1/2 Cup butter
1 Cup water
1 1/2 Cups flour
4 eggs
Bring to water and butter to a boil and reduce heat. Stir in flour until a dough forms that pulls away from the sides of the pan. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Spoon onto a baking sheet, using two spoons as the mixture is very sticky. A little trick I remembered from watching Martha Stewart a while back - with wet (but not dripping) hands, you can smooth the surface of each puff so it makes a nicer finished product. Bake at 400' for 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 350' and bake for another 15 minutes until firm to the touch. Remove from oven and cool on wire racks. Slice each puff in half horizontally and pull out any loose dough in the middle.
The recipe I used called for filling them puffs with vanilla pudding from a pastry bag. That sounded a little blah to me, so I started looking elsewhere. I got the filling below from a Betty Crocker Cookbook.
1/3 Cup sugar
2 Tblsp cornstartch
1/8 tsp salt
2 Cups milk (I used 1 white and 1 chocolate)
2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tblsp butter, softened
Combine sugar, cornstartch, salt, and milk. Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly, until boiling. Pour half of this mixture into the egg yolks, mix well, and then return to saucepan. Heat this mixture for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and butter. Cool. Spread onto lower half of puffs and create sandwiches.
The verdict? This filling tasted great, but totally didn't come out thick enough. It thickened slightly as it cooled, but not enough to stand up to the puffs. Trying to save it, I mixed pudding mix into it. It thickened it up a lot...and Josh liked it...but I thought it was a little blah.
Gotta do a little more filling research before next time!
You MADE cream puffs??? You're a culinary goddess!! :)
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