Choux Pastry (Cream Puff)

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A simple yet very tasty and can be very luxurious kind of pastry. This is currently the fad in French pastry menu. One of the famous pastry shop in Paris, Popelini, is offering different flavors of this artistic puff.

It is simply cream puff, stuffed and topped with various cream.

Below is the basic procedure in baking cream puff or better known as choux pastry in France. You can stuffed or topped it with any cream of your choice. As per mine, I just used basic chocolate cream.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup water
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 large eggs

Procedure:

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F (210°C).
2. Put the water, butter, sugar and salt in a medium sized saucepan and place on medium-low heat. Remove from heat as soon as the butter has melted and the water is boiling.
3. Using a wooden spoon, stir in all of the flour at once. Mix for at least two minutes and until the mixture is smooth, detaches from the sides of the pan, and forms a ball. The residual heat of the pan dries the dough as you are stirring.
4. Add one egg and beat the mixture with a wooden spoon until the egg is fully incorporated. Add the other two eggs, one at a time, in the same procedure. Each egg takes about a minute to be absorbed into the batter.
5. You can use a pastry bag to form the pastries, or work with two spoons (one to scoop the batter and the other to slide it off the first spoon onto the tray). If you use a pastry bag, a 1/2 inch diameter tip is good for small puffs and a 3/4 inch diameter tip is good for large puffs. When forming the puffs, keep in mind that each one will at least double in size in all directions.
6. Scoop or pipe the puffs onto a baking tray covered with baking paper. If you wish, use a pastry brush to lightly coat the tops of the puffs with beaten egg. This will give the puffs a lovely shiny and slightly crunchy finish.
7. For small puffs, bake at 425°F (210°C) for 20 minutes. For larger puffs, after 20 minutes of baking, lower the oven temperature to 375° F (190°C), and bake 10 to 15 minutes longer. To insure that the inside of the choux pastry does not get soggy after baking, pierce each puff and return the tray to the oven that has been turned off. Leave them in the oven with the door slightly open for 10 minutes.