Cream Puffs have always been one of my weaknesses. They are light and puffy and are filled with the most exquisite cream that literally melts in your mouth. And to think that something that looks so delicious would be so easy to make!
I have made them when I was younger and filled them with pudding. But I am trying to find a more mousse-like filling that is at once satisfying and also light. So to the books I went. I found a recipe in Betty Crocker’s Cookbook that I thought would be what I was looking for. For the cream puff itself, the recipe was easy to understand and also easy to make. The filling was not exactly what I wanted; it was more of a pudding filling, which in itself was delicious, but again, not what I was looking for.
So off to the internet I went, I found a couple of recipes for filling that in the next couple of articles I will discuss. Listed below is the recipe from Betty Crocker’s Cookbook.
Cream Puffs
1 c. water
½ c. margarine or butter (I prefer butter, not salted)
1 c. all-purpose flour*
4 eggs
*Self rising flour can be used in this recipe.
Heat oven to 400ยบ. Heat water and margarine to rolling boil in 2 ½ quart saucepan. Stir in flour Stir vigorously over low heat until mixture forms a ball, about 1 minute; remove from heat. Beat in eggs, all at once; continue beating until smooth. Drop dough by scant ¼ cupfuls about 3 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake until puffed and golden, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool away from draft. Cut off tops; pull out any filaments of soft dough. Fill puffs with Cream Filling. Replace tops; sprinkle with powdered sugar. Refrigerate until serving time.
Cream Filling
1/3 c. sugar
2 T. cornstarch
1/8 t. salt
2 c. milk
2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
2 T. margarine or butter, softened
2 t. vanilla
Mix sugar, cornstarch and salt in 2 quart saucepan. Gradually stir in milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir 1 minute. Stir at least half of the hot mixture gradually into egg yolks (temper the egg yolks). Stir into hot mixture in saucepan. Boil and stir 1 minute; remove from heat. Stir in margarine and vanilla; cool.
Note: I found that the cream filling was to runny, I wanted a more lightly, airy filling. So I added 1 tub (8 oz.) Cool Whip® topping to the cream filling. If adding Cool Whip®, add after mixture has cooled down.
