I have an obsession with all things caramel + apples in the Fall, and who can blame me? These Caramel Apple Cream Puffs are one of my favorite ways to enjoy the season!
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These Caramel Apple Cream Puffs are classic cream puffs filled with caramel pastry cream and homemade vanilla-apple preserves. Drizzled with homemade salted caramel sauce, they're completely irresistible!
If you enjoy this recipe, check out the recipes for my Caramel Apple Shortcake, Caramel Apple Cookies, and Pecan Pie Cream Puffs!
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Ingredients
Here's everything you need to make these beauties! The amounts for all ingredients are listed in the recipe card, below.
Choux Pastry Ingredients
- Milk - For moisture and richness. Whole milk works best.
- Sugar - For sweetness and keeping the cream puffs moist.
- Fleur de Sel (or other sea salt) - To balance and enhance the flavor of the pastry. Fleur de sel is my personal favorite, but you can use whatever salt you have on-hand. Just be aware that you should use a smaller amount of any fine-grained salt to avoid oversalting the pastry.
- Unsalted Butter - For moisture and richness. Unsalted so that you control the amount of salt in the recipe.
- Flour - Provides structure for the cream puffs. I used all-purpose flour.
- Eggs - For moisture, richness, and a little leavening.
Apple Preserves Ingredients
- Apples - For flavor and texture. You can use whatever kind of apples you prefer in the preserves, but it's worth noting that some varieties of apples will break down more during the cooking process. I used a mix of Granny Smith and Gala and really loved the texture.
- Apple Juice or Cider - For moisture and flavor.
- Lemon Juice - To help enhance the flavor of the apples.
- Ground Cinnamon - For flavor.
- Sugar - For sweetness and a candied consistency to the preserves.
- Vanilla Bean Paste - For flavor. Vanilla bean paste is soooo tasty without the vanilla bean price tag (and it pretty much stays good forever). If you prefer to substitute, you can use an equal measure of vanilla extract.
Salted Caramel Sauce Ingredients
You can always use store-bought salted caramel sauce, but this recipe is great!
- Sugar - For sweetness.
- Unsalted Butter - For moisture and richness. Unsalted so that you control the amount of salt in the recipe. You want the butter to be at room temperature so that it better incorporates into the caramel, and it will sputter a bit less when you add it.
- Heavy (Whipping) Cream - For moisture and richness. You want the cream to be at room temperature when you use it.
- Fleur de Sel (or other sea salt) - The salt in the salted caramel!
- Vanilla Bean Paste - For flavor. If you prefer to substitute, you can use an equal measure of vanilla extract.
Caramel Pastry Cream Ingredients
While the pastry cream uses the salted caramel, the end result isn't at all salty, since I omit any additional salt in the recipe. If you'd like the pastry cream to be salty, you can add salt to taste.
- Cornstarch - To thicken the pastry cream.
- Sugar - For sweetness.
- Egg Yolks - For moisture and richness.
- Milk - For moisture and a richness. Whole milk works best.
- Salted Caramel Sauce - For flavor. Made above, or purchased.
- Vanilla Bean Paste - For flavor.
- Unsalted Butter - For richness. Unsalted butter so that you control the amount of salt in the recipe.
Hint: This recipe leaves you with leftover egg whites. If you're not interested in making yourself an omelette to use them up, check out my post with 25+ Recipes Using Egg Whites for ideas on how to store & use them!
Instructions
The choux pastry for the cream puffs isn't hard to make, but it can be a little finicky. I've included helpful hints below (and in the recipe card) to help ensure your success!
Making Cream Puffs
See the "Top Tips" section below for more helpful hints on making cream puffs!
- Combine water, milk, sugar, salt, and butter in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Add the flour and quickly beat the mixture with a wooden spoon until smooth and shiny.
- Scrape the mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer. With mixer on low speed, add eggs one a time.
- Transfer batter to a pastry bag and pipe mounds of choux pastry on a baking sheet.
- 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).
- Once the cream puffs are baked, remove from the oven and poke a hole in the top of each with a toothpick. Allow cream puffs to cool completely.
