Preheat oven to 375 F. Cover two small sheet trays with parchment paper and set them aside for later use.

Combine milk, butter, salt, and sugar in a saucepan a bring mixture to a rolling boil. Once mixture comes to a rolling boil turn heat to low, add flour and stir on stovetop, just enough to dry dough out a bit and make a panade. (Panade is what you call the dough at this point before you add the eggs). Remove from heat.

Place panade into mixer and mix with a paddle attachment. Allow panade to cool off a bit while it mixes before adding the eggs.

Begin to add eggs one at a time and allow each egg to blend well into the panade.

Do a test to know if choux paste is ready. For example, you can stick your finger into the dough. Dough should form a slight hook on your finger and not be stiff. If dough is too dry, add a small amount of water and mix it in, a teaspoon at a time, until desired consistency is achieved.

Place dough into a pastry bag that has a #3 tip. Hold bag at a 90-degree angle over sheet tray. Squeeze pastry bag continuously and stop squeezing when cream puff mounds have a diameter of 1 ½” – 2”. Twist off while ceasing pressure. Continue piping choux paste mounds onto sheet tray and spacing them a couple of inches apart from each other.

Apply a double egg wash over cream puffs with a pastry brush.

Bake cream puffs at 375 F for about 15 minutes. Turn sheet trays around and continue baking for 5-6 more minutes, until cream puffs have a nice golden color all throughout. Turn oven temperature down to 250 F—300 F and bake for an additional 8-12 minutes or until the interior of the cream puffs are completely dry and baked through. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. (Note: You can see if cream puffs are ready by cutting one in half and observing the center. If the interior of cream puff is still a bit wet, continue baking them for a few minutes longer).

Toss diced apples, cinnamon, and all-purpose flour in a small bowl. Run the unsharpened side of pairing knife down the length of each of the vanilla bean halves to scrape vanilla seeds from bean. Toss vanilla bean and vanilla seeds in with the apples, cinnamon, and flour.

Combine water, sugar, and honey in small saucepan and cook over medium heat until sugar reaches a light amber color.

Once sugar has reached a light amber color, toss diced apples into saucepan with the sugar while stirring continuously. Cook until apples soften and caramel becomes a darker shade of amber, about 6-10 minutes.

Pour in heavy cream to saucepan while whisking continuously. Stir until cream is well blended. Remove saucepan from heat.

Add butter to caramel and stir to combine until butter melts.

Pour caramel sauce into a small bowl or container and allow it to cool down before serving.

Combine heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract in a bowl. Whip at medium speed until stiff peaks form. Refrigerate until further use.

To assemble cream puffs, split cream puffs in half using a small serrated knife.

Pipe or fill the bottom halves of the cream puffs with crème chantilly.

Pour about 1-2 tablespoons of caramelized apples over crème chantilly and replace each one with its top.

Sift powdered sugar over cream puffs and serve immediately.

Piped and baked choux paste can be done in advance and frozen. Defrost puffs and then bake them in a 350 F oven until crisp, about 5-10 minutes. Cool before serving.

Filled cream puffs must be used in one day. Cooked pastries can last 4-6 weeks in freezer.

If you don’t own a stand mixer you can do pate á choux by hand. Simply remove panade from heat and allow it to cool slightly for a few minutes. Add the eggs one at a time by hand, stirring rapidly with a wooden spoon until each egg is incorporated into the dough. At first it will seem as though the dough won’t accept the eggs. The dough will go through different stages while adding the eggs: from shiny to slippery, until it holds together.