Want the highest, crispiest cream puffs on earth? Use this steam-risen batter and you will get rave reviews for your pate a choux (traditional French term) pastry. It's a mere 5 ingredient recipe and produces a gorgeous result with my tips and tricks. Fill with a sweet vanilla cream pudding/pastry cream or chicken salad.
Ingredients
1 cup water
1/2 cup butter, unsalted
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs (warmed up slightly)
parchment paper or silicone pads
Instructions
Read Susie's Tips and Tricks below
1. Read the Tips and Tricks below. They're important!
2. Preheat oven to 450F. Prepare baking sheets by lightly greasing or use silicone sheets.
3. In a medium saucepan, bring water and butter to a boil. Stir in flour and mix the lumps vigorously; it should pull into a mass very quickly (about 30 seconds to a minute). Remove from heat and place in a mixing bowl.
4. With paddle attachment on "Stir" and then set higher, add 1 egg at a time. Be sure to fully blend in each egg before you add the next (approximately a minute). You want a product that is smooth and shiny. It should hold its shape and be pipe-able or spoon into mounds on your prepared baking sheets.
5. Place several mounds on sheets about 4" apart and bake at 450F for 10 minutes. Do not open the oven door! Now turn the oven temperature down to 325F for approximately 20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow them to dry out a bit, then set on a rack to dry. Create with a small knife, a slit to release the added steam.
6. Let cool completely before filling.
Susie's Tips and Tricks
Recipe can be halved.
Can you do this by hand? Heck yes! Just get that bi-cep ready! I recommend the mixer, as the results are outstandingly good with a very high, puffy bread.
Some recipes use 50/50 milk and water. You can do that if desired. Keep in mind the dough will turn golden more quickly. Keep a watchful eye.
If you use salted butter, I'd skip the added salt.
If you are making a savory version, you could add a smattering of dried herbs.
Steam is the riser in this recipe. No leaveners - baking soda, etc. That is why you want fully-incorporated eggs and you don't open the oven door until they are a golden brown.
When you raise the paddle, the dough should hang off of it to know it has been fully mixed.
Use a bit of pastry dough to "tie" down the parchment paper (on the underside).
Fill a pastry bag 1/3 - 1/2 full. A star tip is particularly pretty.
Hold your pastry bag perpendicular; stop at the top and twist, to finish nicely.
4" mounds are a good size for desserts. If you are filling with a chicken salad, or using for appetizers, do smaller 2" mounds. Alternatively, you could shape these for eclairs: 3 - 3 1/2" long.
Baking in a convection oven works beautifully for this recipe.
If your puff is under-baked, it will collapse and deflate. You want a product that is crisp on the outside and just moist on the interior.
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