Cream Puffs

I wanted to make cream puffs for Sunday’s dinner. Saturday, we slept in and then went off in search of 1) cream puff ingredients and 2) brunch ingredients. We got two carton of eggs, some bacon, and other groceries. Then, I spent the day making 30+ batch of pâte à choux. (So, the first batch, I thought I made a mistake, so I just didn’t bother baking it and made a second batch. In the end, I baked most of them and they all came out pretty well… In the “mistake” batch, they collapsed only minimally. But on a whole they were a great sight when they were fresh out of the oven. So puffy! I made a batch custard, some strawberry puree… not quite jellied jam.

Then we headed for Ryan’s friend’s place for a small get together. I decided to bring like 9 cream puffs to share… you know… guinea pigs. It ends up that I didn’t make enough custard, so Sunday morning I had to get another carton of eggs to make the custard. Overall, during the entire weekend, I used 3 carton of eggs. Man.

Overall they got a pretty good reaction. Ryan’s friends commented that they give beard papa a run for it’s money (although my choux isn’t quite as crispy as beard papas. I don’t think I wanted it to be, but beard papas is quite another thing…) Shai was kind and said he liked my “pâte à choux,” and unfortunately I was still brain dead and it took me a full 10 seconds for me to register what “pâte à choux” was referring to. I’m just not used to hearing that word uttered. Oh, yeah, my cream puffs!

choux pastry (for around 10 medium puffs)

• 1/2 stick butter
• 1/2 cup water
• 70cc flour
• 4 eggs

** (My mom uses couple of egg whites instead of all the eggs above, since she wanted to make judicious use of materials and you have like 6 egg whites from the custard recipe. She does like 3 regular eggs and supplements 1 and a half of eggs’ egg whites. I am wasteful and didn’t do that sort of thing. I have a tupperware full of egg whites now for a lame healthy omelette or something.)

1. Time wise, the prep doesn’t take long. However, the beginning part of this recipe dictates whether the choux will puff up fluffy and hollow. In a saucepan on high heat, boil the water and butter together.
2. My mother gave me the recipe, so the measurement is cubic centimeters. It’s .295 cups, which is a little less than 1/3 of a cup. (like .033 cup or 1.5 teaspoons less). I admit that I eyed it and was very careful about the consistency of the mixture when I added the eggs. So, sift the 1/3 cup (taking off around 1.5 teaspoons on top) flour well while the mixture is boiling. Once the mixture is boiling rapidly, and I give it a few seconds to REALLY boil, throw the entire flour contents in. Do not mix slowly, dump it in.
3. Mix the flour in well. Continue stirring until the mixture sticks together. You want the flour to coat the bottom and some of the sides of the pan, and then you know it’s ready to be taken off. Although, if you are using an iron or thick sauce pan like me, it might not quite stick to the sides. You need to keep heating the dough for a good 3-5 minutes after dumping the flour. It should stick together like a ball, be soft and not sticky.
4. Once the pot is covered with a thin layer of dough, turn the heat off and slowly one by one add in 4 medium eggs. I recommend specifically getting 4 medium eggs for this, until you can eye the consistency of the batter. I’ve used in the past around 2 jumbo eggs and the egg whites of an additional egg for one batch, for example. The consistency should be soft, not too smooth, and hard to keep it’s shape.
5. Also, don’t be forgetful like me, and lightly coat them in egg whites, and they will come out with a nice sheen. I generally forget to do this all the time with mine. You will be using tons of yolks for the custard, so you will have tons of egg whites.
6. Oil a baking pan and dust a layer of flour on top, so that it’s easy to peel off. When placing batter on the pan, try to pile it high. If you make them golf ball size, the choux will be medium-small. Or you can be like me and make monstrously sized ones. You can also be smart, unlike me, and use a pastry bag. Keep in mind that the choux should grow vertically. Then, I baked it at 400 F for around 40 minutes. I would check on them at 30 minutes to see if it is a golden color. Don’t open them before they’ve puffed up and cooked, since they might collapse.

custard cream

• 6 egg yolks
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 and 1/2 cup of milk or heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1 and half tablespoon of corn starch

