Light, flaky, and delicious cream puff pastries have been around for a very long time, but the circumstances surrounding their origin are still shrouded in mystery. According to The Good Life France, celebrated French chef Antonin Carême was the first to add cream to the puffs in the early 19th century.The true evolution of pastry is largely lost to history. Still, Pantanelli and Câreme, who added the namesake cream filling, certainly deserve credit for elevating cream puffs to the level of culinary art. Perhaps the most likely explanation for the invention of cream puffs, per Paris Unlocked, is that they developed naturally from one of the many European baking traditions, and Pantanelli was simply the first to be acclaimed for making them.

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