Cream Puffs (Profiteroles)

Last night I attempted something new! The art of choux pastry: a french dough used to make profiteroles (or cream puffs), croquenbouches, and eclairs. It is pronounced something like (shoo') or (shoe') pastry. The interesting thing about choux pastry, is that it is cooked on the stove top before you make them. At first I thought the idea of boiling water and butter together and then throwing flour in sounded like a mad man's idea of a mess, but it turned out surprisingly easy, almost like magic. In France, the typical filling is a vanilla custard (pudding) and here in the U.S., most people use whipped cream. So anyway, I decided to attempt classic profiteroles.

I had asked my hubby a while ago, "What should I try? What do you want to eat" and he said, "How about a cream puff?" This recipe is so amazingly simple and yummy! I'm so happy that I tried it, you really don't need anything special to make them, unless you want to get fancy, and they're easy! I made the basic choux puff, and then for the filling I sort of mixed both types and went the really easy route, I made a vanilla pudding and folded in my homemade whipped cream. It made for a lighter, creamy filling.

When my husband and I tried them, I was slightly wary about them, but they were delicious. In fact, they got a rating of 10 on the Hub-O-Meter, and a 10 is very rare! It's not that my food is never delicious, it's that he doesn't just give out 10's. In case you're wondering about the Hub-O-Meter, my husband Jon and I have a rating system when I try new things. A '4' or '5'  is "Alright", '6' or '7' is "That's pretty good, I'd eat that again" and '8' and above is "KILLER". So, that gives you an idea what an H.O.M. '10' represents.  I will probably be using the H.O.M scale in future blogs, so keep an eye out for that, now you know what it is.

So onto the recipe. I did a half batch (about 8 large profiteroles), figuring that the holidays did enough damage to our tummies and thighs, but here is double that, which would probably make about 16 large, or 24 smaller cream puffs. The larger the cream puffs get, the harder it is to get the middle completely dry/cooked through, but this is still okay; just take out all the moist egg-like dough and it makes for more filling room, which you want. ;)


Cream Puffs (Profiteroles)
Makes about 16 large Puffs

• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 cup all purpose or pastry flour
• 4 large eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 400 and lightly grease a baking sheet.
2. In a medium saucepan, bring the water, butter, salt and sugar to a boil, stirring until the butter is melted and blended throughout.
3. Add the flour all at once, remove from heat and stir constantly and vigorously until the mixture forms a ball of dough that sticks to the side of the pan and does not separate.
4. Transfer to an electric mixer fixed with the paddle attachment (you can do this step by hand as well). Beat on low for a minute to release some heat from the dough. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until well blended and smooth.
5. Drop dough onto baking sheet in large spoonfuls and bake for about 35 minutes, until nicely golden brown. Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool. Gently cut a small slit in each puff. (This allows steam to release and keep them from collapsing at all.)
6. Cool about 20-30 minutes before filling. Cut the top 1/3 to 1/2 of each pastry off and remove any moist dough. Fill with filling (using a spoon or piping bag) and replace each top.
Drizzle with chocolate sauce (optional).

Filling

• 1 box instant vanilla pudding
• 2 cups of milk (or as directed on package)
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 4-5 tbsp confectioners sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla

1. Chill mixer bowl and whisk attachment for about 20-30 minutes.

2. Prepare vanilla pudding as directed on packaging

3. Place whipping cream in bowl, add powdered sugar and beat on HIGH for 5-10 minutes, or until it becomes very fluffy and forms stiff peaks. Scrape bowl as needed. Add vanilla and beat another minute or so, keeping the stiff, fluffy texture, but making sure not to over beat.
4. Gently, without stirring, fold whipped cream and pudding together, until it becomes a light yellow color and creamy texture.

Enjoy!

Photos by The Chocolate Cookie