Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Choux a la Creme - Cream Puffs

This section reads from bottom to top.


I broke one open so you can see the whipped cream inside. Of course since it was damaged I had to eat it. None of these made it home. They were delicious. Thank you Micki!


They puff up in crisp hollow balls which are filled with either pudding or sweetened whipped cream. The top can be sliced off and filled with a spoon or the filling can be inserted with a pastry tube. Susan did all the work and I squirted whipped cream in each one from a tube. It was messy but fun. The final touch was to sprinkle them with powdered sugar.


They were baked for 25 minutes in a 420*F oven.


Rounded teaspoons of dough are placed on parchment paper in baking pans.

A few days ago Micki posted a photo of her beautiful Choux a la Creme. I asked about it and she very kindly emailed the recipe to me. Susan tried it out this afternoon and we took the results to our Tuesday night study group at church. It was a smash hit. We expected it to be complicated but it was easy. Here is the recipe.

CHOUX A LA CRÈME - CREAM PUFFS

INGREDIENTS
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1 cup water
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 4 eggs
DIRECTIONS
  • Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
  • In a large pot, bring water and butter to a rolling boil.
  • Stir in flour and salt until the mixture forms a ball.
  • Transfer the dough to a large mixing bowl.,
  • Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each.
  • Drop by tablespoonfuls onto a baking sheet covered with baking paper.
  • Bake for about 25 minutes without opening the oven, or until golden brown.
  • When the shells are cool, fill them with the sweetened whipped cream or with pudding..
  • Either slice open the top and fill with a spoon, or poke a hole in the side and fill from a pastry bag.
This is Micki's recipe modified to work with English measuring units. Thank you Micki !!

7 comments:

Micki02 said... [Reply to comment]

Hello,

I am delighted that the biscuits have appealed to all the world! Choux à la crème are delicious and very easy to do, I think it is the first cake I learned to do with my father. At home, only that it made my mother is content to watch: it has no right to touch anything! except perhaps to do the dishes after!
I think you must have had success in the church with your cake "à la française"!
kisses
> permuter

Anonymous said... [Reply to comment]

I used to make these aeons ago when dinner parties were all the rage (in the seventies I think).
Over here we cover them with chocolate sauce and call them profiteroles or make them into an oblong shape and call them eclaires.
By the name we obviously stole the recipe from the French.

More food pictures Bill - you're my man :-)

Anne

Unknown said... [Reply to comment]

They were a huge success. Now that we know how easy they are we will try other fillings. We can fill them with different flavors of pudding and cream. We can shape them as eclairs and cover them with chocolate. I think they would be nice with a savory filling, even a tuna salad.

Elleona said... [Reply to comment]

My God !
Comme tous ces choux à la crème donnent envie de les goûter !

Depuis que les enfants ne sont plus à la maison, nous ne faisons plus guère de patisserie... ou alors du plus simple avec les petites-filles, style gâteau de riz "à ma façon", etc.
Bonne soirée et bisous.

Micki02 said... [Reply to comment]

Good evening,
You can also be salted, which means you do not put sugar and just before making the small piles you add cheese Emmental or Gruyere, or more typical French cheeses such as maroiles or munster, but I do not know if there are in the United States.
A bientot

Unknown said... [Reply to comment]

Gruyere and Munster are easy to find. The others I have not tried but I can find them. I can see that a soft cheese would be very nice inside one of these little cabbages.

My eyes have been opened.

Anonymous said... [Reply to comment]

Your creamy cabbage look good! :D

Puff pastries are typically French... just had some ;)