Good afternoon! Today I’d like to discuss my recent culinary class, when I learned how to make cream puffs from scratch. Here’s how I did it!
Cream puffs in the US were first seen on a restaurant menu in 1851, at the Revere House Restaurant in Boston. Once upon a time, cream puffs were foods of royalty, but now you can buy them at bakeries everywhere. No one knows the true history of them, but one thing’s for sure: they’re delicious! To make the pastry part (not the cream that goes into them), called Choux paste, you first need to cut some butter into small pieces. Then, pour some milk into a bowl and put it onto the stove to heat it up, but don’t boil it yet. Then toss in the pieces of butter that you cut up before, and bring the liquid to a boil. Then add some all-purpose flour (preferably sifted), and take the bowl off the stove. Next up, you’ll want to stir this concoction until it becomes a thick paste. Then add a few eggs, and beat the mixture. Remember, you can also add in a little sugar if you like. I did! Then you’ll need to get out your cookie tray and parchment paper, and also your piping bag. A piping bag is a bag that’s open at both ends, wider at the top and narrower at the bottom. Pour the mixture in the piping bag, and twist the space just above the surface of the mixture closed. You have to use two hands to handle your piping bag, one to hold the bottom steady and one to hold the top closed. Then start squeezing out your mixture, but wait! You don’t want to squeeze at the bottom, where the mixture comes out, you’ll want to squeeze at the top! This way, the mixture will be pushed to the bottom, and more can come out. You’re aiming for spirals, like a cinnamon roll, about the size of a silver dollar. I tried piping a few, and it didn’t work out too well for me! Once you’ve got your spirals ready, bake them in the oven for ten minutes. When they come out, poke a little hole for them to air out. Now you’re ready to make the filling, called Chantilly cream!
Making your filling is easy. Just mix together some heavy cream, milk, and flavor it with a little vanilla extract. It should have the consistency of, say, Cool Whip. Then put the cream in a piping bag (remember how to use it?), and put it aside. Now, poke another hole in the pastries, and with this hole, fill the pastries with the cream in the piping bag. What’s the next step? Nothing! You’re done! Now all that’s left is eating them. A few of my friends came over, and we ate the cream puffs together. I had some as well, and they were quite delicious!
Well, that just about sums up how to make cream puffs. Check out my other posts, and feel free to post a comment! And Randall, thanks for being the best culinary instructor ever!
