14 Pastry Recipes to Improve Your Baking Skills

Let's get back to basics, people!

By
The Serious Eats Team
The Serious Eats Team
At Serious Eats, we’re a team of self-proclaimed food nerds who are ever-curious about the “why” behind cooking. The staff has worked in restaurants, test kitchens, bakeries, and other notable publications, bringing extensive culinary and editorial expertise to the table.
Learn about Serious Eats' Editorial Process
Updated June 14, 2024
Overhead view of cheese danishes

Serious Eats / Greg Dupree

Making pastries can be one of the most daunting kitchen projects for novice bakers. For some pastries, like croissants, this reputation is justified—especially if you're inexperienced and working from a recipe that skimps on details. Luckily, there are whole categories of pastry recipes that are relatively easy: choux pastries all start from a simple base; phyllo-based recipes don't even require that you make a dough. Below, we've compiled a balanced selection of pastry recipes, ranging from savory to sweet, easy to advanced. Regardless of your skill level or the difficulty of the pastry project, we provide ample guidance and detail to ensure your success.

  • Pistachio Baklava

    Stack of baklava

    Serious Eats / Mai Kakish

    With layers of buttery phyllo dough and nuts drenched in simple syrup or honey, homemade baklava—or bak-la-wa in Arabic—is the ultimate sweet treat.

  • Cream Puffs

    Closeup of cream puffs filled with vanilla, chocolate, and lemon pastry cream.

    Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

    These light and crisp cream puffs are made with just two elements: airy nuggets of pâte à choux and a filling of your choice. Whether you choose to fill them with rich pastry cream, whipped cream, or crème légère, these puffs will satisfy dessert lovers everywhere.

  • Choux au Craquelin

    Choux au craquelin on a platter. One choux has been sliced in half to reveal the filling.

    Serious Eats / Debbie Wee

    For this decadent iteration of the cream puff, each piped mound of pâte à choux is topped with a chilled disc of dough made with butter, flour, brown sugar, and a pinch of salt. Once baked, the choux puffs are topped with a layer of crunchy, caramel-flavored deliciousness. For an easier route to choux puffs with a nice crunchy sugar topping, see Daniel's recipe for chouquettes.

  • Profiteroles

    A trio of profiteroles being doused in chocolate sauce

    Serious Eats / Debbie Wee

    Another filling option for choux puffs: ice cream. These light and crisp ice cream “sandwiches” are finished with a healthy drizzle of warm chocolate sauce.

    Continue to 5 of 14 below

  • Gougères (Choux Pastry Cheese Puffs)

    A platter piled high with gougères.

    Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

    Adding Gruyère cheese to choux puffs transforms them from a mere vessel for pastry cream and other sweet fillings into an elegant snack for passing around with flutes of Champagne.

  • Paris–Brest (Pâte à Choux With Praline Crème Mousseline)

    A Paris-brest, dusted with powdered sugar on a white marble countertop.

    Serious Eats / Debbie Wee

    Almond-studded choux pastry and rich, nutty praline join forces in this impressive French dessert.

  • Classic Éclairs

    A plate of chocolate éclairs.

    Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

    For this classic pastry, crisp logs of choux pastry are filled with a rich vanilla bean–infused pastry cream and then coated on one side with an intense chocolate glaze.

  • Croquembouche

    Crouquemboche

    Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

    The grand finale of our tour of choux pastry recipes: croquembouche, the celebration cake of France. This towering masterpiece of caramel-covered cream puffs is draped in golden threads of spun sugar. A classier dessert does not exist.

    Continue to 9 of 14 below

  • Cheese Danish

    Overhead view of cheese danishes

    Serious Eats / Greg Dupree

    These ultra-flaky Danishes are rich with butter and filled with sweet, tangy cream cheese.

  • Tarte Tatin

    Overhead view of finished tarte tatin

    Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

    For this classic dessert, tender caramelized apples glisten atop crisp pastry. For a more foolproof tarte Tatin, soak your apples in hot water and decrease the pH of your filling.

  • Croissants

    Closeup of a croissant. A portion has been torn off to show the flaky interior.

    Serious Eats / Keller & Keller

    Croissants are the pastry holy grail for many home bakers. This comprehensive recipe will hold your hand from dough rolling to shaping to proudly pulling lovely, flaky croissants out of the oven.

  • Kanafeh (Middle Eastern Cheese and Phyllo Dessert)

    kanafeh, shredded phyllo and cheese dessert

    Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

    Filled with salty cheese and drenched in a floral syrup, kanafeh—a phyllo dessert found throughout the Middle East—is a study in contrasts.

    Continue to 13 of 14 below

  • Daan Tat (Hong Kong-Style Egg Tart)

    Three Hong Kong egg custard tarts on a plate net to a cup of tea and a tea pot.

    Serious Eats / Tim Chin

    With its silky, sweet egg custard filling encased by crisp and tender puff pastry, this tart is believed to have originated in Canton (now Guangzhou) around the 1920s. In this recipe, a combination of water, evaporated milk, and extra yolks allows the egg flavor to really come through in the custard.

  • Borek (Armenian Spinach and Cheese Turnovers)

    an overhead shot of boreks on a marble surface

    Serious Eats / Andrew Janjigian

    These phyllo triangles are filled with a mixture of spinach, tangy cheeses, and aromatic herbs and brushed with clarified butter for crispiness.

More Serious Eats Recipes