So, my first ones turned into pancakes which was rather sad. So I decided I needed to watch a cream puff video (Another one). It helped quite a bit. The biggest things I found to help was to slightly beat the eggs and add slowly. Because The recipe said I needed 4 eggs, turned out I needed about 3 and half. The other thing the video really helped explain was that when you're cooking out the dough in the pan it can really vary as to how much water evaporates which will change the consistency of your dough.
The second time, I cooked it a bit longer in the pan before moving it to the mixer. I also let more steam escape and let it cool off for an extra minute before adding the eggs. The second ones turned out perfectly. I got 13 fairly good sized ones out the recipe, a solid Bakers Dozen!
For the recipe, I only used the first half (The puff part). Below is the Cream Recipe I used. You can adapt this so many ways. maple whipped cream, Baileys whipped cream, and so on!
Here's the link to the video. You can use her recipe as its fairly similar but smaller. But I recommend highly you watch the video, unless you've done this once or twice.
Cream Puffs
(Adapted from here)
1 cup water
6 tablespoons butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400º F. Grease or line with parchment a large cookie sheet.
2. In saucepan, heat water, butter, and salt to boiling on medium until butter melts, you don't want it to boil for too long to control the amount of water that evaporates.
3. Remove saucepan from heat. Vigorously stir in flour all at once until mixture forms ball and comes away from side of pan. Watch for a film on the bottom of the pan, its an indicator it should all be coming together.
4. Transfer into a stand mixer with a paddle attachment. Let rest for about a minute to cool and turn on to low to spin for about another minute before adding eggs. This helps release the steam and cool off the dough a bit.
5. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, until batter becomes smooth and satiny. I added the first 3 and beat the fourth one and added it gradually. I don't needed about half. See the video for the consistency that's needed. But you can also just remember you want it to stand up on its own. Like a cookie dough, not like pancake batter.
6. Drop batter by scant 1/4 cups into 10 large mounds, 2 inches apart, onto prepared cookie sheet. With fingertip moistened with cold water, gently smooth tops to round. I used an ice cream/batter scoop but next time I will pipe them on to the cookie sheet. You can use a star tip and make it look extra fancy.
7. Bake 15 minutes at 400º and then lower temperature to 365º to finish off for another 20-25 minutes or until puffs are a golden-brown. Remove cookie sheet from oven; with knife, poke hole in one side of each puff to release steam. Turn off oven. Return cookie sheet to oven and let puffs stand 10 minutes to dry out slightly. Transfer puffs to wire rack to cool completely.
Once the puffs are completely cool and dried out, make the cream to put inside them. Here's the recipe I made.
Chantilly Cream
(From Martha)
1 cup heavy cream (cold)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
Combine all ingredients into a bowl, if the bowl has been in the fridge, it will help it out. Beat by hand with a whisk or take the easy way out (Like I do) and use a hand mixer. Beat until soft peaks form and will hold inside the bowl (turned upside down). Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
I've seen a couple ways to do this. Alot of people seem to cut the puffs in half and fill like a sandwich. I like the surprise of cream in the middle! So I piped it in with a filling tip into the puff.
Have fun! There's so may things you can do with these!
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