1. Custard is a lot easier to make than the choux, only because the only thing you can do wrong is not stir frequently enough and burn it. And even then, with little brown bits, I’ve eaten it and it’s kinda delicious with a little bitter edge. However, that’s really easy to avoid. JUST STIR!
2. Add 6 egg yolks and sugar, and mix well.
3. Then add the cornstarch. Mix until smooth.
4. Add the milk in small increments and dissolve the mixture and mix until smooth.
5. Pour into a sieve into a saucepan. (This allows for a smooth creamy custard) If there are sugar and egg bits that did not dissolve, add some more fluid and slowly work their way through the sieve.
6. Put the mixture under high heat and stir continuously.
7. Like seriously, keep stirring so it doesn’t burn.
8. You will notice that you are scraping small lumps of coagulated custard from the bottom of the pan, now you know it’s starting to harden. Keep stirring. If the mixture bubbles you can turn the heat down to medium. Keep stirring until the mixture thickens. Once it thickens to a smooth pudding texture, take off from heat. Let cool for a few minutes.
9. Once cool enough to put into tupperware and fridge, add vanilla extract and stir.
10. Store in the refridgerator. When using, take out of the fridge for 15 or so minutes until slightly cooler than room temperature. Mix to soften a bit. Taste and then tell yourself you can’t have any until the choux are filled. Then fill the choux pastry. Try not to eat the custard.

strawberry puree (I’m not very exact with this…)

• one package of very ripe strawberries, hulled and cut into chunks
• 1 cup of sugar, or more…
• 2 wedges of lemon
• 2 sheets of flavorless gelatin

1. Put gelatin sheets in water, let soften for a minute.
2. In the meanwhile, mix strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice from the wedges in a saucepan and put on high heat. Mix and mash the strawberries in the pot.
3. Continue to mash and stir until boiling Since I’m not interested in it really jellying, I add just a little gelatin (if you don’t have flavorless gelatin, heat it longer and leave it be), heat it for a bit and let cool.
4. Store until you’re ready to construct cream puffs in the refrigerator.

You definitely *don’t* need the strawberries for the cream puffs. Just the custard is delicious. Originally, I was going to top the custard inside with fresh fruit, but the strawberries were a little too ripe and I couldn’t resist drizzling a teaspoon of strawberry puree on top of the custard in the choux.

When putting together the choux, take a small knife, or even a clean cooking/kitchen knife and carefully cut the top of the choux, so that it resembles a bowl with a lid. Fill with cream, custard, etc… Powder confectionary sugar on top, and voila!

(I made a tiny little cream puff with a small amount of batter I had left. I had Ryan taste the mini cream puff!)

As an aside, on Sunday, when people would talk to us… Ryan couldn’t stop mentioning the cream puffs. I got embarrassed.

Person 1: Ooh! Who made dessert?
Ryan: MY GIRLFRIEND BROUGHT THE CREAMPUFFS!!! SHE MADE IT FROM SCRATCH. I LOVE THEM. LKHWELKQAlkhaw!!!

Person 2: I made the pasta, its garlicky tossed with lemon and herbs. The pasta is animal shaped!
Ryan: MY GIRLFRIEND BROUGHT THE CREAMPUFFS!!! SHE MADE IT FROM SCRATCH. I LOVE THEM. LKHWELKQAlkhaw!!!

Person 3: Bla bla bla (something unrelated to food. Maybe Poland?)
Ryan: MY GIRLFRIEND BROUGHT THE CREAMPUFFS!!! SHE MADE IT FROM SCRATCH. I LOVE THEM. LKHWELKQAlkhaw!!! (You know… you get my point.)

It’s sweet. And I am maybe (JUST MAYBE) over exaggerating, but … I’m not a delicate flower that grows towards the sun. I don’t know what to do with that attention. I just look horrified like a deer in headlights. I probably responded with, “I LIKE SUGARY THINGS! CREAM PUFFS ARE EGGS AND SUGAR!!!” This is why they don’t let us out often, probably. They let me come to these things, because most of the time, my mouth is filled with food.