Making Apple Preserves
- Combine apples, apple juice or cider, lemon juice, and cinnamon in a saucepan over medium heat.
- Stirring often, cook apples until barely tender.
- Add sugar and vanilla bean paste. Return to a simmer. Continuing to stir often, cook until apples are cooked down to a thick, chunky consistency. Allow preserves to cool before using them in cream puffs.
Making Salted Caramel Sauce
- Pour sugar into a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Whisk, and keep whisking, as sugar melts.
- Once sugar is melted, stop whisking and let sugar cook until it is deep amber in color. *Carefully* add butter (mixture will bubble!) and whisk to incorporate.
- Remove mixture from the heat. Add cream (carefully!) and whisk until smooth. Add salt and vanilla bean paste and stir to incorporate.
Making Pastry Cream
- In a heatproof bowl, combine cornstarch, sugar, and egg yolks. Whisk to combine.
- In a medium saucepan, heat milk and salted caramel sauce over medium heat until caramel melts and milk begins to boil.
- 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.
- Add the vanilla bean paste and butter and stir to incorporate.
- 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.
Equipment
Silpats: I prefer using a slipat over lining my baking sheets with parchment paper, since they help reduce the amount of browning on the bottoms of the cream puffs, and I can reuse them.
Storage
Once filled, the cream puffs will keep for 2-3 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator. That said, they really are best the first day!
You can make the components of the cream puffs in advance:
- The cream puffs can be baked, cooled, and stored in an airtight container on your counter for about two days. For longer storage, freeze them for up to two months!
- The salted caramel sauce can be stored in the refrigerator up to three weeks, or frozen for up to three months.
- The apple preserves can be kept in the refrigerator for up to three months or in the freezer for up to six months.
- The pastry cream can be cooled and, with plastic pressed directly to the top of the cream to prevent a skin, it will keep in the refrigerator for up to five days.
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Top Tips
Here are a few tips to help ensure your success with the choux pastry:
- Do not underbeat the choux or cream puffs may deflate later!
- Choux mounds should be at least 2" apart on the baking sheet. If they're too close together, the steam that escapes while baking could cause them to deflate.
- I give a suggested dimension for the mounds (2" across by ¾" tall), but it's more important that they're all uniform in size rather than meeting these specific dimensions. Just be aware that bigger choux mounds will take more time to bake, and smaller ones will be done sooner.
- When piping the choux, I found that if you hold the bag straight up and stay in the center as you squeeze the piping bag, you end up with a more uniform (round) shape.
- Follow the baking instructions closely! The whole turn-the-oven-on/turn-the-oven-off bit is tedious, but it works!
- Resist the urge to open the oven until baking is complete, or your cream puffs could deflate!
- 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 before trying to cut/fill them.
FAQ
What kind of apples should I use?
I used a mixture of Gala and Granny Smith apples for this recipe. I enjoy the well-rounded flavors of the mixture of sweet and tart apples, but you can use whatever varieties you prefer! My personal favorites for baking are Cortland, Fuji, Gala, Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, and Jonathan.
Can these cream puffs be made in advance?
You can make all the components of these cream puffs in advance! Check the "Storage" section above for details!
I don't think I could trust anyone who could resist these! 😉 They're a dream dessert for me, and I hope you love them as much as I do!
Other Recipes You May Like
Preserves recipe adapted from Sarabeth's Bakery (link here).
Caramel Apple Cream Puffs
These Caramel Apple Cream Puffs are a classic cream puff filled with caramel pastry cream and apple preserves, then drizzled with homemade salted caramel sauce!
Ingredients
Cream Puffs:
Chunky Apple Preserves:
- 5 apples, peeled, cored, and diced (see note)
- ½ cup apple juice or cider
- 1½ tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ tablespoon vanilla bean paste (see note)
Salted Caramel Sauce (see note):
- ½ cup sugar
- 3 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into pieces, at room temperature
- ¼ cup heavy (whipping) cream, at room temperature
- ¾ teaspoon fleur de sel (or other sea salt)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla bean paste (see note)
Caramel Pastry Cream:
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- ¼ cup sugar
- 4 egg yolks
- 2 cups whole milk
- ⅓ cup salted caramel sauce (see notes)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (see note)
- 2 tablespoon unsalted butter, diced and softened
Instructions
For Cream Puffs (Choux Pastry):
- Preheat oven to 400 F. Line baking sheet with parchment or silpats (see note) and set aside.
