Friday, May 2, 2008

Cream Puffs




Cream Puffs; A light, but rich, hollow pastry puff which may be filled with a sweet filling, or, if you prefer, with savory filling. And I, have yet to ever trying one believe it or not. Call me crazy (like everyone else), but I have yet to ever tried cream puffs.

I actually decided yesterday after watching a new drama called Absolute Boyfriend that I wanted to try making cream puffs. In this drama I was watching, there was a girl who said to being to make the best cream puffs around. As she made them, I was thinking, "Hmm.. wow. That seems easy."

From what I heard from other, cream puffs are hard to make. I defiantly disagree with that. These were actually not hard at all. They're quite easy to make. I have no idea why people make a big fuss about them being hard to make.

What did I think after having my first ever cream puff? I'll put it simple... "Oh yea."






Recipe

1 cup water
3 1/2 ounces butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup bread flour
3 large eggs, beaten
2 egg whites [reserve yolks for custard]


1. Preheat oven to 420 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Do not grease baking sheet, as the grease will cause the dough to flatten.

2. Cut up butter into small pieces. In a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the water and butter; bring mixture to a full rolling boil.

3. Remove pan from the heat and add flour all at once, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon until blended. Reduce heat to medium; return pan to heat and continue stirring until the mixture leaves the sides of the pan and forms a ball. Remove from heat and transfer the dough to the bowl of a mixer. With the paddle attachment, mix at low speed until the dough has cooled slightly.

4. In a small bowl, add eggs and egg whites; Whisk until mixed together. At medium speed, beat the eggs/egg whites in slowly (at first the eggs will act like they don't want to mix in, but they will). When all the eggs are absorbed, the dough is ready to use. The dough should be soft and a little sticky, but be able to hold its shape.

5. Place dough into bag. Cut the end off one corner with scissors, to make an opening about 1/4 inch. Squeeze the mixture onto the baking pan.

6. Bake for a total of about 20 minutes. At 1 minutes into the baking, lower heat to 375 degrees F. and continue baking until golden brown. Approximately 5 to 10 minutes longer for the small puffs, and 15 to 20 minutes longer for large puffs.

7. Remove from the oven and immediately prick the lower side of each puff with the tips with something sharp. Turn off oven and return puffs to the oven. Leave the door open slightly and allow the puffs to dry out for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove and oven and let puffs cool completely on the baking sheet on a wire rack before filling.

Makes about 2 dozen large puffs, 3 dozen medium puffs, to 5 to 6 dozen small puffs.






For Custard

1/2 cup sugar
5 tbsp. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cups milk
2 egg yolks, beaten
1 tsp. vanilla extract


1. In a small saucepan, combine 1/2 cup sugar, 5 tablespoons flour and a pinch of salt. Stir in milk, a little at a time, until smooth. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly.

2. Boil for 1 minute, then pour a small amount of hot liquid into the 2 egg yolks, and stir. Then return now heated egg yolks to saucepan and stir until mixture starts to bubble again. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Cover and chill in refrigerator till ready to use.





27 comments:

RecipeGirl said...

I'm impressed! I do love a good cream puff but I think I'm a little intimidated to make them.

Anonymous said...

My mom used to make cream puffs pretty often so I was really lucky. I agree, they're not that difficult to make.
You've shot some really great photos!

Elle said...

Beautiful and impressive! I've always been nervous about making them.

Mama Mia said...

oh wow! All of your food looks so amazing. Im loving your blog, photos, and layout! I'll be visitng again soon. mmmm creampuffs!

nicole said...

Ohhh those look sooo good. I've been waiting to make cream puffs. I guess I will have to now.

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

wowowowow!!! those cream puffs look like little pillows of pure bliss - yum!

Anonymous said...

your cream puffs look amazing! yeah, I agree they are not that difficult to make but mine didn't turn out as nicely as yours last time I made them:)) they were still good though. great recipe and pictures!

Jenny said...

These look great tarah, I've yet to tackle making my own though! Very nice!

Anonymous said...

Nice work with the cream puffs, they look lovely :)

Jersey Girl Cooks said...

Yum! I haven't made cream puffs in a long time and now I'll have to try this recipe. They look delicious!

Patricia Scarpin said...

Your cream puff looks flawless, Tarah, and I love the new template, too!

Anonymous said...

These are lovely.

Tarah at Genesis of a Cook said...

Thank you everyone :]

Emily said...

My idea of heaven is sitting on a cloud, eating cream puffs.
These look amazing. I'm going to have to make some puffs again. Have you made eclairs? Mmm.

TK said...

different recipe of puff looking nice:)

Anonymous said...

Absolute Boyfriend (Zettai Kareshi, i know what you mean...love bonding cream puffs! tell me, what were you thinking when you were savouring these puffs??
that drama absolutely hilarious but yes it got me hooked on the puffs as well. seems like is gonna be hit all over again!

ale said...

I know I also watched zettai kareshi and I see there the cream puffs! they look delicious! how did you learn to do all that food anyways? :O interesting

Anonymous said...

I also wanted to make cream puffs after watching zettai kareshi! thank you for putting the recipe up!

celine said...

Hey! There was also an orange cake thingy they baked in one of the episode of absolute boyfriend. It used the cream of the carrot.. I wonder do you know how to bake it?

Anonymous said...

Omg. HAHA. I was watching Absolute Boyfriend too! I wanted to bake cream puffs too so i started to search on Google for recipes. Then coincidentally i bumped into your web page! haha, thank you for the recipe!

Anonymous said...

Oh, and how to you put the filling into the puff?

Anonymous said...

I read elsewhere, that to put the filling in the puff...after the puff have been taken out of the oven and cooled down, you cut them in half horizontally, then fill the bottom halves of puffs with custard cream and place the top halves back on. ^^

Anonymous said...

hey. if i dont have bread flour, can I use plain flour, or self raising flour instead?

Anonymous said...

lol thank you so much!
actually I was trying to find good recipes of cream puffs just after watching zettai kareshi! hahaha so I googled 'zettai kareshi cream puffs' and it just took me to your blog XD I'll try to make the recipe asap! those cream puffs looks so delicious XD I'm drooling *¬*

Anonymous said...

omg...i was watching zettai kereshi too. There's a shop that sells cream puffs but it's very different from the series 'absolute boyfriend' since it was sort of like a bun. Not exactly like a puff. Do you really have to cut it in half just to put the filling in it? Is there another way of doing it, with less openings?

Anonymous said...

Um you didn't mention how you fill the puffs? i don't see a large horizontal cross on your puffs so im guessing you did it another way?

Majdík said...

Yup, please, tell us how do you fill it...
And.. thanks for the recipe! I'm just trying it ^_^ I wonder how will this end.. Zettai kareshi is just amazing, I had to try this :)

 
 
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