Better Than a NYC Bakery - Profiteroles (Cream Puffs)

Summer is a time for doing nothin' except what you have to.  Meals on the grill, swimming off the sweat and sipping nice, cool ones on the deck keep you hoping summer lasts forever. If life isn't just about perfect when you can eat sweet, buttery corn-on-the-cob, smell fresh-mowed grass and  hear the rumble of afternoon thunderstorms coming in, then I don't know what is.  Heading to the lake is nice but real paradise to me is lying on the beach, listening to the waves and dreaming of days gone by when all of us wore bikinis and cut-offs showing our midriffs with abandon.
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Now cooking steaks, grilling corn and making homemade ice cream are how the weekends go around here.  But occasionally, I just have to do something completely not summery and get back to the kitchen and cook. I do have compulsions incentives for some of the crazy things I do. 

Paris Patisserie

But first I have a confession.  I am an addict.  Not the Lindsey Lohan kind that needs to go to rehab or a 10-step program but I am an addict just the same.  I am addicted to all things sweet. There, I said it.  I love anything with chocolate, sugar and/or carb-packing, floury doughs. This is a bit of a problem because when you are a carb addict, you cannot eat even the tiniest bit or you will want the whole thing including platefuls of whatever puffy, gooey, nauseatingly sweet thing is in front of you or in the pantry or hidden deep within the frozen confines of the freezer so you will at least have to dig for it and wait for it to thaw. This also lends to heavy thighs, midwestern derrières, muffin tops and cover-ups at the pool.

If you are not a dessert lover, I truly dislike you. You are thin and probably extremly healthy. I hope you hide in your closet eating bags of Cheetos and drinking beer to make up for your healthy-whats-wrong-with-you lifestyle.  I predict someday, you will no longer be athletic and disciplined and you will have large thighs.  I will hope so.

Recently, the Best Husband in the World's brother and his wife (my family now, too), returned from an anniversary trip to Paris, France. I would have happily gone as their guide extraordinaire but had to take a raincheck.  You know, too busy picking up dog poo, running errands and such.  Upon their return and several photo postings eating macarons (not coconut macaroons we Americans think are French), airy, buttery cream puffs and much reget that not enough of them were eaten while in Paris (oh, we do feel so sorry for you), coupled with the fact that undoubtedly, not a single bakery in NYC or NJ would come close to how c'est magnifique the Paris macarons were, I just had to take on The Challenge for cream puffs.  Macarons will have to wait until the dead of winter when a blizzard is raging and I need a half day project to keep from pulling my hair out when stuck in 'les cabin avec fevre'.  I shall make Profiteroles--Cream Puffs--Pâte à Choux desserts during our upcoming reunion in Florida! Merci.

Now the only reason I know about Profiteroles (proh/feet/rohl) besides eating them in Paris, goes back to when my daughter was taking French classes in high school, and given an assignment to make cream-filled pâte à choux(s)(es)(ies)? Anyway, at that time in my life, the last thing I could imagine making assisting her with was some French dessert that looked impossibly difficult and time consuming and cramming Julia Child in between football practice, cheerleading and school projects was out of the question. Did I say this was a school project? Did I make them instead of daughter? Pretty sure she stirred the dough once or twice while making fun of my attempts at French. The amazing part was how great they turned out and how easy they were to make. So do not think for one minute you cannot make these. You can and should. I did not make them again until the recent Paris-trip-I-did-not-go-on Challenge.

I pulled out my trusty Mastering the Art of French Cooking and promptly simplified some techniques. First, if you have mastered the use of a pastry bag, feel free to use it. I don't like you anymore if you're that capable and you should be writing your own cooking blog. I find that every time I try to use one, I end up with more of the dough or icing on me and the kitchen than on the dessert. This makes for very happy dogs.  Fortunately, these can be made with two teaspoons and honestly, the results are so comparable, I doubt anyone will know you did not use a pastry bag and you'll thank me for it in the long run. Secondly, if you want to make a cream custard from Julia's extensive repertoire, see bottom of page, but again, only you have to know you used the shortcut filling. It is divine and easy. Tell anyone that asks it's a secret and none of their beeswax. Your guests will think you graduated from a cooking school when you serve these.  Would a sugar junky lie?

Profiteroles/Cream Puffs

 

Butter a cookie sheet, Preheat oven to 425


Pâte à Choux/dough:
1/2 c flour (or 4 oz) all purpose or better for bread
4 eggs for dough
1 egg beaten in small dish for glazing

Filling:
1- 3.4 oz Jello Instant French Vanilla Pudding mix
1/2 vanilla bean scraped or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 c heavy whipping cream, 3/4 c milk

In a medium saucepan, bring to a boil:
3/4 c (or 1 pint water)
1 tsp sugar
3/4 stick (or 3 oz) butter cut in pieces
When butter has melted, remove from heat and dump flour into mixture stirring rapidly until blended with wooden spoon. Place back on heat for 1-2 minutes until mixture pulls away from sides of pan.

Again, remove from heat, make a well in center of dough and add one egg, beating until thoroughly mixed in. Continue with each egg--one at a time--until all eggs have been beaten into a smooth, glossy dough.





With two teaspoons, scoop dough and scrape into small mounds onto buttered cookie sheet about 2" apart.  Lightly dip pastry brush in beaten egg and gently press down onto top of dough but do not drip egg onto baking sheet or down sides of dough.

Place in preheated oven and bake approximately 20 minutes or until puffed and golden. Remove from oven and puncture sides with sharp knife to allow steam to escape and keep middles from getting soggy. Turn off oven and place back into oven with door open for about 10 minutes. Remove and place on cooling rack.


While cooling, make filling by dumping jello mix, cream, milk and vanilla in bowl.  (Or do the whole Julia thing and make her Creme Patisserie--see below*).  Whip until smooth and starting to thicken--about 2 minutes and place in freezer for another 10 minutes to speed thickening.  Remove filling from freezer, stir gently.  With sharp knife, slice half way through edge of puffs, gently lift top and fill with about 1 tsp filling.  Dust with powdered sugar and/or melt and drizzle gourmet chocolate on tops.  Serve immediately.

Bon appétit,  grosses  filles




Buy bigger pants and enjoy the last weeks of summer--wherever you are.







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Creme Patisserie (recipe from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking) 1 cup granulated sugar, 5 egg yolks, 1/2 cup flour, 2 cups boiling milk, 1 tbsp. butter,
1 1/2 tbsp. vanilla extract
Directions:
Gradually beat the sugar into the egg yolks and continue beating for 2 to 3 minutes until the mixture is pale yellow and forms "the ribbon". Beat in the flour. Beating the yolk mixture, gradually pour on the boiling milk in a thin stream of droplets.

Pour into saucepan and set over moderately high heat. Stir with a wire whip, reaching all over bottom of the pan. As sauce comes to a boil it will get lumpy, but will smooth out as you beat it. When boil is reached, beat over moderately low heat for 2 to 3 minutes to cook the flour. Be careful custard does not scorch in bottom of pan.
Remove from heat and beat in the butter, then vanilla extract. If the custard is not used immediately, clean it off the sides of the pan, and dot top of custard with softened butter to prevent a skin from forming over the surface. Creme Patisserie will keep for a week under refrigeration, or may be frozen.