Cream Puffs & Eclairs

This week's post is just another reason I am glad I have a gym membership. BTW, if you haven't tried Zumba yet, it is fan-freakin-tastic. So much fun. You dance for an hour and just happen to burn calories along the way.

So, anyway, last week Corey brought home a recipe from a friend of his at work who has been reading our blog. Woohoo, we have a reader. At least 1. Well, 2 if the stats are right. I'm on a roll now.

Maria sent him home with a recipe she had from Family Circle magazine from 1983! Thanks Maria! Of course I had to make these Cream Puffs & Eclairs. Yum! And I knew there would be no protests from the family.

The recipe is pretty straight forward and most of the ingredients are probably already in your pantry.

First preheat your oven to 400 °. Start out by bringing 1 stick butter (1/2 cup), 1 cup of water, and 1 teaspoon of sugar to a large saucepan and bring to a rolling boil.

Add 1 cup of sifted all-purpose flour all at once to the pan. Stir vigorously for 1 minute with a wooden spoon or until it forms a thick, smooth ball that leaves the sides of the saucepan.

Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Add 4 large eggs, one at a time, and beating vigorously until it is shiny and smooth.

And no, my hand did not mysteriously shrink. That is Ella with an assist. She stirred while I added the eggs.

Next, add dough, by rounded tablespoons, 3 inches apart, on ungreased cookie sheets. I started with about a tablespoon but found that there was enough dough to add at least 2 tablespoonfuls to each piece. For cream puffs shape into a round shape with 2 spoons or even your fingers, but only if they are clean.

For the eclairs, shape the dough in a log shape about 4 x 1 1/2 inches. You should be able to make about 12 total of whatever shape you chose. I did 6 of each. Bake in oven for 40 minutes or until light golden brown and cool on a wire wrack.

While the dough is cooking you can make your custard filling. It will take 2 hours of fridge time to set so you may want to start it before the dough.

Combine 3/4 cup sifted all-purpose flour and 1 cup sugar in a medium-sized saucepan. Stir in 3 cups of milk.

Bring to a boil while stirring constantly over a low heat, until it starts to bubble. Cook & stir 3-4 minutes until the mixture becomes thick and then remove from heat.

Beat 4 large eggs lightly in a medium bowl.

and add 1 cup of the mixture from the medium saucepan & combine with the eggs.

Then, add back the egg mixture into the medium saucepan. Cook, stirring constantly, over a medium heat for 1-2 minutes until thickened. Add 1 tablespoon of vanilla and 1 tablespoon of butter and pour into a bowl. Refrigerate for 2 hours.

Cream puffs:

Eclairs:

To assemble cut the tops off of either puffs or Eclairs with a sharp knife. Remove a bit of the soft dough from the center. Fill with the custard that has been chillin in the fridge for the last 2 hours. You can add powdered sugar (as we did below) or even a chocolate glaze.

For a glaze just melt 6 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate pieces with 1 tablespoon of shortening in a small bowl over hot water to melt. Let it cool 2 minutes and spoon over your pastry.

And this pastry gets the Ella thumbs up, seal of approval! Good stuff for sure.

ECLAIRS & CREAM PUFFS

Dough ingredients:

1 stick butter

1 cup water

1 tsp sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

Custard filling Ingredients:

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

3 cups milk

4 eggs

1 tablespoon of butter

1 tablespoon of vanilla

Additional toppings Ingredients:

Confectioners' sugar

6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

1 tablespoon shortening

Dough preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 400 °.
2. Bring water, butter, and sugar to a rolling boil in a large saucepan.
3. Add flour all at once and stir vigorously for 1 minute or until mixture forms a thick smooth ball that leaves sides of saucepan clean.
4. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
5. Add 4 large eggs, 1 at a time, beating vigorously with each addition. It will become shiny and smooth and break away in strands.
6. Cream puffs: Drop rounded tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheet 3 inches apart. Eclairs: Shape dough into log form about 4 x 1 1/2 inches each.
7. Bake for 40 minutes or until light golden brown.
8. Cool on wire wrack.

Custard filling preparation:

1. Combine 3/4 cup sifted flour and 1 cup sugar in medium saucepan.
2. Stir in 3 cups of milk.
3. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly over low heat, until it begins to bubble.
4. Continue to cook for 3-4 minutes, until mixture is thick and remove from heat.
5. Beat 4 large eggs in a medium bowl.
6. Add 1 cup of flour-sugar-milk mixture to eggs and beat.
7. Add all of egg mixture back into medium pan and heat over medium heat while stirring constantly for 1-2 minutes. It will become thick.
8. Add 1 tablespoon each of vanilla & butter.
9. Pour into a bowl and refrigerate for 2 hours.

To fill:

1. Cut tops of puffs or Eclairs and remove some of the soft dough from center.
2. Fill with custard mixture and replace top.
3. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar or melted chocolate glaze, or both.

and, please don't ask how many trips to Zumba this will take to wear off, but I'm guessing at least a few 1 hour classes.

In other pressing news, our city (Dallas area) is all but shut down due to crazy 1-digit temperatures so no trip to the store this week. Luckily, due to stocking up we were able to scrape things together and it isn't so bad save for having to 'stretch' the milk a little. Hopefully, Thursday will have better temps to venture out but no promises so I'm making do.

A good way to stretch meat is to use shredded chicken, beef, pork in items like tacos & enchiladas, or on pizza as seen below. A little goes a long way when mixed with the other ingredients.

WEEKLY MENU

Sunday: Spaghetti with meatballs

Monday: Homemade cheeseburger mac & salad

Tuesday: Carnitas, corn, beans (OMG, these carnitas are so good & so easy)

Wednesday: Buffalo chicken pizza (basically taking this recipe for dip & putting on my homemade pizza dough. We had 2 boneless chicken thighs to replace the canned chicken in this recipe) Dessert of: Groundhog dessert cups but substituting chocolate mousse since we have lots of whipped cream & barely any milk

Thursday: Hot dogs on homemade potato rolls, baked red potato fries

Friday: Leftovers

Saturday: Eating out (or french toast if it is still too cold to get out since Corey stopped by the Ms. Baird's bread store & they practically gave away 2 loaves + donuts & I just made 2 loaves of bread on the same day)

Have a good safe week everyone. If you are snowed in like us, this is the perfect time to try some new recipes or experiment with ingredients you have. This also reinforces my point of keeping your pantries stocked. I could easily stretch our food for another week if I had too because of stocking up.