Weekend Cream Puffs + Bright Nails

Dorie Greenspan continues to amaze me. Her countless French recipes are all incredibly delicious. After reading and rereading her book, Paris Sweets, I couldn't tolerate vicariously eating scrumptious Parisian pastries simply through her words and winsome illustrations, so set out to recreate one of these French masterpieces for myself.

Accordingly, Thursday nights have officially become cream puff nights. 

  

Cream Puffs adapted from Dorie Greenspan

Makes about 24 large or 50 small puffs

1/2 cup whole milk

1/2 cup water

1 stick unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup all-purpose flour

5 large eggs, at room temperature

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.

Bring the milk, water, butter and salt to the boil in a saucepan.  When the mixture is boiling, add the flour all at once. Reduce the heat to medium and immediately start stirring the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon.  The dough will come together very quickly and a slight crust will form on the bottom of the pan. Keep stirring for another 2-3 minutes to dry the dough.  At the end of this time, the dough will be very smooth.

Pour the dough into the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the eggs one by one to the dough, beating until each egg is fully incorporated. The dough might separate after the first egg or two, but by the time you add the third egg it will start coming together again.  When all the eggs are incorporated, the dough will be thick and shiny and, when you lift some of it up it will fall back into the bowl in a ribbon. 

Using 1 tablespoon, scoop a spoonful of dough for each puff. Use a second spoon to drop the dough from the tablespoon onto the lined baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches of space between each puff. 

Bake for 15 minutes, then rotate the sheets and continue baking until the puffs are golden and firm, another 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer the cream puffs to a cooling rack.

These pastry clouds are best served with a lovely vanilla pastry cream (Dorie Greenspan's recipe is fantastic), but would be just as delicious filled with a generous scoop of ice cream (preferably amaretto chocolate chip) - profiterole style. 

Pastry Cream adapted from Dorie Greenspan

Ingredients:

2 cups whole milk
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
6 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup cornstarch
3 1/2 tbs butter, softened and cut into 3 pats

Directions:

Bring the milk and vanilla bean to a boil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cover the pan, turn off the heat, and allow the milk to infuse for at least 10 minutes. If the milk has cooled, it will need to be reheated now. 

Whisk the yolks, sugar, and cornstarch together in a medium saucepan. Whisking constantly, drizzle one quarter of the hot milk over the yolks. When the yolks are warm, whisk the remainder of the milk into the yolks in a steadier stream; remove the pod. 

Put the pan over medium heat and, whisking vigorously, bring the mixture to a boil. Keep at the boil, still whisking for 1-2 minutes before taking the pan off the heat. Press the cream through a sieve into a small bowl and let sit for 5 minutes, then whisk in the butter. Cover the cream with a piece of plastic wrap pressed against the cream and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled. 

Once chilled, fill a pastry bag (fitted with a large round tip) with the cream and pipe about a tablespoon into each cream puff.

below: finger nails painted with OPI's Don't Socra-tease me, warmed by a cup of hot green tea at Asian Mint (Dallas, TX)

Enjoy!