Walk through your own winter wonderland with these Snowman Cream Puffs! Choux pastry is filled with a vanilla pastry cream and covered with white chocolate ganache. A wonderful winter dessert!
Table of Contents
Why You Will Love This Recipe
This snowman recipe is so fun for winter and Christmas!
I was inspired by my classic Cream Puff recipe to make something fun for winter!
These fun and festive snowmen bring life to a dessert or cookie platter. Made with classic flavors for the whole family to love.
Ingredients
Here is what you need for this recipe:
- Unsalted Butter
- Flour
- Salt
- Eggs
- Ground Cinnamon
- Vanilla Pastry Cream
- White Chocolate Ganache
- Pretzel Sticks
- Mini Chocolate Chips
- Orange Jimmie Sprinkles
Vanilla Pastry Cream – Click the link to get our recipe for this filling. It should be made before the puffs so it has time to chill.
White Chocolate Ganache – Click the link to get the recipe for our ganache. It works perfectly to coat the snowmen!
Equipment
To make this recipe, you will also need:
- Stand Mixer (or hand mixer)
- Spatula
- Pastry Bag (or resealable plastic bag)
- Baking Sheets
- Parchment Paper (or silicone baking mats)
- Measuring Cups
- Liquid Measuring Cups
- Measuring Spoons
- Medium Pot
Instruction Overview
First make your pastry cream if not done already and have it chilling for later.
Start the cream puffs by boiling the water, butter, and salt until melted. Add the flour and stir with a spoon until lightly shiny.
Let the dough cool for a few minutes.
Beat with a mixer and add one egg at a time.
Add the cinnamon and mix briefly.
Use a piping bag to pipe dough onto a parchment or silicone lined baking sheet, with half being larger for the bodies and half being smaller for the heads.
Use your fingers dipped in water to smooth out the puffs.
Bake the puffs at 425F for 20-25 minutes. They will be a golden brown.
Remove and poke holes in the bottom of each puff for steam to escape.
Make your white chocolate ganache at this point.
To assemble, pair up a small puff with each large puff.
Fill them with the pastry cream, and then dunk them into the ganache.
Stack the small puff on top of the large.
Decorate by sticking pretzels in the sides as arms, mini chocolate chips for eyes and buttons, and orange sprinkles for the noses.
Chill until ready to serve.
Modifications and Substitutions
Use any pastry cream flavor as desired.
The chocolate chips can be replaced with sprinkles or candies.
Kim’s Tips
Any orange sprinkles or even colored chocolate chips can be used for the nose.
White chocolate will look a little yellow. To prevent this, use some bright white food gel in the ganache.
The puffs will likely not be perfectly round, so tilt the head as needed for it to look “right” on the body.
Find more details and tips for cream puffs on our Cream Puff recipe page.
FAQs
Why is my ganache dripping onto the bodies?
This happens because it is not completely dry and is slowly moving downward.
To prevent this, you could dunk all the heads first and pop them in the refrigerator to harden.
Then, dunk the bodies and place the heads on top, which will stick from the wet ganache on the bodies.
How long do cream puffs last?
They are best eaten the same day they are assembled but can be kept in the refrigerator for three days.
Snowman Cream Puffs
Equipment
- Measuring Cups
- Liquid Measuring Cups
- Measuring spoons
- Wooden Spoon
- Stand mixer or hand mixer
- Pastry Bag or large resealable bag
Ingredients
- 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter (1/2 stick)
- ½ cup water
- pinch salt
- ½ cup flour
- 2 large eggs
- pinch ground cinnamon
- 2 cups Vanilla Pastry Cream (1 batch, click for recipe)
- 1 batch White Chocolate Ganache (click for recipe)
- 16 pretzel sticks
- mini chocolate chips
- orange jimmie sprinkles
Instructions
- Make your pastry cream if it is not done already. Refrigerate until ready to use.2 cups Vanilla Pastry Cream
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- Bring the butter, water, and salt to a boil in a small pot over high heat.4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, ½ cup water, pinch salt
- When boiling, turn the heat down to medium, add the flour, and stir continuously over the heat. Stir until the dough has all clumped together primarily in one ball and the dough has a slight sheen to it (like it is glistening or sweating).½ cup flour
- Move the dough into the bowl of a stand mixer and let sit 5-10 minutes to cool slightly.
- On medium speed, add the eggs one at a time, fully incorporating each one before adding the next.2 large eggs
- Add the cinnamon and mix briefly to combine.pinch ground cinnamon
- Remove the dough and scoop into a piping bag. Pipe the dough onto parchment lined baking sheets to the size desired, leaving one inch between. Alternate between one large puff and one smaller puff. They will grow slightly.(I aim for puffs about 1 inch wide for the heads and around 1.5 inches wide for the bodies).
- Dip your fingers in water and smooth out the puffs. Smoothing out any peaks will give you a rounder shape and I have found that also smoothing out ridges helps keep them rounder and less likely to grow in weird ways.
- Bake the puffs in the oven for about 20-25 minutes, flipping the tray(s) around halfway through.If using two trays, flip which is on top and bottom as well.The puffs will have expanded and be a light golden brown.
- Poke a hole in the bottom of each puff with a knife before cooling to help steam escape.
- Let the puffs cool completely before filling. Either cut off the top or pipe the pastry cream in with a piping bag into the bottom holes.
- While the puffs are cooling down, make the white chocolate ganache.
- Make your white chocolate ganache (see recipe link)1 batch White Chocolate Ganache
Assembly
- Assemble by first pairing up one smaller puff with one larger puff. Use a piping bag filled with the pastry cream to fill each puff from the bottom hole that you poked for steam to escape. You know it is full when the cream starts coming out by the nozzle tip.2 cups Vanilla Pastry Cream
- Hold the filled puffs by the bottom flat edges and dunk into the ganache to coat most of the puff.1 batch White Chocolate Ganache
- Stack the small puff on top of the larger puff.
- Push a pretzel stick into the sides of the bottom puff for the arms.If having difficulty, carefully stab the puff with a sharp knife to assist in making the hole. But do not make the hole too large so that it does not crumble.16 pretzel sticks
- Add the mini chocolate chips as eyes and buttons (if desired) to the top puff. Push the pointed end of the chip into the ganache for a flatter eye/button.mini chocolate chips
- When the ganache is partially set, push the end of an orange sprinkle into the head as the nose so it sticks out.If you do this too early, as the ganache continues to set, the sprinkle is likely to fall flat.orange jimmie sprinkles
- Repeat with the remaining puffs. Chill until ready to serve.Puffs are best when served the same day but can be made and filled up to three days in advance.
