Eclair Cream Puff Dough 101 Food

CREAM PUFF DOUGH

Steps:

• preheat oven to 375*F butter and lightly flour a cookie sheet.
• place water, salt, butter and sugar in heavy-bottomed saucepan. cook over medium heat. continue cooking for 2 minutes after liquid starts to boil.
• reduce heat to low. add all of flour and mix rapidly with wooden spoon. cook dough until it no longer sticks to the spoon or fingers when pinched. be sure to mix constantly.
• remove pan from heat and transfer mixture to bowl. let cool 3 minutes.
• incorporate eggs one at a time, (mixture must regain its smooth texture before next egg is added) mixing well between additions. the finished dough should be shiny and smooth.
• fit pastry bag with plain rounded tip. fill pastry bag with dough and squeeze out shapes of your choice; the size of an egg for cream puffs or 4inch long strips for eclairs. leave space between each.
• brush tops of shapes with beaten egg, smooth tails left by pastry bag. let stand at room temperature for 20 minutes.
• bake 35 minutes in oven. turn off heat and postion door ajar. let stand 45 minutes.
• when cold fill with your choice of pastry cream or whipped cream. glaze tops with caramel or chocolate.

WHIPPED EGG WHITES FOR ECLAIRS & CREAM PUFFS 101

Steps:

• 1. After making sure ALL instruments are free from oils saperate egg whites (one at a time) and put in mixing bowl.
• 2. At medium speed beat until Frothy Add salt
• 3. Add cream of tarter while still mixing,
• 4. add vanilla, while still mixing (do not cut off mixer)
• 5. Add sugar slowly, mix on high speed until STIFF PEEKS from. Creamy Egg Whites are ready ! STAY OUT OF THE BOWL ! If you eat this up, you can NOT add water to streach it out, thinking "no one will know" YES THEY WILL ! STAY OUT OF THE BOWL !
• 6. Prepare piping bag by cutting tip and inserting pastry tip. Stand in glass, tip down.
• 7. fill bag with cream (half full) twisting top to close
• 8. Cut pastry in half If you need pastry, see "Eclairs & Cream Puff Dough 101"
• 9. With firm pressure fill pastry, and retop springle with powdered sugar (optional)
• 10. NOW YOU CAN EAT ! ENJOY !

CREAM PUFFS OR ECLAIRS WITH VANILLA PASTRY CREAM

Steps:

• Make vanilla pastry cream:.
• In 2 quart saucepan, combine sugar, flour and salt; stir in milk.
• Over medium heat, cook, stirring until mixture thickens and boils, about 10 minutes.
• Boil 1 minute.
• In a small bowl with fork, beat 6 egg yolks slightly.
• Beat small amount of heated milk mixture into yolks.
• Slowly pour egg mixture back into milk mixture, stirring.
• Cook over medium low heat, stirring till mixture thickens and coats spoon well, about 8 minutes (do not boil).
• To check thickness, lift metal spoon from mixture and hold up 15 seconds - spoon should not show through mixture.
• Remove from heat; stir in vanilla.
• At this point I usually put this custard through a strainer to get out any lumpy cooked egg pieces.
• Cover surface with plastic wrap, and chill well, about 2 hours.
• When custard is cool, in a small bowl with mixer at medium speed, beat heavy/whipping cream till stiff peaks form.
• With a rubber spatula, gently fold whipped cream into custard.
• Puffs:.
• Spray 1 or 2 large cookie sheets with nonstick spray. Heat oven to 375.
• In 2 qt saucepan over medium heat, heat butter, water and salt till butter mixture boils.
• Remove from heat.
• Add flour all at once. With a wooden spoon, vigorously stir until mixture forms a ball and leaves sides of pan.
• Add eggs to the flour mixture, one at a time, beating well after each addition, till smooth.
• Cool mixture slightly.
• Using a large spoon and rubber spatula, drop batter onto cookie sheets int 12 large mounds, 3 inches apart, swirling the top of each.
• (for eclairs, instead of mounds, spread the choux paste into 5" by 3/4" rectangles).
• Bake 50 minutes (this is what the original recipe says - however, I NEVER bake them that long - more like 35 minutes - go by your own oven - if they're looking puffed and browned and dry, they're probably done).
• At this point, remove from oven, cut a small slit in the side of each puff and return to the oven and bake for 10 minutes.
• Turn off oven and let dry for 5-10 minutes (I don't usually do this and it doesn't seem to matter too much).
• When puffs are cool, slice top off of each - there will probably be some webby looking soft dough inside - carefully pull this out to make it hollow.
• Fill each shell with the chilled pastry cream.
• Replace top and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
• For Eclairs:.
• Go through the same process, but top with semisweet chocolate glaze: In saucepan, melt 2 squares semisweet chocolate and 2 T butter, stirring constantly (or heat briefly in the microwave to melt) Stir in 1 cup powdered sugar and 3 T milk till smooth.

