Hopefully we all have fond memories of our moms making, buying, or providing some sort of snack for after school. You know cookies, chips, crackers, sandwiches, pizza rolls if you believe those commercials. At our house our mom made cream puffs. I never even knew people thought they were hard to make and a cool food until I was in high school and my friends were amazed that we had them all the time. I now make them for my girls and for their teachers on special occasions like Valentines day, and yes people were amazed I made them and thought they were a very cool food.
Cream Puffs
1 stick (1/2 cup) BUTTER do NOT use margarine you will be sad.
1 cup water
1 cup flour
4 eggs
Filling
pudding, cool whip, chicken salad, tuna salad, strawberries and whip cream - have fun!
Topping
frosting, powdered sugar, cocoa powder
Preheat oven to 400*. Bring water and butter to a boil in a sauce pan. Remove from heat and quickly stir in the flour. It should hold together in a loose ball. Mix in one egg at a time. Is it really important to do just one at a time? I don't know, I've never mixed in all 4 at once so I can't tell you, I've always respected the one egg at a time rule. Once the eggs are mixed in you should have a firm batter. Scoop the batter onto an ungreased cookie sheet. I usually line mine with parchment paper but it's not a disaster if you don't. How big of a scoop? It's up to you, I make mine in a range of 1/8 c. to 2 tsp. depending on the size of cream puff I want at the end. I made the teacher treats in the 2 tsp size and they came out 2 bite size. Put cream puff in the oven. If you made them 1/8 of a cup scoops you're going to cook them for about 40 minutes, if you went with the 2 tsp size it will be more like 20 minutes. When they are done they will be golden brown on top and all pretty and puffy.
While they bake decide what you are going to fill and if desired frost them with. The ones I made most recently were filled with a pudding cool whip mixture. I made the pudding (the 4 serving size package) and before it set I mixed in about 1/2 a regular size tub of cool whip. Chicken or tuna salad in larger size cream puffs are great for parties. I've made all kinds of fillings and it's fun to experiment.
Once the cream puffs are done let them cool. The easiest way to fill them is to slice off the very top. Remove the insides and plop a dollop of your filling inside. Replace the top and sprinkle on powdered sugar, cocoa powder, or drizzle on some icing. For my treat puffs I fit a piping bag with a long tip and poke it into the side and squeeze it into the puff. I also melted some canned icing and dipped the top of the uncut puff into it.
One batch will make 12 larger cream puffs or 45 2 bite cream puffs.
Once all your puffs are filled and topped enjoy! Impress your friends! Feel fancy on a Tuesday afternoon!
Cream Puffs
1 stick (1/2 cup) BUTTER do NOT use margarine you will be sad.
1 cup water
1 cup flour
4 eggs
Filling
pudding, cool whip, chicken salad, tuna salad, strawberries and whip cream - have fun!
Topping
frosting, powdered sugar, cocoa powder
Preheat oven to 400*. Bring water and butter to a boil in a sauce pan. Remove from heat and quickly stir in the flour. It should hold together in a loose ball. Mix in one egg at a time. Is it really important to do just one at a time? I don't know, I've never mixed in all 4 at once so I can't tell you, I've always respected the one egg at a time rule. Once the eggs are mixed in you should have a firm batter. Scoop the batter onto an ungreased cookie sheet. I usually line mine with parchment paper but it's not a disaster if you don't. How big of a scoop? It's up to you, I make mine in a range of 1/8 c. to 2 tsp. depending on the size of cream puff I want at the end. I made the teacher treats in the 2 tsp size and they came out 2 bite size. Put cream puff in the oven. If you made them 1/8 of a cup scoops you're going to cook them for about 40 minutes, if you went with the 2 tsp size it will be more like 20 minutes. When they are done they will be golden brown on top and all pretty and puffy.
While they bake decide what you are going to fill and if desired frost them with. The ones I made most recently were filled with a pudding cool whip mixture. I made the pudding (the 4 serving size package) and before it set I mixed in about 1/2 a regular size tub of cool whip. Chicken or tuna salad in larger size cream puffs are great for parties. I've made all kinds of fillings and it's fun to experiment.
Once the cream puffs are done let them cool. The easiest way to fill them is to slice off the very top. Remove the insides and plop a dollop of your filling inside. Replace the top and sprinkle on powdered sugar, cocoa powder, or drizzle on some icing. For my treat puffs I fit a piping bag with a long tip and poke it into the side and squeeze it into the puff. I also melted some canned icing and dipped the top of the uncut puff into it.
One batch will make 12 larger cream puffs or 45 2 bite cream puffs.
Once all your puffs are filled and topped enjoy! Impress your friends! Feel fancy on a Tuesday afternoon!
Cool away from drafts...my kids had no problem opening the cupboard to get a plate or glass only to find a tray of cream puffs cooling. Now we have a microwave big enuf to set the cookie sheet in there while they cool. Or if, by some miracle, you are only making a single batch... when they are done - turn off the heat and put a wooden spoon in the oven door to keep it just barely open while they cool. It only takes collapsing them ONCE to learn how important a draft free cool down is!
ReplyDeleteWhen Ddonn was a toddler we tried medium puffs with mint chip ice cream inside and chocolate syrup on top but rarely repeated it because the kids all preferred a filling they could eat out of hand without too much dripping. I have found people tend to prefer homemade pudding inside a dessert puff but add a little extra cornstarch. It drips less that way. Last night the recipe called for 1/3 c sugar and 2 T(tablespoons) cornstarch, I used 2 1/2 T cornstarch... my second husband preferred the consistancy with twice the cornstarch... 1/4 T cornstarch to 1/3 c sugar and 2 c milk. Most people prefer NOT to chew their pudding ;-} but the flavor is not bothered by extra thickener.
If you make them small, you can call them Chouquettes and have people think that they're SUPER fancy :) Now I think I'll have to do that sometime soon....
ReplyDeleteThis looks super easy to make. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDelete