How to Make Cream Puffs... And Delight Everyone!

Welcome To My World!

We've done cream puffs before, but honestly, this is a Win/Win/Win and if you're not making cream puffs for a party, you should be because people will love you and these days, I'm okay with soaking up all the brownie points I can get!

First, we've got some fun stuff happening here.... The Herne Family Christmas Party....

And then there's this little sweet cheeks!

And a very special visitor with a bunch of Herne cousins!!!  So stinkin' cute!

And then there's this:

(Right now I'm going to choir practice where they overlook my narrow range of notes because they're very good people... and the pic that's supposed to be here isn't coming through to my e-mail from my phone, so it might or might not be here in the morning!!!!)  :)

My school age daycare buds have put together a "Help for the Homeless' opportunity day this Saturday. They'll be spending the day (or parts of it!) outside in tents, no electronics, no screens, dressed in layers and fighting the cold. Weather: 30 ° and calm and cloudy. Honestly, here in upstate in December, this is mild!!!!

So far my buds have raised over $500 to donate to the Open Door Mission (for men) and Bethany House (for women). I'm so proud of them!

We'll have a soup and bread lunch to reflect what they'd have in a soup kitchen. And at the end (I hope...) they'll have a heightened awareness of how special life... and life in America!... truly is.

Okay, so back to cream puffs....

Shells:

1 stick butter
1 cup water
1 cup flour
4 large eggs (I had two HUGE eggs and one normal one, but that's normal around here!)



In 3 quart saucepan, bring water and butter to a boil. Turn off heat when butter is melted, stir in 1 cup flour until well blended.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating with spoon (think EXERCISE OPP!!!) until smooth after each addition. Using a regular teaspoon, drop small mounds of dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet, about two inches apart (puffs rise).

Bake at 400° for about twenty minutes until deep golden brown. If you take them out too early they're too tender to hold the pudding, and we want these bad boys to hold the pudding!

Cool.  Then slice of top leaving the hollowed shell ready for pudding or whipped cream filling.

Pudding:

4 tablespoons butter, melted in 3 quart saucepan
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup corn starch
4 cups milk
4 egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla

Melt butter in pan. Turn off heat. Mix sugar and cornstarch together. Blend into melted butter. Whisk in milk and egg yolks, then return to medium/medium/high heat and stir while cooking. Bring to a boil, boil and stir one minute. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Stir well, chill. (If you don't like "skin" on top of real pudding, lay a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the hot pudding. This prevents the skin from forming...

Although I love the skin!!!!

Frosting: (I often have this made ahead of time and tucked in freezer or fridge or cupboard... )

1 Stick butter (melted in 3 quart saucepan... I'm sensing a trend!!!!)
1/2 cup Hershey's cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups Confectioners/powdered/10X sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix cocoa and salt into melted butter. Add powdered sugar and milk. Whisk. When smooth, add vanilla. Frosting thickens as it cools, but if it's too thick, a dash of milk (slightly more than a dab and less than a splash) can be stirred in until frosting is desired consistency.

THIS IS MY GO-TO CHOCOLATE FROSTING.

It is Hershey's Perfect Chocolate Frosting recipe, it is amazing and should always be respected. Spoons and fingers should be licked clean at all appropriate points.

Children will rise up and call you blessed for making this.

I'm not kidding.

There was a huge tray of of these. I mean 14" across, huge tray of deliciousness and I forgot to take a picture.

So these guys escaped detection and I got a picture of these six BEFORE THEY WERE DISCOVERED!!!!

And then there's this;

Nothing like candlelight, cookies and candy! Sounds like a party to me!

Cream Puffs, a Blodgett Favorite!

 

Ruthy here!  Okay, do you love the bundled-up look???? That's because friends who shall go nameless MOCKED MY SUMMER TOP PIC because it was winter... and then winter carried on so long, I decided they were right. So here's my seasonally appropriate blogging pic!

I love cream puffs.

I've always loved cream puffs, and if you've never made these amazingly delicious stuffed egg pastries, you're in for a surprise:

They're easy.

I'm not kidding, I'm totally serious, it's a one-two-three kind of production. The only thing that takes time is stuffing the little suckers, but think of the finger lickin' good possibilities there!

