Cream puffs. Chocolate éclairs. Pâte à choux … well, not quite. This is a quick little puff pastry recipe that you can throw together quicker than you can defrost the frozen ones from Costco.
It’s less sweet than the version at Jenni’s link, so (in my opinion) it’s more of a blank slate for what you want to fill them or top them with. Her recipe is the more traditional one.
Ingredients
½ cup butter (1 stick)
1 cup water
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 eggs
(Double recipe is shown — except the eggs, see note at the end.)
Directions
Preheat oven to 425°F.
In a large pot, bring water and butter to a rolling boil.
Add the flour and salt all at once, and stir quickly until the mixture forms a ball.
Transfer the dough to a large mixing bowl. Let it cool a little so it doesn’t cook the eggs. Then, using a wooden spoon or stand mixer, beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each.
Load the dough into a piping bag or — if you’ve got one of these — a dessert decorator
Since this was our first time making them, we tried a bunch of shapes: short and fat, tall and skinny, pointed, rounded, twisty.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown. Centers should be dry.
You can see that ours didn’t grow all that much.
For a better rise, cook at a higher temperature and beat the eggs in better.
UPDATE: A reader told me that a half-cup of butter is one stick, and I show two in the picture. Yup, she’s right. We doubled this recipe … except for the eggs. Oops. That explains why they were a little flat.
These tasted great, but were a little hard to fill.
Speaking of filling, stick around, I’ll have the recipe for the custard cream shortly.
Want more like this? For more recipes like this, that you can hold right in your hands, and write on, take notes, tear pages out if you want (Gosh, you're tough on books, aren't you?) you might be interested in How To Cook Like Your Grandmother, 2nd edition, Illustrated. Or to learn your way around the kitchen, check out Starting From Scratch: The Owner's Manual for Your Kitchen.
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4 Comments
These are cute. My mom would never have done this with a pastry bag though ! LOL A little spoon works just fine !
When I first moved out of my parents home, I remember wanting to make my mom’s cream puffs. They weree much bigger then, and she filled then with pink-peppermint whipped cream !!! A comfort food I still dream about to this day !!!
I made the dough and got them on the cookie sheet. I had NO IDEA they would rise so MUCH !!!!!
I could have used them for STORAGE !!!!!!! It was so very very funny !!! I called my mom and we had a huge laugh over it !!!
I make them just fine now- but not very often. I have to have someone around to share them with or I might gobble them all up myself !!!!!
Enjoy !!!!!
That’s such a great STORY !! I wish I could try your MOTHER’S !!!!!
I’m only making FUN a LITTLE !!!!!!111!1!!1
(I wish I could be so enthusiastic and really mean it. [sigh] )
I’m a little confused. Do I use the amount of eggs stated in the recipe you posted or do I have to double the eggs?
Sorry for the confusion. Use the recipe exactly as stated. What I was trying to say was that in the picture I showed everything doubled except the eggs, which explains why the puffs didn’t rise as much as they should have.