This is the recipe that I use: Cream Puff Pastry (Pâté à Chou) from the "Art of Fine Baking" cookbook, by Paula Peck, page 79 ½ cup butter 1 cup water 1 cup sifted flour ¼ teaspoon salt 4 eggs Combine butter and water in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat until butter is melted and mixture is boiling. Turn heat to very low. Add flour mixed with salt, all at once. Stir vigerously until a ball forms in the center of the pan. This takes 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Add 3 eggs, one at a time, beating hard after each addition. This beating can be done with an electric mixer. The final egg should be beaten lightly with a fork and added gradually. The paste must be just stiff enough to stand in a peak when a spoon is withdrawn. Therefore it is sometimes necessary to add slightly less - or even more - egg than the 4 specified in the recipe. This depends on the dryness of the flour and the size of the eggs. Shape pâte à chou according to instructions below and bake immediately, or refrigerate in a covered bowl up to 2 days. Pâte à chou is baked in a 375 degree oven. Bake until pastries are golden brown and no beads of mosture show. Then stick the point of a small knife into the sides of the pastries. Turn heat off. Leave small pastries in oven 10 inutes longer, large cakes 15 to 20 minutes more. This will allow steam inside to evaporate and help prevent sogginess. Makes approximately 90 small puffs, or 25 medium-size puffs. To Make Cream Puffs: Fit pastry bag with a large, round No. 9 tube. On a lightly greased baking sheet, press out high mounds of pâte à chou about 1¼ inches in diameter. These will swell and puff in the oven. Bake 40 to 50 minutes, or so until no moisture is evident on the golden-brown puffs. Stick the point of a small knife into the sides of each puff 2 or 3 times. Turn off oven heat. Leave puffs in oven for15 minutes more before removing. To Make Tiny Puffs: Use a plain, round No. 7 tube. Press out small mounds of pâte à chou, equal to a scant teaspoon. Keep the little rounds as high as possible. Bake 25 to 30 minutes. Stick point of small knife into sides of each little puff once or twice. Turn off oven heat. Leave puffs in oven for 10 minutes more before removing. Puffs can also be shaped with 2 spoons as is done with drop cookies. Take care to keep mounds high. ------------------------------------------- After placing on the baking sheet, and the mounds have points at the top....they can be smoothed down, gently, with a wet finger. I made them for my grandson's christening and filled them with Bavarian Cream. There were a few left over, so my DIL put them into the freezer, and when we took them out they were ice cream filled puffs. |