Cream puffs are sweet, especially when you make them yourself.
Italian cream puffs, or "bocconcini con crema" in Italian, are popular desserts. They often are enjoyed at weddings, birthdays, holiday meals and other celebrations that bring families and friends together for food and fun. They are generally served after dinner with coffee. While the puff pastry shells can be made in advance, they should not be filled with cream until a few hours before serving so the cream puffs taste fresh, not soggy.
Instructions
Prepare Cream Puff Dough
1. Preheat an oven to 400 degrees. While oven preheats, add 1 cup water, 1/2 cup butter and 1/4 teaspoon salt to a medium saucepan over medium-high heat to create puff pastry dough. Stir periodically until contents come to a rolling boil. Remove saucepan from heat.
2. Beat 1 cup flour into mixture with a wooden spoon. Add 4 eggs, one at a time, beating mixture by hand with spoon after each egg until egg is thoroughly mixed. Beat dough mixture by hand with spoon until it becomes smooth and begins to separate into strands.
3. Decide whether you want to make fewer, larger cream puffs or more, smaller cream puffs. Drop one heaping teaspoon of dough onto an ungreased baking sheet for a large cream puff. Drop 1/2 teaspoon of dough onto an ungreased baking sheet for a small cream puff. Drop dough 2 inches apart.
4. Bake dough in oven until it is raised and golden, for about 25 minutes for small puffs and 40 minutes for large puffs. After allotted time, remove puffs from oven and test doneness by tapping them lightly with a fork. Listen for a hollow sound. Remove puffs from oven and from baking sheet. Place puffs on a wire rack until cooled completely.
5. Cut tops off puffs width-wise. Scoop out soft dough. Set tops aside while you make filling.
Prepare Cream Puff Filling
6. Separate 6 egg yolks and beat yolks with a wire whisk in a bowl until yolks are thoroughly mixed. Beat in 1/4 cup sugar and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Beat in 1/3 cup flour until mixture is smooth and free of lumps.
7. Boil 2 cups milk and 1/4 cup granulated sugar in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low.
8. Remove 1/3 of the boiled milk mixture from the saucepan and add it to the egg yolk mixture. Beat resulting mixture with wire whisk until smooth. Slowly add resulting mixture to milk mixture in saucepan. Raise heat to medium and stir continually until mixture comes to a gentle boil. Allow mixture to thicken and boil for one minute. Remove from heat.
9. Beat in 2 teaspoons vanilla extract and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon to thickened mixture. Transfer pastry cream to a bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for two hours.
Make Cream Puffs
10. Fill each pastry bottom with cream filling.
11. Place dough tops on top of cream filling.
12. Sprinkle powdered sugar on top of cream puff tops. Serve within three hours.
Tags: baking sheet, cream puff, cream puffs, Beat flour, cream filling, Cream Puff