Cream Puffs

The nice thing about cream puffs is that they aren't nearly as difficult or complicated as they seem.  They are actually quite basic and use simple ingredients.  Just be prepared to do a lot of stirring by hand!  Here is my family's tried and true recipe (in three parts).

Cream Puffs (the pastry part)
from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook
Ingredients:
1 cup water
1/2 cup (one stick) butter
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cups flour
4 eggs

Directions:
In a medium saucepan, combine water, butter, and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Add flour all at once, stirring vigorously. Cook and stir until the mixture forms a ball (this only takes about a minute). Remove from heat and cool for ten minutes (this is important because if you add the eggs when it is too hot, they will start cooking and make the dough lumpy). Add eggs one at a time. Each time, stir well with a wooden spoon until the egg is completely incorporated. 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a baking sheet. Drop dough onto the baking sheet by the heaping spoonfuls. I like to make my cream puffs pretty small so it makes about 24 cream puffs. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, checking after 20 minutes. Cream puffs are done when they are golden and the peaks are light brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.  Cool completely before filling.

Notes:
--As you can see, there isn't any sugar in the puffs themselves, so they can be used for appetizers or lunch items if you want to fill them with chicken or tuna salad, or anything else you can come up with.
--Even though it seems like a lot of work (and it gives your arm quite a work out), the stirring the dough by hand after each egg is the key to good cream puffs.  Don't try to get around it by using a mixer or adding the eggs all at once.--If you make the puffs the night before you need them, don't store them in an airtight container or bag.  This will make them turn soggy.  Just keep them on a tray or baking sheet with a towel or piece of plastic wrap lightly draped over them in the fridge.

Cream Puff Filling
Ingredients:
1 large box vanilla instant pudding
1 pint whipping cream
1 1/2 cups milk

Directions:
Prepare pudding according to the directions on the box, using only half the indicated amount of milk (1 1/2 cups). While pudding chills, whip the cream until stiff peaks form. Fold in the pudding gently, until the cream and pudding are completely mixed together. This makes more than enough filling for one batch of cream puffs.

There are two ways to fill the cream puffs. Either you can slice them in half and scoop a generous amount into each one, or you can poke a hole in each one and fill them using a frosting bag and wide piping tube. Slicing them in half is much easier and faster, but also messier.

If you like your cream puffs without chocolate on top, you can simply sprinkle some powdered sugar on top at this point and call them done.  If you are a chocolate lover, like me, continue on to the final step.

"Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Frosting:
from the side of the Hershey's Cocoa container
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter or margarine
2/3 cup cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
Melt butter in the microwave. In a medium, heat-safe bowl (pyrex glass works well) stir together melted butter and cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating on medium speed to spreading consistency. Add more milk or more powdered sugar as needed. Stir in vanilla.

At this point, the frosting is finished. However, for topping cream puffs it's nice for the frosting to have a fudge-like consistency. In order to achieve this, hold the bowl of frosting over a stove burner (hence the heat-proof bowl) on medium-low heat, stirring continuously until it just begins to melt. At this point, pour the chocolate over the filled cream puffs in a thick layer. If the frosting starts setting up before you have finished topping the cream puffs hold it back over the heat to soften it again. Because the frosting has been melted, it sets back up and ends up having a consistency that is more like fudge than frosting.

They end up looking great and tasting amazing!  Enjoy!


-Jennie