I spent three months thinking nun puffs recipe was some fancy French pastry I'd somehow missed in culinary school. Turns out, I'd been making basically the same thing for years and just calling it something different. My neighbor Margaret brought these to a church breakfast last spring, and when I asked what they were, she looked at me like I'd grown a second head. "Nun's puffs, dear. My grandmother made them every Sunday morning." I nodded like I totally knew what she meant, then went home and spent an hour on Google trying to figure out what the heck I'd just eaten.
Here's what they actually are - this old-school American breakfast thing made with choux dough (same stuff as cream puffs) but you bake it in muffin tins instead of piping little rounds on cookie sheets. They puff up huge and go hollow in the middle, get all crispy on the outside but stay soft inside, and you just drizzle honey on them or dump powdered sugar on top.
Why You'll Love This Nun Puffs Recipe
I make these Nun Puffs Recipe baked choux pastry muffins twice a month at least, and it's not because I'm on some vintage recipe kick. It's because liam realized he can put away four of these for breakfast and I don't feel like a bad mom since they're basically eggs and milk with flour mixed in. They look way fancier than they are, so I can bring them to someone's brunch and people assume I got up at 5 AM baking. Real talk? Fifteen minutes of actual work. Most of that is standing at the stove stirring a pot. The rest is liam plastering his face against the oven door watching them blow up because he thinks.
What really got me hooked on this best Nun Puffs Recipe is they're basically foolproof. I've burned chicken, collapsed cakes, made cookies that came out thin as cardboard. These? Work every time. My very first batch came out perfect, which literally never happens when I try something new. The batter doesn't care if you're tired or distracted or whatever - choux dough just Nun Puffs Recipe up because that's what it does. I've made these while helping liam with math homework, barely awake on Saturday mornings, completely exhausted after work, and they still look good. And they're done in thirty minutes total. You can't do that with cinnamon rolls or coffee cake or anything else that looks impressive for breakfast.
Jump to:
- Why You'll Love This Nun Puffs Recipe
- Nun Puffs Recipe Ingredients
- How To Make Nun Puffs Recipe Step By Step
- Equipment For Nun Puffs Recipe
- Storing Your Nun Puffs Recipe (Spoiler: They Don't Keep Great)
- Substitutions
- Nun Puffs Recipe Variations
- Why This Nun Puffs Recipe Works Every Time
- Top Tip
- My Sister's Secret Fix Passed Down for Generations (Now It's Yours)
- FAQ
- Go Make These Already (Seriously, Stop Reading and Start Baking)
- Related
- Pairing
- Nun Puffs
Nun Puffs Recipe Ingredients
The Base:
- Whole milk
- Butter
- All-purpose flour
- Large eggs
- Sugar
- Salt
For Serving:
- Honey for drizzling
- Powdered sugar for dusting
- Maple syrup
- Fresh berries if you're feeling fancy
See recipe card for quantities.
How To Make Nun Puffs Recipe Step By Step
I've walked about twenty people through this Nun Puffs Recipe Pioneer Woman style method at this point, and it's way easier than it sounds.
Prep Your Setup First:
- Crank your oven to 400°F and let it actually get hot
- Grab your muffin tin and grease every cup with butter - don't use spray, it doesn't work as well
- Get all your ingredients measured out and sitting on the counter
- Trust me, once you start mixing you don't want to hunt for stuff
Build the Dough Base:
- Toss milk, butter, sugar, and salt into a medium saucepan
- Turn the heat to medium-high and stir occasionally while the butter melts
- Watch for a full rolling boil with big bubbles - not just little ones around the edges
- The second it hits that real boil, yank the pan off the heat immediately
The Flour Dump (Don't Panic):
- Pour all your flour in at once - yes, all of it
- Stir like your life depends on it with a wooden spoon
- It'll turn into this weird sticky ball of dough in maybe 30 seconds
- Keep stirring for another full minute until the dough pulls completely away from the pan sides
- It should look smooth and kind of shiny
Cool Down Period:
- Let that hot dough just sit there for 5 minutes
- Set a timer because I know you'll think it's been long enough after 2 minutes
- If you add eggs too soon they'll scramble and you'll have to start over (did this twice)
Add Eggs One By One:
- Crack your first egg into the dough
- Beat it in completely until you can't see any egg streaks before adding the next
- First egg will make everything look broken and gross - that's supposed to happen
- Each egg makes it look better until the last one makes it smooth and glossy
- If your arm gets tired use a hand mixer on low
Fill Your Muffin Cups:
