Cream Puffs - Pâte à Choux Dough

Makes 12 - 13 medium sized cream puffs

1 cup milk

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoon sugar

1 cup flour

5 large eggs (4 for the dough and one for an egg wash)*

Heat the first four ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium high heat just until the milk starts to boil. Lower the heat to low and then dump in all the flour at once and stir with a wooden spoon.  The dough will pull together.  Cook for a couple of minutes, stirring the ball of dough around, so that it dries out.  Remove the dough and place it either in the bowl of a stand mixer or the bowl of a food processor and let the dough cool off for a few minutes.

Line a baking sheet with either a Silpat or parchment paper (I like parchment paper because I can just throw it away).  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

With the mixer running, add the eggs one at a time.  It's important that you let each egg incorporate fully into the dough before adding the next one.  The dough will look curdled and weird - don't worry about it.  After all four eggs are added, mix until the dough forms a nice paste consistency.  It will be very loose, not at all like a bread dough.  (If you do not have either a mixer or some kind or a food processor, you can beat in the eggs one at a time with a spoon.  It just is a little more work).

Pipe the dough into a piping bag fitted with a large tip (I like using a star tip).  If you don't have a piping bag, you can just spoon the dough onto the baking sheet.  Pipe the dough into mounds about 2 to 2-1/2 inches wide.  Beat the egg for the egg wash with just about a tablespoon of water.  Brush the mounds of pastry dough lightly with the egg wash.

Bake at 375 degrees F.  for about 25 minutes, or until the puffs are a nice golden brown.  Turn off the heat and open the oven door a few inches and let the puffs sit in the turned off oven to dry out for about 30 minutes. 

* If you are not sure about your egg size (especially if you get eggs from a farm) I weighed my eggs after I broke them into a cup and they weighed a little over 5 ounces.  This does not have to exact.

Homemade Chocolate Sauce:

1 cup cream

6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, broken into pieces

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Heat the cream and chocolate just until it scalds (bubbles will form on the outside perimeter of the pot).  Turn off heat, add extract and whisk until chocolate is smooth.

This sauce can be kept in the refrigerator a few days - just bring to room temperature to serve because it firms up when it is cold.

Homemade Whipped Cream:

1 cup cream

1.5 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or a teaspoon of any flavor liquor you like - Amaretto, Grand Marnier, etc)

Whip cream until soft.  Add sugar and extract or liquor.  Whip until just firm.  Refrigerate.

Cream Puffs can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for a few days.  They can also be frozen for several months.

If you want to use the cream puffs with a savory filling, like chicken salad, just cut back or omit the sugar.

The Italian Dish 

 theitaliandishblog.com