Today, Caytie and I walked to the Aventura Mall. I was hungry and looking for a sweet treat. One of my favorite parts of traveling is trying new things. So, to my happy surprise I saw a line at a Pappa Beard. They are the purveyors of Cream Puffs.
Since I am a foodie I was “In.” All I can say is that hello Jesus this is heaven! In fact, I am going to go get 6 more as our Christmas Eve treat! Might even leave one for Santa if he plays his cards right. But since this is the first Papa Beard I have seen I have researched for the best possible cream puff recipe on the planet yet does not require you to go to culinary school. So, you might give these a whirl for something new this year!
Christmas Cream Puffs
For the pastry:
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup water
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
1/4 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup all purpose flour
5 large eggs, room temperature
For the vanilla custard:
2 large boxes of french vanilla pudding
2 1/2 cups of whole milk ONLY (NO LOW FAT.)
1 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream
Preheat the oven to 375 F. Bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to a rolling boil in a large pot. Reduce the heat to medium and mix in the flour, stirring constantly with a spoon until the dough starts to come together. Continue stirring the dough in the pan for another 2 – 3 minutes. The dough should be smooth and soft now. Pour the dough into a bowl and begin to add the eggs, one at a time. At first, the dough will begin to separate but as you keep mixing it should come back together. Immediately shape/ pipe the dough onto parchment paper lined baking sheets and bake for about 5 – 7 minutes. Then, quickly use a toothpick to prick each cream puff to allow the steam to escape. (That keeps you from having soggy puffs) Next, slip the handle of a wooden spoon between the oven and its door to keep the door ajar and bake for another 5 – 7 minutes. Next, rotate the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back then continue baking for another 6 – 8 minutes until they are puffed, golden, and firm. Let them cool completely before filling them.
For the custard, whip everything together until pudding has become thick, about 8 – 10 minutes.
NOTES:
* Once you pipe the dough it can be frozen for later use. Just pipe the dough and slide the baking sheet into a freezer. Once frozen, you can re-pack them into freezer bags. They can be kept in a freezer for up to a month. They will be baked in the same way, just add a couple more minutes to the baking time.