I make cream puffs a few times a year and this is a really good recipe. Make sure you cook the flour till it pulls away from the sides of the pan and looks kinda dry and don't forget 1 egg at a time. Don't cut out steps. You can fill these with anything. I make custard or a nepoleon cream. You can also fill with fresh fruit like berries maserated in sugar with a spoon of whipped cream. I usually drizzle with chocolate or a hard caramel. If you like them sweet use about 2T. sugar in the water, flour, butter mixture. If you want to make these savory omit sugar, up the salt a little and you can even add pepper to them to make them tastier. Fill with salmon mousse or a savory cheese spread.
I've made these so many times and they turn out really good every time. I fill these with whipped cream mixed with cream cheese 1/2 cup whipping cream 1/3 cup sugar 8oz cream cheese and they taste like little cheese cakes but in cream puff shells. And on some variations I drizzle melted chocolate on the shells. Always a hit!
In Australia we know these as profiteroles (a French dish) and people make a spectacular wedding cake out of them by building the filled puffs into a pyramid and covering them with a hard toffee glaze. As plain profiteroles we serve them filled with whipped cream or custard and covered in chocolate sauce. This is a very good recipe! My oven is gas and only needed 220 degrees Celcius, not 230 for the first 20 minutes. One trick I know is that if some are still a little raw inside it is not unheard of just to scoop out the uncooked bit!!!
I am a BIG proponent of using butter rather than marg or shortening, but in these, I recommend marg or shortening - it produces a better result. Also, try layering the filling - the cream cheese/whipped cream on the bottom - on top, add some lemon curd or vanilla or chocolate pudding (I'm recommending these in the order in which I think they "work"), then top with whipped cream. Finely grated lemon zest on top of the lemon filled pastries is wonderful. They look glorious, and (especially with the lemon curd) are a HUGE hit! Enjoy!
Hubby loves cream puffs so I make these often for him. You can also substitute beer for the water and fill the puffs with chicken tuna or egg salad! Delicious!
This recipe makes a very good cream puff. I fill with instant vanilla pud- ding. Also melt semi-sweet choc. chips with small amount of shortening and dip tops of puffs. DMES
Every time I've made these they come out perfect! No one believes that I made them I also took another's advise & fill them with 1/2 c whipping cream 1/3 c sugar 8 oz cream cheese. They're a huge hit at any gathering.
fan - bleeping - tastic! The only change I made was I do not use shortening. I use butter. I also used a 1 inch cookie scoop because I like smaller puffs. These take about half the time to cook so what them closely the first time you make this size. I filled them with christinibeanies pastry cream which is the best I have ever had. DO NOT CUT OFF THE TOPS! Use a wilton #2 tip to puncture the side or tope of puff. Fill a pastry bag with cream and a # 8 tip and fill puff. You will feel when it is filled. Then dip in chocolate ganache.
Fast easy delicious - I filled it with real whipped cream and drizzled chocolate on top!
I could not get these to puff...Followed the recipe to a Tee...Wish they had though cuz you all made them sound so yummy!
