Eggnog Cream Puffs - Apron & Whisk

In a small saucepan with the heat turned off, combine together all the pastry cream ingredients. Cook your cream filling on medium heat, stirring continuously until it thickens. It is important not to move away from the cream while cooking as once it thickens you have to remove it from the stove immediately or it will burn. Place the cream into a clean bowl and cover with plastic wrap, making sure that the plastic wrap is touching the cream. Leave it to cool down in the fridge for at least an hour.

In a saucepan over medium heat, bring to a boil the water, butter and salt. Remove the saucepan. Add all the flour and stir well until all the flour is incorporated.
Transfer the saucepan back on medium heat, and cook the dough for about 2 minutes. Stirring constantly to make sure that none of the dough sticks to the saucepan. Transfer the cooked dough to a large bowl.
Mix the dough slightly so that it cools down a bit. You can either do these steps in a stand mixer or by hand.
Start adding an egg at a time to the dough. Before adding another egg make sure that the previous one is fully incorporated. In addition, do not be alarmed, but at first when you add the egg, the dough will break. Just continue mixing until a smooth dough is soon achieved.
Fill a large piping bag with the dough. You can either use a large round tip or a french star tip.

Prepare two parchment papers the size of your air fryer basket. On each one pipe 10* equal size puffs. It's important to leave a good amount of space between them as they will puff. Brush the top with water.
Bake them in the air fryer at 180°C or 350°F for 15 minutes. Once they are ready, place them on a cooling rack. With a toothpick, do two little holes at the bottom of the eclair so that the steam can escape.

Before starting the choux pastry, preheat the oven to 220°C or 425°F. Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Set aside.
Pipe 20 equal size puffs. It's important to leave a good amount of space between them as they will puff. Brush the top with water.
Bake them for 10 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 180°C or 350°F, it's important to not open the oven door. Continue cooking for around 30 minutes.
Once they are ready, place them on a cooling rack. With a toothpick, do two little holes at the bottom of the puff so that the steam can escape.

In a bowl, add the icing sugar, eggnog and vanilla, stir until completely combined. Add more eggnog if the icing is too thick, or more icing sugar if too thin.

When ready to fill the puffs. Fill a piping bag with the pastry cream and pipe a generous amount, enough to fill each shell. Dip the cream puffs in the prepared icing and add some festive sprinkles on top.

How many you pipe will vary depending how big your airfryer basket is. I have a Cosori 5.5L and manage to fit 10 small cream puffs.