I have a motto, or two...

"If you don't get it right the first time, try again."- That's my motto. Well, not really, but it was yesterday when my first attempt to make cream puffs turned into a complete failure. Another possible motto can be: "If you add one extra egg, the result will be bad". That's what happened, I added one extra egg because the recipe said 6 eggs. Apparently one was for the egg wash, though I didn't realize this until I had to make the egg wash. Fail. 

So there came the second attempt and the pride of having persevered and succeeded, followed by the regret of having eaten too many of them knowing that they have a whole stick of butter and a lot of heavy cream. Oh well...

I used a different recipe the second time because I got mad at the Bon Appétit recipe for not specifying in the ingredients that one of the eggs was for the egg wash. So I used the recipe from Su, of the blog webos fritos, which was actually pretty similar to the Bon Appétit one but a little simpler. And you know my motto: "The simpler, the better".

A few tips from an expert, a.k.a. myself  (two attempts in one day make me quite an expert). Make this. It's totally worth it and super easy (if you read the instructions right). The texture and the flavor are delicious and as good as any professional cream puffs. If your family is not big enough to eat about 20 cream puffs in one or two days, you can always take them to work; you will make your coworkers very happy. If you don't like your coworkers and you don't want to make them happy, then you can just bake the puffs that you are going to eat and freeze the rest for next time. Awesome, right?

Cream puffs

Makes about 20, adapted from webos fritos

For this recipe you need patry bags and tips. If you don't have them, you can use a resealable or freezer plastic bag as a pastry bag, cutting one corner. The result will be less pretty, but it should work.

7 tbsp/ 100g unsalted butter

1/2 cup /125ml water

1/2 cup / 125ml milk

1 1/2 tsp / 5g granulated sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 cups /160g sifted all purpose flour

4 large eggs

1 cup / 250 ml heavy whipping cream

2 tbsp powder sugar plus more for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350°F / 180°C.

In a medium sauce pan put the butter, water, milk, salt and sugar and bring to a boil over medium heat. Remove from heat and add the flour at once. Stir vigorously until the flour is integrated. Return to heat and keep stirring until the dough becomes glossy, about 1 or 2 minutes.

Transfer dough to a bowl. Add one egg and stir until fully incorporated. Add 3 more eggs, one at a time, stirring until fully incorporated before adding the next one. The final dough should be thick, smooth and glossy.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spoon the dough into a pastry bag with a wide plain tip. Pipe out 10 puffs onto the prepared baking sheet 1.5 inches apart from each other (*).  Bake in the center of the oven for 30 minutes. Cool over a wired rack. Pipe out the rest of the puffs and bake like the first batch. When the puffs are still warm, cut them open in the center using a serrated knife. 

Beat the cream with the powder sugar until stiff picks form. Use a pastry bag with an open star tip to fill the puffs with the cream. Using a fine mesh sieve, sprinkle with powdered sugar.

(*) You can freeze the puffs that you are not planning to bake. To do that, freeze the puffs on the baking sheet and once they are frozen transfer them to a plastic bag. When you are ready to bake them, place them on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake as directed ( do not defrost).