- Combine water, milk, sugar, salt, and butter in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. 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 (see notes). 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 Preserves:
- Combine apples, apple juice or cider, lemon juice, and cinnamon in a saucepan over medium heat.
- Stirring often, cook apples until barely tender, about 10 minutes.
- Add sugar and vanilla bean paste (see note). Return to a simmer. Continuing to stir often, cook until apples are cooked down to a thick, chunky consistency, about 25 minutes.
- Remove from the heat. Allow preserves to cool before using them in cream puffs.
For Salted Caramel Sauce:
- Pour sugar into a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Whisk, and keep whisking, as sugar melts. It will clump and you'll think you're doing it all wrong. You're not. 🙂
- Once sugar is melted, stop whisking and let sugar cook until it is deep amber in color. *Carefully* add butter (mixture will bubble!) and whisk to incorporate.
- Remove mixture from the heat. Add cream (carefully!) and whisk until smooth. Add salt and vanilla bean paste (see note) and stir to incorporate.
- Pour mixture into a bowl or jar to cool.
For 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 and salted caramel sauce over medium heat until caramel melts and milk begins to boil.
- 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 vanilla bean paste (see note) and butter and stir to incorporate.
- 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.
For Assembly:
- Split the cooled the cream puffs with a thin, serrated knife.
- Stir chilled pastry cream and scrape into a pastry bag or zip-top bag. Pipe the pastry cream into the bottom of each of the cream puffs (or just dollop that goodness in with a spoon!).
- Top the pastry cream with the apple preserves. I used about a tablespoon per cream puff.
- Place the tops of the cream puffs on the apple preserves, then drizzle with salted caramel sauce.Enjoy!
Notes
Note on vanilla bean paste: It's no secret that I love vanilla bean paste. It's soooo tasty without the vanilla bean price tag (and it pretty much stays good forever). If you prefer to substitute, you could use 1 vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
Note on silpats: I prefer using a slipat over lining my baking sheets with parchment paper, since they help reduce the amount of browning on the bottoms of the cream puffs, and I can reuse them.
Notes on piping choux pastry: Choux mounds should be at least 2" apart on the baking sheet. If they're too close together, the steam that escapes while baking could cause them to deflate.
I give a suggested dimension for the mounds (2" across by ¾" tall), but it's more important that they're all uniform in size rather than meeting these specific dimensions. Just be aware that bigger choux mounds will take more time to bake, and smaller ones will be done sooner.
When piping the choux, I found that if you hold the bag straight up and stay in the center as you squeeze the piping bag, you end up with a more uniform (round) shape.
Note on apples: You can use whatever kind of apples you prefer, just note that some varieties of apples will break down more during the cooking process and your preserves may be less chunky. I used a mix of Granny smith and Gala.
Note on salted caramel sauce: You can always use store-bought salted caramel sauce, but I like this recipe. 
Note on pastry cream: While the pastry cream uses salted caramel sauce in the recipe, the end result isn't at all salty, since I omit any additional salt in the recipe. Add salt to taste if you want another salty component in the cream puffs.
Note on pastry cream: While the pastry cream uses salted caramel sauce in the recipe, the end result isn't at all salty, since I omit any additional salt in the recipe. Add salt to taste if you want another salty component in the cream puffs.Nutrition information is provided as a courtesy and is only an estimate.
Tried this recipe?I'd love to hear all about it! Leave a review below, then snap a pic and tag me on Instagram!
Lu Ann
Can you freeze left overs
Amee
Hi Lu Ann! The assembled cream puffs don't freeze well, as the filling will give off moisture that make the cream puffs soggy. The unfilled cream puffs, however, can be frozen in an airtight container for up to one month.