- Scoop batter into each greased cup about ⅔ of the way up
- Don't overfill them or they'll puff over the sides and make a crusty mess on your pan
- I use an ice cream scoop for this so they're all the same size
Bake Without Peeking:
- Slide the tin into your 400°F oven
- Set a timer for 20 minutes and walk away
- Do NOT open the oven door even though you really want to
- Opening it makes them deflate and there's no fixing that
- They're done when they're golden brown and puffed up huge - takes 20-25 minutes total
Serve Them Hot:
- Pull them out and eat them right away while they're warm
- Drizzle honey all over the tops
- Or shake powdered sugar on them
- liam dumps maple syrup on his but that's his weird thing
Equipment For Nun Puffs Recipe
- Standard 12-cup muffin tin (the regular size, not mini or jumbo)
- Medium saucepan with a heavy bottom
- Wooden spoon for stirring
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Whisk or regular fork
Storing Your Nun Puffs Recipe (Spoiler: They Don't Keep Great)
Real talk - these homemade Nun Puffs Recipe variations taste best right out of the oven, and storage is kind of a losing battle. But here's what I've learned from trying anyway:
Same Day (Best Option):
- Leave them on the counter loosely covered with a kitchen towel
- They'll stay decent for maybe 4-5 hours
- After that they start getting chewy instead of crispy on the outside
- Still edible, just not as good
Next Day Storage:
- Put cooled puffs in an airtight container
- Store at room temperature, not the fridge
- They'll be softer and kind of sad looking
- Reheat in a 350°F oven for 5 minutes to crisp them back up a little
- Won't be as puffy but still taste okay
Fridge (Not Recommended):
- I tried this once because I had leftovers
- They got hard and rubbery
- Even reheating couldn't save them
- liam took one bite and said "Mom, why did you do this to them?"
- Just don't
Freezer (Surprisingly Works):
- Let them cool completely
- Freeze in a single layer on a baking sheet first
- Then transfer to a freezer bag once they're solid
- They'll keep for maybe 2 months
- Reheat straight from frozen at 350°F for 10 minutes
- Not as good as fresh but way better than I expected
What I Actually Do:
- Make exactly as many as we'll eat that morning
- The recipe makes 12, which is perfect for me, liam, and maybe one or two friends
- If we have leftovers, liam takes them for snack at school the next day
- He says his friends fight over them even when they're day-old
Substitutions
Milk Options:
- Whole milk → 2% milk (they come out slightly less rich but still good)
- Whole milk → Almond milk (works but tastes a little weird, kind of nutty)
- Whole milk → Oat milk (actually pretty good, liam couldn't tell the difference)
- Whole milk → Skim milk (don't do this, they come out sad and flat)
Butter Swaps:
- Unsalted butter → Salted butter (fine, just skip the added salt in the recipe)
- Butter → Margarine (technically works but tastes like cardboard, not worth it)
- Butter → Coconut oil (tried this once, they tasted like sunscreen, never again)
Flour Changes:
- All-purpose → Bread flour (makes them chewier, which some people like)
- All-purpose → Cake flour (too delicate, they deflate easier)
- All-purpose → Gluten-free blend (Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 works okay, not perfect but edible)
Egg Stuff:
- Regular eggs → Extra large eggs (use 3 instead of 4, works fine)
- Whole eggs → Just egg whites (awful, don't try this, they won't puff)
- Room temp eggs → Cold eggs (works but mix slower and don't Nun Puffs Recipe as much)
Sweet vs Savory:
- Keep sugar, add cinnamon → Good for breakfast
- Skip sugar, add cheese and herbs → Makes them Nun Puffs Recipe savory style
- Skip sugar, add garlic powder → Really good with soup
- Add lemon zest → Nice for fancy brunch
Nun Puffs Recipe Variations
Cinnamon Sugar Classic:
- Mix 2 tablespoons sugar with 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- Brush hot puffs with melted butter right out of the oven
- Roll them in the cinnamon sugar while they're still wet
- Tastes like churros had a baby with a muffin
- liam's current favorite, changes weekly though
Savory Cheese Herb:
- Skip the sugar completely in the batter
- Stir in ½ cup shredded sharp cheddar after adding eggs
- Add dried thyme and rosemary to the dough
- Serve these with soup instead of bread
- My sister requests these every time she comes over
Lemon Poppy Seed:
- Add zest of 2 lemons to the batter
- Stir in 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
- Drizzle with lemon glaze instead of honey
- Makes them taste fancy for brunch
- Margaret (my neighbor who introduced me to these) loves this version
Chocolate Breakfast:
- Add 3 tablespoons cocoa powder with the flour
- Increase sugar to 2 tablespoons
- Drizzle with chocolate ganache after baking
