Looking for a fun, fall, weekend baking project with a little pumpkin spice? Try these fluffy puffs filled with delicious pumpkin buttercream! They look super fancy but come together with just a few steps. Have a kiddo help out with the egg cracking and hand mixing and you’ll be on your way to perfect pate a choux pastry in no time!
Bring the water, butter, sugar, and salt to boil in a medium saucepan.
Remove from heat, add flour, and mix until a smooth, paste-like dough forms.
Let dough cool for a few minutes, then beat on medium with a hand mixer for about 1 minutes. Dough will break apart into chunks, this is ok!
Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. After the fourth egg, the mixture should come together to form a smooth, sticky pastry.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a tablespoon, drop rounded, golf-ball sized rounds of dough in rows of four. You should be able to fit 12-16 puffs to a sheet.
If you like a nice, shiny, crust, lightly brush tops and sides of puffs with a beaten egg.
Bake at 425 for 10 minutes. Then lower oven temp to 350, rotate pan, and continue to bake for another 20 minutes, or until puffs are very puffy, and nicely browned. You want them to completely dry out inside, so make sure you don’t take them out too soon, or they will deflate!
Remove from oven, and use a toothpick to prick the top of each puff to let any extra steam escape. Let them cool completely before filling, about 20 minutes.
For the pumpkin buttercream
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
½ cup plus 2 Tbsp pumpkin puree
1 tsp cinnamon
4 cups confectioners sugar.
With a hand mixer, beat butter and pumpkin until completely incorporated and fluffy. Add cinnamon and about half of the confectioner’s sugar and beat on medium until smooth. Add the rest of the sugar and beat on medium to combine, then on high until smooth and very fluffy. Slice the puffs in half crosswise, spoon filling on bottom half, then pop on the top half. Drizzle with melted chocolate chips if you like for extra pizzaz!
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