Categories: Pastry
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp white granulated sugar
- 1 cup flour (packed down in measuring cup, and leveled off)
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 4 extra large eggs, at room temperature
- Vanilla Custard
Directions
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eat oven to 400.
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Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. You’ll need 2-4 cookie sheets depending on how large your puffs are.
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Place the water in a saucepan. Cut the butter into small pieces and add it to the water. Sprinkle in the salt and sugar. Turn the burner on medium to melt the butter.
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While the water is heating and butter is melting, measure out the flour and place it in a bowl. Add the baking powder and stir it in with a fork.
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When the butter has melted, turn up the heat and bring the water to a full rolling boil. Turn the burner to low and dump in the flour mixture all at once, stirring it in quickly with a wooden spoon. After a few moments of stirring, the dough will clean the sides of the saucepan and begin to ball up. This takes about 30 seconds. Pull the saucepan from heat and turn off the burner.
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Let the dough sit on a cold burner or on the counter to cool, for 20 minutes.
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When the dough has cooled, break an egg, and add it to the cooled dough. Beat it in with a wooden spoon. Continue to beat vigorously until the egg is fully incorporated and the dough is smooth. Repeat 3 more times with remaining eggs, adding one egg at a time and mixing thoroughly after each egg.
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Test your dough by lifting out a spoonful and dropping it on top of the rest of the dough. If it stays on top and retains its shape, the dough is ready to bake. If not, beat it some more until it does.
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Drop the dough by spoonfuls onto the cookie sheet. Make 12 mounds (for larger puffs) or 15 smaller mounds for mini puffs. You can also fill a piping bag with the dough and pipe out nice mounds onto the cookie sheet. Don’t crowd the puffs; they don’t spread out too far, but give them room to grow.
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Bake at 400 degrees for 45-50 minutes for larger puffs, or 30-35 minutes for mini puffs. (Mine took 30 minutes).DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN! If you do, horrible things will occur. And you will be banished from ever making cream puffs again. Finished puffs should be firm to the touch and golden brown.
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Remove puffs from oven and pierce the side of each one with the point of a sharp knife (NOT necessary for mini puffs!). Cool the puffs on the baking sheet, careful to keep them away from drafts.
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Cut off the top third of each puff for the lid. Remove any filaments of dough inside and fill the puffs with sweetened whipped cream, Vanilla custard, Chocolate pudding, ice cream or any flavor pie filling. Overfill a bit so the lids sit jauntily on top of the filling. Dust each with powdered sugar and serve. You can also use a piping bag to fill the puffs; grabbing a whole puff, pierce the side or top with a pointed tip of the piping bag and squeeze in filling.