatine for the texture? Thanks a lot 🙂
Hi there, I’m not entirely sure what you mean. Switch the mascarpone out for gelatin and what else?
hi can you adjust or make recommendations for me cause I only want to make 6 cream puffs and this may be a lot
You can half all of the ingredients to make 9 cream puffs. I wouldn’t recommend any other fractions because of the egg amount.
I gotta say I was skeptical with the whole turning off the oven mid bake thing, but the puffs came out very well. Only part I had an issue with was rolling the craquelin dough out evenly. It was thinner in some places and I ended up with a few holes as the choux puffed up in the oven. Regardless, the puffs are now in my freezer and I’ll fill them in two days for some friends. Thank you for this awesome recipe.
So happy to hear that!!