These Christmas tree cream puffs are small choux puffs in three sizes, filled with pistachio whipped cream, stacked largest to smallest and topped with a shortbread star. One batch makes 8 little trees, 24 puffs in all, and takes about 1 hour 45 minutes including cooling.
The rule that matters most: keep the oven door shut while the puffs bake. Everything else, from the stars to the empty shells, can be done the day before.
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Try the Recipe Converter →Eight Small Trees: Sizes, Temperatures and Timing
- Yield: 8 trees, each one large, one medium and one small puff
- Choux: pipe 2 inch, 1.5 inch and 1 inch rounds; bake at 400°F (200°C) for 20 to 25 minutes
- Shortbread stars: roll 1/4 inch thick; bake at 350°F (175°C) for 8 to 10 minutes
- Filling: 1 1/2 cups cold heavy cream whipped with 1/4 cup pistachio paste and 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- Time: 45 minutes prep, 30 minutes baking, 30 minutes cooling
- Ahead: shells and stars a day before, cream up to 4 hours before, trees within an hour of serving
The choux is 1/2 cup unsalted butter, 1 cup water, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 cup all-purpose flour and 4 large eggs at room temperature. The stars take another 1/2 cup softened butter, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 1/4 cups flour with a pinch of salt.
Choux Pastry for the Christmas Tree Puffs
Cooking the Paste and Adding the Eggs
Bring the butter, water, salt and sugar to a boil, then add the flour all at once and stir hard with a wooden spoon for 2 to 3 minutes. You want a smooth ball that pulls away from the sides and leaves a thin film on the bottom of the pan. That cooking dries the paste so it can take the eggs and puff later.
Move it to a bowl and let it cool for about 5 minutes; hot paste starts to cook the eggs. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Each one makes the dough look broken and slippery before it comes back together. Add the last egg a little at a time. Stop when the dough is glossy and falls from the spoon in a thick V. Runny dough spreads into flat puffs.
Piping Three Sizes and Baking With the Door Shut
Pipe 2 inch, 1.5 inch and 1 inch rounds onto two lined trays, eight of each size, with room between them. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes without opening the oven. Steam is what lifts the shells, and a rush of cool air in the first 15 minutes is the usual reason cream puffs collapse. If your oven has hot spots, bake one tray at a time on the middle rack instead of rotating.
Take them out when they are deep golden, firm on the sides and feel light for their size. Pale puffs are still damp inside and fold in as they cool. Poke a small hole in the side of each with a skewer to let the steam out, then cool completely on a rack.
Whipping the Pistachio Filling
Whip the cold heavy cream in a chilled bowl on medium-high until soft peaks form. Add the powdered sugar, pistachio paste, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and a drop or two of green coloring if you want greener trees. Then whip only until stiff peaks. Pistachio paste is oily, so the cream firms quickly once it goes in, and a few extra seconds can turn it grainy. If that happens, stop the mixer and fold in a spoonful of cold cream by hand.
Use unsweetened or lightly sweetened pistachio paste so the powdered sugar sets the sweetness. No paste? Blend finely ground pistachios with a touch of honey and taste as you go. For a richer, spoonable version on its own, see my pistachio cream recipe.
Pistachio Whipped Cream or Pastry Cream?
Whipped cream is the filling here. It is light, it pipes cleanly between the layers, and it does not weigh down a 1 inch puff. It is also soft, so trees filled with it should be assembled within an hour and kept cold until serving.
Pastry cream, a cooked custard, is heavier and firmer and holds longer at room temperature. Choose it if the trees will sit out on a buffet for a while or if you are building one tall tree. For eight small trees served after dinner, the whipped pistachio cream tastes fresher and lets the crisp shell come through.
Shortbread Stars for the Treetops
Cream the softened butter and sugar until pale, add the vanilla, then the flour and salt. Mix only until a soft dough forms; overmixing makes the stars puff and lose their points. Roll it 1/4 inch thick, cut with a small star cutter and bake at 350°F for 8 to 10 minutes, until the edges just turn golden. Cool completely, then dust with powdered sugar.
You will have more stars than trees. The extras keep in a tin for several days and go well on a cookie plate next to cranberry pistachio shortbread cookies.
Stacking a Cream Puff Christmas Tree
Slice each cooled puff horizontally. Fill a piping bag fitted with a star tip, pipe a generous swirl onto each bottom half and set the top back on. Start every tree with a large puff, add a medium one, then a small one, with a little cream between each layer to hold it in place. Press a star into the top and dust the trees with powdered sugar for a snowy look.
Sprinkles, gold dragées or crushed candy cane go on just before serving. Added early, the colors bleed into the cream.
One Bigger Tree for the Middle of the Table
The same 24 puffs can make one shared tree. Set the large puffs in a ring on a flat cake stand, then build smaller rings on top with the medium and small puffs, piping cream into the gaps as glue, and finish with a single star. Whipped cream is a soft glue, so keep this tree fairly low, build it within an hour of serving and keep it in the fridge until then. Tall choux towers such as croquembouche are held with caramel for that reason.
A Christmas Day Timeline
- The day before: bake the stars and keep them in a tin. Bake the puffs, cool them and store them in an airtight container lined with paper towel at room temperature for up to 24 hours.
- Up to 4 hours ahead: whip the pistachio cream, cover it and refrigerate.
- Shells gone soft? Warm them at 350°F for about 5 minutes and let them cool before filling.
- Up to 1 hour ahead: fill and stack the trees and keep them in the fridge.
- At the table: dust with powdered sugar and add any sprinkles.
