Cream Puffs Live Up to Their Name!

      This is my newly engaged daughter Lindsey.  She is also one of my co-Hot Cocoa Bomb creators.  She has recently gone back to her natural blond color of hair, but she is beautiful whether she has blond, brown, red or purple hair.  
     Since she is engaged, I have been experimenting with different foods that can be served at her shower or reception.  Lindsey spent a semester of law school in France and then served an 18 month mission for our church in France.  She loves french food.  So, I decided that something I know how to make, but haven't made in years, is eclairs (or cream puffs.  Same process, different shapes and fillings.)  

     These came out quite a bit larger than I expected.  As I mentioned, I haven't made them in years and I forgot how much they puffed up! Now I know that I can get many more than 11 puffs from one batch. (Thank Heavens!)
​       You won't believe how easy these are to make!

    Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  You begin by putting 1/2 c. water & 1/4 c. butter into a saucepan.  Bring it just to a boil as the butter melts into the water.

    As the butter melts into the water, sift 1/2 c. flour and 1/8 tsp. salt onto a piece of waxed paper.  I hardly ever sift any more, but this step is important in this case.  
   When the water starts to boil, add the flour/salt mixture all at once and start to stir quickly.

    Lower the heat. The mixture will leave the sides of the pan and form a ball of dough.  Remove it from the heat.

    Add 2 eggs, one at a time, to the mixture, beating with a mixer after each addition.  Continue beating until the batter is smooth and glossy.

      Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  I used my medium cookie scoop from Pampered Chef to scoop out rounded cream puff shapes onto the paper.  As you can see I got 10 regular sized shapes and a little tiny bit of left over dough that I decided to bake for the fun of it.  I thought to myself, "These should make nice little bite-sized puffs!" ​Ha!  Wait and see!
      Bake them at 400 degrees for 30 min. then reduce the heat to 350 and bake for 10 min. more.  Test for doneness by removing one puff from the oven for a couple of minutes.  If it falls, leave the rest in for 5 more minutes.  Let them cool on the cookie sheet.
​      

     See how huge they are?  I was shocked!

      After they have cooled, cut the top of the puff open.  Inside you will find mostly air, but a little bit of wet feeling cooked batter.  Simply pull this stuff out, leaving a hollow puff.

     Here are the before and after pictures and a photo of about how much stuff I pulled out.

     Now your puffs are ready to fill.  Since these were just practice puffs, I just filled them with a french vanilla instant pudding and used a thinned down store frosting to top them.  When I get a smaller scoop, I will share with you the recipe for the custard filling that I will use to fill them.  YUM!  

     But wait! Where is the tiny one you ask? Well, I can only say, "It was delicious!"
​     Hope you try these for yourselves. They make a surprising, fun dessert.