Cream puffs make a comeback

New York-based Choux Factory started opening stores in September 2004 and now has two stores and a mobile vendor in New York. It plans to open two more in New York by September, said Shintaro Abe, the company’s vice president, but there are no plans to go national. Sales increased daily for their first three months and have leveled off at between 300 and 500 daily, he said.

Choux Factory sells cream puffs in chocolate, strawberry, custard, coffee, mango, green tea and banana flavors for $1.75 or $1.95, as well as a low-carb French Cheese Taste Cream Puff. Abe said the shops sell many products, including frozen drinks and coffee, but the cream puffs they call Choux cakes are their most popular item.

Pam Liu, 38, a Beard Papa’s customer in New York, said the cream puffs are a good reason to go off a diet.

“They’re just something special because they are so good and they are kind of new in the area,” she said. “You have to try it.”

Nearly 391,000 people tried cream puffs during the Wisconsin State Fair’s 11-day run last year — 62 per minute — and this year, fair officials are offering $25 coolers with a six-pack of cream puffs, so people can take the desserts home in perfect condition.

Kathleen O’Leary, spokeswoman for the fair, said officials are considering whether to sell the cream puffs year-round. Their puffs, which are filled with heavy whipping cream, are 560 calories and 47 grams of fat, but that doesn’t seem to stop fairgoers.

“They are worth every calorie,” O’Leary said.

For a scaled-down treat, mail-order food company Omaha Steaks offers 1-ounce cream puffs with 80 calories and 5 grams of fat.

The company began offering cream puffs in April 2001 and sales increased 264 percent in 2002 and 106 percent the next year, which is partly due to the usual spike in demand for new products, said spokeswoman Beth Weiss. Sales increased 10 percent in 2004, and the company expects the same for 2005, she said.

Kristine Kidd, food editor at Bon Appetit, said she is seeing cream puffs show up more on restaurant menus and in pastry shops, and bakers are doing new fillings or glazing them with chocolate.

She predicted that cream puff fever would be a fad, but for now their simplicity rules.

“I think people are so overwhelmed now with information and technology and life moving so quickly that a return to simple, comforting things is a nice balance and escape from that,” she said.

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