Tags
brunch, choux, cream puffs, dessert, desserts, eclairs, French baking, French cooking, French pastry, gourmet, gourmet brunch, mini food, postaday2011, profiteroles, sweets, sweets table, treats
Nanny’s Cream Puffs
Hubster loves sweets, I enjoy them too. We don’t always agree on the same treats though, except for this one. I decided to whip up a batch and everyone could choose their own filling. This recipe comes from a yellowed recipe card in my grandmother’s rusty recipe box, but I’m not sure of the original origins. I’ve made a few minor modifications, but not enough to call it my own.
Choux Ingredients:
6 Tbsp. butter softened, 1 c. warm water, 3/4 c. flour, 1/4 c. 10x sugar, 3 eggs, 1/2 tsp. almond extract, pinch of fresh ground sea salt (omit if using salted butter), 5 oz. finely grated dark chocolate
Choux Directions:
Preheat oven 400°F. Grease and flour two baking sheets. Sift flour and set aside. Beat eggs and set aside. In a small saucepan bring butter and water to a boil. Add flour, extract, sugar and salt to saucepan and beat until mixture pulled away from the sides. Remove from heat allow to cool a bit (you don’t want scrambled eggs in your choux) and beat in half the eggs, slowly add in remaining eggs until dough becomes smooth (you might not need all the eggs). Drop by the tablespoonful on trays (next time I might roll them into balls). Bake for 30 minutes or until the are golden and puffed. Use a bamboo skewer to prick each puff and place bake in the oven for about 10 more minutes. Cool puffs on wire rack. Use an icing press to fill with pudding or whipped cream, cut a slit and use a melon-baller to fill with ice cream. Melt chocolate in double boiler and dip the tops of puff. Keep refrigerated or frozen.
For Profiteroles: Fill with ice-cream
For Eclair Puffs: Fill with vanilla pudding
For Cream Puffs: Fill with fresh whipped cream (try adding a pinch of nutmeg to cram before filling
Mine taste great, but the don’t look perfect, but I don’t think they turned out badly for a first attempt.
Do you prefer profiteroles, eclairs or cream puffs?
Woo hoo! Let me tell you how excited I am to try these! I live just outside of the Italian neighborhood in Boston, and the pastry shops around here are absolutely to-die-for good. I have trouble walking past them….they get me every time. Can’t wait to try out your recipe out and be able to have my own at home!
Let me know how you like them!
Grandmother’s yellowed recipe cards are the best. My favorite recipes are the ones I grew up eating at home that my mom grew up eating at her home. My grandmother was quite the cook. 🙂
Funny thing is, I don’t remember my mom making too many of my grandmother’s recipes (she did a little more multi-cutural cooking). The box is neat because it also has some from my great grandmother in there!
Love it! The recipe is so versatile! I am definitely going to try this recipe when I attempt puffs again!
Funny how we made similar things on Friday. I hope you had a great birthday!
You make it sounds so easy, and delicious.
Thanks, it wasn’t so bad.
Thanks for stopping by my blog!Lucky you to have your grandmother’s recipe cards! Love the cream puffs! They have been on my to-do list for a long time!
Thanks! There are some strange things on some of the recipe cards, but there are definitely gems in the mix!