- Dust with powdered sugar
- This is basically dessert disguised as breakfast and liam knows it
Maple Bacon (liam Named This One):
- Cook 4 strips of bacon crispy, crumble them up
- Stir bacon bits into batter after eggs
- Drizzle with real maple syrup instead of honey
- Tastes like a complete breakfast in one puff
- We make these on his birthday morning every year now
Orange Cranberry Holiday:
- Add orange zest to batter
- Fold in dried cranberries before baking
- Drizzle with orange glaze
- Looks really pretty for Christmas morning
- Made these last December and my mom asked for the recipe three times
Why This Nun Puffs Recipe Works Every Time
I've made these Nun Puffs Recipe so many times I can tell you exactly why this recipe doesn't screw up if you do it right. It's not some mystery - it's just chemistry that happens to work out good. When you get that milk and butter boiling for real - not fake simmering, actual big bubbles boiling - the heat does something to the flour starch the second you throw it in. Turns it into that smooth stretchy dough instead of staying all lumpy. Your liquid not hot enough? The flour just sits there not doing anything. And those eggs you're beating in one by one aren't just there to taste good
That 400°F oven makes a ton of steam inside each puff super fast. The outside gets hard and crispy while the inside's still wet and steamy, which is how they end up hollow. You open that oven door to look and all the steam comes out - they fall flat immediately. I literally watched half a batch die when liam cracked the door at 15 minutes. The ones that weren't set yet survived, the rest looked like deflated balloons. The muffin tin matters too because the batter climbs up the sides as it Nun Puffs Recipe instead of spreading everywhere.
Top Tip
- My first three batches of these Nun Puffs Recipe things came out flat and sad. Like thick pancakes pretending to be muffins. I was going crazy because I'd done everything right - measured perfectly, stirred exactly how the recipe said, baked them at 400°F like Margaret told me. They just refused to Nun Puffs Recipe up. I kept staring at her recipe card thinking I must have written something down wrong or she'd left out a secret step on purpose.
- Batch number four, liam was hanging out at the counter watching me cook because he had nothing better to do. I dumped the milk and butter in the pan and clicked the burner on. Two minutes later he goes "Is it boiling yet?" I glanced over - there were some little bubbles forming around the edges. "Yeah, pretty much," I said and pulled the pan off to dump in the flour. liam scrunched up his face like he does when something's wrong.
- I looked at the pan again. Crap. He was totally right. I'd been yanking it off heat the second I saw any bubbles at all, not letting it get to a real hard boil like you'd do for pasta. I stuck it back on the stove and actually waited this time. Maybe a minute later the whole thing was going nuts with big rolling bubbles everywhere. That's when I pulled it off and added the flour.
My Sister's Secret Fix Passed Down for Generations (Now It's Yours)
My sister learned this trick from our aunt who learned it from our grandmother, and apparently it goes back even further but nobody remembers how far. When I first made Nun Puffs Recipe and they came out flat, Sister watched me do it once and knew exactly what was wrong. "You're not boiling it hard enough," she said without even looking up from her phone. I got mad because I was definitely boiling it - there were bubbles all over. She just rolled her eyes. "Mom does the same thing. Let me show you." Next batch, she stood next to me at the stove. I heated the milk and butter, saw bubbles forming, and reached to pull it off.
Turns out this same problem had been in our family for decades. Our grandmother had the exact issue when she started making these in the 50s. She kept getting flat sad Nun Puffs Recipe until her sister-in-law watched her and caught it - pulling the pot off too early. That fix got passed down, but somehow nobody told me until Sister caught me doing it. Now every time she comes over and I'm making these, she walks past the stove and goes "Really boiling, right?" like I'm going to forget. I won't. Those first three flat batches are stuck in my brain forever.
FAQ
Are Nun Puffs Recipe and popovers the same thing?
No, and this drives me crazy because everyone assumes they are. Popovers use really thin batter and come out crispy and hollow like a balloon. Nun Puffs Recipe use choux dough - the same stuff you make cream puffs with - so they're softer inside with a crispy shell. The whole texture's different. Popovers are basically fancy Yorkshire pudding. These are more like cream puffs without any filling, baked in muffin cups. I've made both and liam can spot the difference just looking at them.