Do not freeze the cream or filled puffs; the cream weeps and the shells go soggy. Empty baked shells can be frozen in a bag for up to a month and crisped from frozen at 350°F for 5 to 8 minutes.
Christmas Cream Puff Questions
Can I use store-bought puff pastry instead of choux?
Not for these trees. Puff pastry bakes into flat, flaky layers and cannot be piped into hollow rounds to split and fill. For a puff pastry Christmas dessert, try the Nutella Christmas tree puff pastry.
Why did my cream puffs collapse?
They were underbaked or the oven door was opened too early. Bake until deep golden and firm, and keep the door shut for the full bake.
How many cream puffs does this recipe make?
About 24: eight each of the 2 inch, 1.5 inch and 1 inch sizes, enough for 8 small trees.
Can I fill them with something other than pistachio cream?
Yes. Plain vanilla whipped cream works with the same method, just leave out the paste. For a citrus version, see my lemon cream puffs.
Other Christmas Tree Desserts
For a project the kids can decorate, make Christmas tree cake pops or Christmas tree sugar cookies. Christmas tree brownies can be baked and decorated the day before, and the Christmas tree cake dip is a creamy no-bake option. If you like choux with pistachio, the pistachio chocolate choux buns are the next bake, and snowman cake pops sit well beside the trees on a dessert table.
Christmas Tree Cream Puffs Recipe
These Christmas tree cream puffs are choux pastry puffs in three sizes, filled with pistachio whipped cream, stacked into small trees and topped with buttery shortbread stars. The recipe makes 8 trees from 24 puffs and takes about 1 hour 45 minutes, with the puffs baked at 400°F for 20 to 25 minutes until deep golden, crisp and hollow. Keep the oven door shut while they bake so the steam can lift the shells. The cream puff Christmas tree works as a holiday party dessert, a Christmas dinner centerpiece or individual Christmas cream puffs on a dessert table. Bake the shells and stars a day ahead, whip the cream up to 4 hours ahead and assemble within an hour of serving.
Ingredients
- FOR THE CHOUX PASTRY
- 1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter
- 1 cup (240ml) water
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 cup (120g) all-purpose flour
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- FOR THE PISTACHIO WHIPPED CREAM
- 1 1/2 cups (360ml) heavy cream, cold
- 1/2 cup (60g) powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup (40g) pistachio paste (unsweetened or lightly sweetened)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1–2 drops green food coloring (optional)
- FOR THE SHORTBREAD STARS
- 1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter, softened
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cups (155g) all-purpose flour
- Pinch of salt
- Powdered sugar, for dusting
Instructions
- MAKE THE SHORTBREAD STARS: Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and line a baking tray with parchment paper. In a mixing bowl, cream the softened butter and granulated sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and mix until incorporated. Add the flour and a pinch of salt, then mix until a soft dough forms. Roll out the dough to about 1/4-inch thickness and use a small star-shaped cutter to cut out cookies. Place on the prepared tray and bake for 8–10 minutes or until the edges are lightly golden. Let cool completely, then dust with powdered sugar.
- MAKE THE CHOUX PASTRY: Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C) and line two baking trays with parchment paper. In a medium saucepan, combine the butter, water, salt, and sugar, and bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. Once boiling, add the flour all at once and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon for 2–3 minutes until a smooth dough forms and pulls away from the sides of the pan. Transfer the dough to a mixing bowl and allow it to cool for about 5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition, until the dough becomes glossy and pipeable. Transfer the dough to a piping bag fitted with a large round or star tip. Pipe three sizes of puffs—approximately 2-inch, 1.5-inch, and 1-inch rounds—onto the trays. Bake for 20–25 minutes until golden brown and firm. Do not open the oven during baking. Let cool completely on a wire rack.
- MAKE THE PISTACHIO WHIPPED CREAM: In a large chilled mixing bowl, whip the cold heavy cream using an electric mixer on medium-high speed until soft peaks form. Add the powdered sugar, pistachio paste, vanilla extract, and optional green food coloring. Continue whipping until stiff peaks form. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
- ASSEMBLE THE CHRISTMAS TREE CREAM PUFFS: Carefully slice each cooled puff horizontally. Fit a piping bag with a star tip and fill it with the pistachio whipped cream. Pipe a generous amount of cream onto the bottom halves of each size puff. To build each tree, place the largest puff on the bottom, top with a medium-sized puff, then finish with the smallest. Pipe cream between each layer to hold them in place. Gently press a shortbread star on top of the smallest puff. Dust lightly with powdered sugar to give a snowy effect. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.
Notes
Choux puffs can be made a day in advance and stored in an airtight container once cooled. If they soften, warm them at 350°F for about 5 minutes and cool before filling.
Do not open the oven door while the choux bakes; a rush of cool air can make the puffs collapse. If your oven has hot spots, bake one tray at a time.
Pistachio whipped cream can be prepared up to 4 hours ahead. Stop whipping as soon as it reaches stiff peaks; it turns grainy quickly once the pistachio paste is in.
Assemble just before serving, or up to 1 hour ahead and keep refrigerated. Add sprinkles at the last minute so the colors do not bleed.
If pistachio paste is not available, substitute with a blend of finely ground pistachios and a touch of honey, adjusting sweetness to taste.
Nutrition Information
Yield
8Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 671Total Fat 44gSaturated Fat 26gTrans Fat 1gUnsaturated Fat 16gCholesterol 206mgSodium 169mgCarbohydrates 60gFiber 1gSugar 31gProtein 9g