CRAQUELIN-TOPPED CREAM PUFFS

Steps:

• To make the craquelin: Pulse the butter, sugar and salt in a food processor until just blended. Add the flour, and pulse until you have moist curds; pulse in the vanilla. Scrape the dough out onto the counter, and pull it together into a ball. Divide in half, shape each half into a disk and roll out each piece between parchment paper until it's about 1/8 to 1/16 inch thick. Freeze for at least 1 hour, and then cut into 1 3/4-to-2-inch-diameter rounds. Freeze until needed (always use frozen).
• Preheat the oven to 350. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Have a small (2-teaspoon capacity) cookie scoop, spoon or a piping bag at hand.
• To make the puffs: Bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt just to a boil in a medium pan. Reduce the heat to low, add the flour all at once and start stirring like mad with a flexible spatula. Stir and mash the dough until it comes together and leaves a film on the bottom of the pan. Keep cooking and stirring nonstop for another 3 minutes to dry but not color it. Scrape the dough into the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or work with a hand mixer). Beat the dough for 2 minutes to cool it down a bit. Combine the eggs and white, stir with a fork to break them up and then add to the dough in three additions, beating on medium speed. Beat until the dough is satiny and runs off the beater smoothly.
• Scoop, spoon or pipe puffs that are about 1 1/2 inches in diameter, leaving about 2 inches between each puff. (At this point, you can freeze them and then, when they are solid, pack them in an airtight container. When you're ready to bake, arrange the frozen puffs on a lined baking sheet and keep them on the counter while you preheat the oven.) Place a frozen round of craquelin on each puff.
• Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, rotating the baking sheets if needed, or until the tops are golden brown and crackled. The puffs will feel firm when gently squeezed and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. Transfer them to racks, and cool to room temperature.

ECLAIR & CREAM PUFF DOUGH 101

Steps:

• 1. In sauce pan, Bring water to a boil. Add salt and butter pieces, let melt over medium heat.
• 2. Add all of flour at once to water wisk well until smooth ( no lumps ) LET COOL for 7 min.
• 3. Add one egg at a time ( wisk each egg until smooth and shiny) It will be very sticky DOUGH IS DONE. (smile)
• 4. load dough in pastry bag (zip-lock) and cut whole in tip (dime size)
• 5. for ECLIARS...squeeze lightly a (finger length) application of dough on prepared baking sheet for PUFFS... squeeze in circular motion a little larger than a quater
• 6. Bake for 30-35 min. @ 400 F and golden brown
• 7. Let cool Fill with you favorite filling (cream or pudding) Top with icing and decorate GET CREATIVE ! ENJOY !

CHOUX PASTRY (FOR CREAM PUFFS, ECLAIRS, ETC)

Steps:

• Chop butter, melt in water and just bring to boiling. Immediately add flour, and mix well with wooden spoon, until it forms a dough that leaves the side of the pan (it looks really gross and clumpy at first, but as you keep stirring it fixes itself). Remove from heat and cool 2 minutes.
• For a sweet pastry, add the sugar to the beaten eggs. Stir in the eggs, mixing until it look like dough again (this is gross at first too).
• Now you have many choices: using a pastry bag or spoon, shape the dough as desired (for puffs: use a spoon or pipe a mound, eclairs: pipe a line, rings: pipe a circle, profiteroles: pipe a mound w/star tip) onto a greased cookie sheet. Keep in mind that it will grow to aprox 3xs its size when done.
• Bake at 425 'til it looks crisp and golden, about 30 mins for half dollar sized puffs. Cut in half, or cut a slit in the side to let the steam escape- if you don't do this fairly quickly they get soggy inside.
• They save for a while in tupperware, unless they're filled. You are supposed to fill them with freshly whipped cream that has a touch of powdered sugar and vanilla or almond added in, but I just fill them with buttercream frosting because its cheaper and tastes pretty good too.