How to make Whipped Cream

Chocolate Cream Puffs for Christmas

When I was a child, there was a small pastry shop close to my Grandmother's home that I still remember to this day. They made French Pastries from scratch and their eclairs were an absolute favourite of mine. Unlike the eclairs I made at the coffee shop I worked at, their eclairs and cream puffs were made from a choux pastry and real cream was used in their creation. I was thrilled to learn how to recreate these little delights in my own kitchen.

There are a couple of tricks to making the cream and keeping it stable enough to transfer into or onto a dessert prior to serving.




To start with, real whipped cream is best served the day you make it. If you get the texture right, it will hold its shape for a full day if you refrigerate it, but if you are piping it for use as decoration, it is best used immediately after the peaks have formed. The longer it waits, the less stable the  whipping cream becomes.

It is best to use a table top mixer or hand mixer to get the perfect texture with the cream. You will need to use the highest setting to get the peaks of the cream to form. This can be done by hand, but if you would like to keep from straining your forearms, the mechanical method is easiest and faster.

The ingredients are simple.





Basic Whipped Cream:

Small Batch
1 Cup 35% Cream
1 1/2 TBSPS White Sugar

Cooking Tip: KEEP EVERYTHING COLD!


Prior to making the Whipped Cream, take your Bowl, Spatula, Whisk, or Beaters and place them in your freezer for at least 20 minutes prior to making the cream.

Transfer these utensils to your refrigerator until seconds before you decide to whip the cream, minimum 10 minutes.

Keep your cream refrigerated until just before you use it. As soon as you get it home, it should be chilled for at least an hour prior to use.



Any utensil you use to transfer the cream to your end product should also be stored in the refrigerator until needed. (Piping Bag, Nibs, Spatulas or Spoons.)



Directions:

Add the sugar to the bowl, add the cream and Whisk or Beat on low for 30 seconds until the sugar is mixed in. You can do this by hand at the beginning.

Turn your Beater or Mixer to medium and whisk for 30 seconds more.

Turn your Mixer or Beater to high speed, whisk until soft peaks form in the bowl.

Turn off Beater or Mixer.

Scrape any cream that has splashed up the sides of the bowl. Re-whisk once again at high speed until the peaks become more pronounced and look relatively firm to the eye. Up to two full minutes.

Please Note: You can over whisk cream. If it becomes too "solid" it is turning into butter, which isn't such a bad thing, but the texture may not be the most pleasing with your dessert.




Variations

For the batches that I used this past season I had doubled the ingredients and added Vanilla extract (REAL vanilla extract) to the cream. A friend of mine told me I had made "Chantilly Cream" by doing this.

Vanilla or "Chantilly" Whipped Cream
Large Batch - 24 Medium Sized Cream Puffs or Small Eclairs

2 Cups 35% Cream
3 TBSPS White Sugar
1 TSP Vanilla Extract


You can additionally add Cherry Extract, Lemon Extract OR Coffee to the cream to achieve a hint of extra flavour to your final products.

I have other recipes in the works which require a stable whipped cream for a filling, so for now, here is your baking tip for the day. I hope you find it useful for your own sweet delights.

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