Cream Puffs

I got this recipe from an old roommate of mine whose mother used to make these for weddings professionally. They are super easy to make and very delicious. I used this recipe to make cream puffs for my own wedding. I know now that the cream puffs were undercooked and probably not up to her standards (she claims that making these cream puffs correctly in her family is a sign of arrival into womanhood). But she never said anything about them, so we’ll just leave it be.

Choux Pastry:

4 Eggs

1 cup water

1/2 cup butter cut into 8 pieces

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

1. Place butter and water into saucepan. Bring to a full boil over med heat. Boil till butter is melted. (I think my butter is usually melted long before the full boil arrives.)

2. Add flour and salt all at once. Stir vigorously until a ball forms. Remove from heat.

3. Add eggs ONE AT A TIME mixing THOUROUGHLY after each addition. It sometimes seems that the eggs won’t incorporate: be patient and keep stirring. Mix 30 more seconds.

4. Shape as desired (I scoop spoonfuls of desired size onto a cookie sheet). Bake 425 degrees (in a preheated oven) for 10-15 minutes, until dry looking. And here is where My Mistakes came in. No oven I have used has cooked them right at 425 for 15 minutes. You can take them out at this point and eat them filled or unfilled; they are delicious. But you are supposed to wait until the butter bubbles stop bubbling off the top of the puffs. They stop glistening. So I recommend putting them in a 400 degree oven for closer to 20 minutes (and don’t be afraid to give them more time). These freeze well but only if you cook them dry. Otherwise when they come out of the freezer they are kind of grainy and gross. And make sure to open the puff and take out what extra pastry is inside before freezing them. This makes thaw and prep much quicker.

For the filling my friend recommends using 1 small box of instant vanilla pudding, 2 envelopes of powdered whipped cream (brand name: Dream Whip) and a cup of milk. Mix it at a high speed till the color changes and it gets very stiff.

I tried the filling and it was OK. I’d much rather just use real whipped cream. Or to save time, chocolate or vanilla pudding. To serve, dust your filled puffs with powdered sugar.

The pastry is delicious and reminds me a lot of popovers, which I love. Consequently, I have been tempted to try filling these puffs with a savory meat filling, but have not tried it yet. I’ll let you know it that ever happens.

The funny thing is that as I write this, I am also playing Scrabble.