Basically, you make cream puffs in three steps:

Make the puffs
Make the filling
Fill the puffs. 

Now here's a fun tip: The puffs can be made and frozen well ahead of time. They don't lose a bit of quality when defrosted, as long as they're securely wrapped. That's the fun of a "dry" pastry, they freeze beautifully.

Filling can be made the day ahead and chilled. Cream puffs are best if they're put together fresh, but if you need to do them the day ahead, go ahead.  BUT HIDE THEM!!!! YOU MUST PUT THEM INCOGNITO IN SOME CONTAINER THAT LOOKS LIKE IT SHOULD HAVE RAW CHICKEN OR SOMETHING OR THEY'LL FIND THOSE PUFFS AND EAT THEM!!!!

Egg puffs:  (heat oven to 400°)

1 cup water
1/2 butter
1 cup flour
4 eggs

Bring water and butter to a boil.

Stir in flour quickly. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat with spoon until smooth and shiny. Drop by small spoons full onto ungreased baking sheet for small puffs.  Bake at 400 until dry and golden-looking, about 35 minutes for large puffs and 20 - 25 for small puffs.

OR..... Drop by larger, 1/4 cup size for large, bakery-style cream puffs.

I do the small ones (two-bites) because my family thinks if you eat 6 little ones, it's way better for you than ONE BIG ONE...

Cool completely and either freeze or store in air-tight container.  (Puffs keep well).

Whipped cream filling:

(this is a NO BRAINER)

2 cups whipping cream
1/2 cup sugar

Beat whipping cream and sugar on high until whipped cream is stiff... Stop before it turns to butter!!!!

:)

Custard filling:

2 Tablespoons butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup corn starch

Melt butter. Mix sugar and corn starch together, add to butter in saucepan.
Stir in:

2 cups milk
2 egg yolks

Whisk together and heat to boiling over medium heat. Boil and stir one minute. Remove from heat, stir in two teaspoons vanilla. Cool completely.  (If you don't like "skin" on your pudding, lay a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding. This prevents the "fat" from rising and forming the skin... Now I love "skin", it's a favorite!!!  But I'm weird.

To fill cream puffs, you can either use a pastry tube, fill the bag, insert tube in side of puff and squeeze gently to fill puff.

OR....

You can slice the top off the puff, remove any pastry filaments inside, and stuff with whipped cream or pudding/custard.

GRATUITOUS FINN VIDEO!!!!!

Beth sent me a pic of Finn with ASHES yesterday....  But despite my best and lame efforts, I couldn't get it to upload to the computer and e-mailing pics to myself takes weeks.... so where are they for weeks? Scrambled in cyber-space????

Okay, BACK TO CREAM PUFFS.

Except you really should admire our ocean:

We now have assorted shells, a pod of Orca Whales, SPARKLE FISH!!!, and in our science books we have seahorses and sea urchins.

And did you know you can BUY SEAHORSES for $125 and up from a Seahorse Farm in Hawaii????

Think of that, a farm you can fit in your garage! AWESOME!!!!!


Now here's the things, (really back to cream puffs this time)  these are habit forming. And they're delicious. These could become a NATIONAL PASTTIME because they're that amazing.

I make them for holidays or family parties, showers, etc....  It's one of those things that if you've got the puffs in the freezer, all you have to do is make pudding.... or whipped cream... stuff and go!

You can top them with whipped cream (I think that's weird beyond words, but I've found people do that, Mary Connealy is one of them, and of course she's an odd little duck, but I want to make her feel good about herself. That's what friends are for....)

OR... you can sift confectioners (10X, powdered, a sugar by any other name is still a sugar!) over puffs.

OR (and this is our way) you make Hershey's Perfect Chocolate Frosting and use that on top of the puff:

Hershey's Perfect Chocolate Frosting

1/2 cup butter, melted
2/3 cup Hershey's cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla

(Hershey's doesn't call for the salt, but I find it makes the recipe better)

Melt butter in 3 quart saucepan. Mix in cocoa, salt, powdered sugar and milk. Whisk until smooth and let cool.

ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS FROSTING THAT TAKES MAYBE 5 MINUTES TO MAKE.

And worth every moment, LOL!

Oh, man. HUNGRY.......