If the Pâte à Choux Fits: Cream Puff

Legend has it that Catherine de Medici brought the recipe for cream puffs from Italy when she moved to France in 1533. As the years progressed, the recipe for puff pastry went through several incarnations until Antoine Carême finally perfected it. Puff pastry dough is called Pâte à Choux, which means cabbage pastry, because it was believed to look like very small head of cabbage. I don’t think it does, but I’m not a French pastry chef.

Pâte à Choux is a versatile dough, which can be used to make churros if you are looking for a Spanish dessert or gougeres, which go well with wine and make a great appetizer for a wine and cheese party.

The trick behind all cream puff recipes is the dough. The dough is actually cooked in the pan before it is baked in the oven. The result is a hollow, puffy pastry that can be filled with cream, ice cream, savory mousse, or whatever you like.

Ingredients
1 cup plus 6 teaspoons of water (9 ounces)
4 ounces of butter, cut into pieces
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour (5 ounces)
pinch of salt
pinch of sugar
4-5 eggs
egg beaten with a bit of water (for egg wash)

Directions
Put the water, butter, salt, and sugar in a saucepan and bring it to a boil.

Once the butter has melted, remove the pan from the heat and add all of the flour at once.

Place the pan back onto a medium heat and, using a wooden spoon, stir the mixture vigorously until it forms a thick batter that pulls away from the side of the pan. This should take about 30 seconds.

Continue to cook the batter for 1-2 minutes more.

Remove the batter from the pan and put it into the bowl of your stand mixer.

Break the eggs into a bowl.

Using the paddle attachment, mix the batter on low speed and add the eggs one at a time. #Let each egg become fully incorporated before adding the next one. The batter should be smooth and firm.

You know you have added enough eggs when a dollop of batter lifted on a spatula curls over itself and forms a hook.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Place a sheet of parchment paper on a cookie sheet.

Fit a pastry bag with a number 5 piping tip and fill the bag with the dough.

Pipe 1 ½-inch mounds of dough onto the cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart.

Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake for 10 minutes more.

Turn the oven off and let the puffs rest for 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool completely.

Cut the puffs in half across the middle.

Fill with whipped cream.

Dust with powdered sugar.