Why are they called Nun Puffs Recipe?
Honestly nobody knows and it bugs me that there's no real answer. The French name is "pets de nonne" which translates to something I'm not saying in front of my kid. They've been called that since the 1700s from what I've read. Some stories say French nuns made these in convents because they're cheap and simple. Other people think it's because they puff up so big it looked miraculous or something. Margaret said her grandmother just called them Nun Puffs Recipe her whole life. The real origin story's probably lost forever.
What are the ingredients of puff pastry?
Okay hold up - Nun Puffs Recipe aren't made with puff pastry at all. Completely different thing and people confuse this constantly. Puff pastry is that frozen flaky stuff you buy for making croissants and fancy desserts, where you fold butter into dough like a hundred times to get all those layers. Takes hours. Nun's puffs use choux pastry which is just milk, butter, flour, and eggs cooked in a pot then baked. Way simpler, totally different result, no layers. I mixed these up too when I first heard about them.
Are the recipes for nun cookies secret?
You're thinking of something completely different - nun cookies are those almond paste cookies some convents make and sell as fundraisers. Yeah, some of those recipes are actually kept secret by the nuns. But Nun Puffs Recipe? Just an old recipe anyone can make. Margaret's grandmother had hers written on a stained index card she probably got from a church cookbook in the 60s. Nothing secret about it. Regular ingredients from any grocery store, no special convent insider knowledge needed. Just need to actually let your milk boil instead of being impatient like I was.
Go Make These Already (Seriously, Stop Reading and Start Baking)
That's the thing about this Nun Puffs Recipe- it seems so simple that you think it can't possibly matter if you cut corners. But those little details actually make all the difference. The full rolling boil, adding eggs one at a time instead of dumping them all in, not opening the oven door even though you're dying to check on them. Skip any of those and you get flat dense rounds instead of tall puffy gorgeous ones. But follow them exactly once and you'll understand how they work. Then the second batch you make will be even better because you'll know what you're doing. By the third batch you won't even need to look at the recipe anymore.
Want more simple recipes that look harder than they are? Try our Easy Coconut Cloud Cake that's so light and fluffy people always ask what the secret is (there isn't one, it's just a really good recipe). Or make the Delicious Gingerbread Snowball Cookies Recipe that smell like Christmas in cookie form and freeze great for making ahead. And if you've got brown bananas sitting on your counter feeling guilty about, the Easy Moist Banana Walnut Cake Recipe uses them up and tastes way better than banana bread. All three are in the same category as these puffs - look fancy, taste great, actually pretty easy once you do them once.
Share your Nun Puffs Recipe with me! I really do look at every photo people send, and liam gets excited when he recognizes the recipe. If yours come out flat like my first three batches, send that picture too. I'll probably be able to tell you exactly what happened because I've made every possible mistake with these already.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rate this recipe and tell me if you knew what Nun Puffs Recipe were before this or if you were as confused as I was!
Related
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
Pairing
These are my favorite dishes to serve with Nun Puffs Recipe
Nun Puffs
Equipment
- 1 Standard 12-cup muffin tin (Regular size, not mini or jumbo)
- 1 Medium heavy-bottom saucepan (For heating milk and butter)
- 1 Wooden spoon (For stirring the dough)
- 1 Measuring cups & spoons
- 1 Whisk or fork (For beating eggs)
- 1 Ice cream scoop (For even batter portioning)
Ingredients
Base
- 1 cup Whole milk - Can substitute 2% or oat milk
- ½ cup Unsalted butter - Skip added salt if using salted
- 1 tablespoon Sugar - Optional for savory
- ¼ teaspoon Salt - Omit if using salted butter
- 1 cup All-purpose flour
- 4 large Eggs - Add one at a time
For Serving
- Honey - For drizzling
- Powdered sugar - For dusting
- Maple syrup - Optional
- Fresh berries - Optional, for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C) and butter each muffin cup thoroughly.
- Combine milk, butter, sugar, and salt in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a rolling boil with large bubbles.
- Remove from heat and add all flour at once, stirring vigorously until dough forms a smooth ball and pulls away from the pan.
- Let the dough rest for 5 minutes to cool slightly before adding eggs.
- Beat in eggs one at a time, mixing completely between each until smooth and glossy.
- Spoon or scoop batter into muffin cups, filling each about ⅔ full.
- Bake at 400°F for 20-25 minutes, until puffed and golden. Do not open the oven door during baking.
- Serve warm immediately, drizzled with honey or dusted with powdered sugar.
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