Lesson learned: a recipe that contains common kitchen ingredients does not necessarily mean that the recipe will be easy. I found this out the hard way with Crème Puffs. I did a quick read through of the recipe and saw that everything I needed was part of a baker’s necessities: eggs, sugar, butter, flour, milk, etc. Naively, I thought this would translate into an easy baked good. I was wrong. Crème Puffs are a truly beautiful dessert. Their luxurious look makes them perfect to serve to company. This lavish appeal isn’t just part of the appearance. The truth is, Crème Puffs are a tedious and delicate process.
Looking back now, I would recommend making the crème filling before baking the dough. When Grams and I began, we didn’t consider that the pudding would need to chill several hours before being put into the puffs. In fact, when making this recipe, you may want to consider making the pudding in the evening and letting it chill overnight. The dough for Crème Puffs is different than any kind of dough we have prepared before. Its flakey look comes from the four eggs that are put into the dough mixture. Grams and I were shocked to see how many eggs it called for. By the end, the dough was a sunshine yellow color. The dough balls we placed on the baking sheet were about an inch and half in diameter. We weren’t sure how big to make them since this was our first time with Crème Puffs. We also discovered that this dough rises up more than out.
Even though the recipe called for only common ingredients, I still wasn’t fully prepared for the recipe. After putting four eggs into the dough batter, I realized that we needed two more eggs for the pudding filling. We were going to be short by one egg. Grams said she had eggs at her house, and I could run down and get them while she folded laundry. I opened Grandma Ahlden’s refrigerator to discover that she did, in fact, have eggs at her house. She didn’t just have one carton of eggs, she had four. The problem was printed on the dates. Today is January 5th. One of the cartons dated November 28, another was to be used by November 30th, and one more to have been consumed by December 21st. Luckily there was one carton that was still fresh enough to be eaten. It worries me that one of the cartons was nearly forty days old! That could have made Grams very sick if she would have accidently eaten them. Beyond that, why had she not realized that those eggs were old, and thrown them in the trash?
For the vanilla pudding, Grams and I decided to add ½ teaspoon of almond extract for additional flavor. Since my family feels the need to add chocolate to everything, we also made a chocolate glaze to drizzle over the finished crème puffs. We melted ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips with 1 tablespoon of shortening. This not only tasted good, but made them look even fancier. Although Grams said several statements today that made absolutely no sense, she seemed in a very positive mood. These days, a good day can be marked by her smile and high spirits. I’m just glad she didn’t have forty day old scrambled eggs for breakfast.
Crème Puffs—Connie Ahlden Recipe
Heat to rolling boil point in pan: 1 cup water and ½ cup butter
Stir in all at once: 1 cup flour
Stir vigorously over low heat until mixture leaves the pan and forms a ball. Remove from heat.
Beat in 1 at a time: 4 eggs. Beat until mixture is smooth and velvety.
Drop from spoon on ungreased baking sheet.
Bake at 400 degrees for 40-45 minutes.
Fill with vanilla pudding.
Vanilla Pudding:
¾ cup sugar 1/3 cup flour
1/8 t. salt 2 cups scalded milk
½ T. butter 2 eggs beaten
Combine butter, sugar, salt, flour and eggs.
Add milk slowly, stirring constantly.
Cook until thick and smooth. Add vanilla.
No comments:
Post a Comment