I was having one of those nights when I wasn’t about to leave the house for anything - not bowling, not a movie, not dinner at my favorite sushi restaurant. Instead, I invited Adam and Katie over for a game of Scrabble.
They came over after dinner, with a bottle of wine. I wanted to offer them an impressive dessert, something I could make quickly without much of a hullabaloo. I had a small carton of heavy whipping cream, and I remembered how surprisingly easy it is to make a batch of cream puffs.
Mimi, my French grandma, used to make cream puffs that were so airy you thought they might levitate off the plate. They were so delicate, so buttery, that I assumed (even as a small child), that they took some very particular skills. But there really are only a few steps; most of the time is spent watching them puff up in the oven. If you have heavy whipping cream and a sprinkle of sugar, you have something to fill them with.
I don’t have my grandmother’s recipe, and I’m kicking myself about that. I looked around for a suitable one and found what’s below, from the Wisconsin State Fair of all places. The cream puffs have been served at the fair since 1924. I chose this recipe because it was the quickest and the easiest. By the time Adam and Katie showed up, I had the butter and water on the stove.
The Wisconsin State Fair Cream Puff
1 cup water
4 Tbsp (1/2 stick) butter
1/4 tsp. iodized salt
1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
4 eggs
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
2 Tbsp. milk
2 cups whipping cream, whipped with a teaspoon of sugar and a teaspoon of instant coffee granules.
Sifted powdered sugar
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Butter and flour one very large or two small baking sheets, or line with parchment paper.
Pour water into heavy saucepan. Cut butter into small pieces and add to water. Add salt. Place saucepan over medium-low heat so butter melts before water boils. Bring water just to boil.
Remove pan from heat and add flour all at once, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon until dough forms into a ball and bottom of pan is filmed with flour. Let dough rest 5 minutes.
Add whole eggs, beating in one egg at a time. Dough should be stiff but smooth.
Immediately drop 1/4 cupfuls of dough 3 inches apart on baking sheet.
Combine egg yolk and milk in a small bowl. Brush each puff with glaze mixture, taking care not to let liquid drip onto pan.
Bake 35 minutes, until puffed, golden brown and firm.
Cool puffs on wire racks, pricking each with a cake tester or toothpick to allow steam to escape, or leave them in a turned-off oven with the door propped open for about an hour, until firm. (If baked pastry is filled before cool and firm, it will be soggy and may collapse.) Baked puffs should have hollow, moist interiors and crisp outer shells that are lightly browned.
Cut off tops, spoon with whipped cream (use pastry bag with star tip or scoop the whipped cream with a large spoon). Replace tops of the puffs and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Makes 12 cream puffs. Recipe by David Schmidt, Director of the Wisconsin Bakers Association.
*I made a box of instant pistachio pudding to fill the cream puffs with. We ate one of each - a pudding-filled puff and a whipped cream-filled puff. We all preferred the whipped cream mixture, which was lighter; the pudding seemed to weigh everything down. If you don’t like coffee or don’t have instant granules, simply whip the cream and sugar. Oh, and we drizzled the top with Hershey’s syrup, but I forgot the powdered sugar!
**If you are ever in Chicago, eat at Mia Francesca's in Chicago and order the profiteroles, which are filled with pistachio ice cream (that's what inspired me to make the pistachio pudding). It's the most heavenly dessert you will ever eat.
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