Out of my daughters, Leah is the one who can be found in the kitchen making breakfast, cooking or baking something. Bri will be found there too, enjoying whatever it is that’s been made as well as cleaning up the kitchen as they’ve struck a deal that whichever one cooks, the other one cleans up, so it’s usually Bri on kitchen duty. Recently, Leah had a class project on Germany and decided, after perusing the internet, she wanted to bring homemade cream puffs to share with the class in addition to her presentation. Like mother like daughter, she opted to do a trial run. She made everything herself and I only assisted her in the assembly of the cream puffs by piping in the filling as she held onto the puffs. Naturally, we did a taste test and what ensued was lots of giggles, filling, and smeared napkins!

It’d been years since I’d had a cream puff, perhaps even decades so I was caught off guard when I bit into it and the filling seemed to go everywhere but my mouth. Leah bit into hers and had the same result. At that moment, we decisively agreed something significantly less messy would be a better option to serve to her class. She packed up the rest of the cream puffs and took them to her friend’s house that night where she and a few of her other friends spent the night, and in the morning, she told me how even though she warned her friends, they had the same experience.

Ingredients:

for the puffs:

• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup butter
• pinch salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 eggs

for the filling:

• 2 cups whipping cream
• 1 package instant vanilla pudding mix

Preparation:

for the puffs:

Preheat oven to 400 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. In a medium size sauce pan, bring the water, butter, and salt to boil and boil until butter is melted. Remove from the heat (but don’t turn the heat off as you’ll return to it in a moment) and add all the flour at once, stirring until smooth and mixture comes away from the sides of the pan. Return to the heat and stirring constantly, cook for 1 minute.

Allow to cool slightly for a few minutes, and beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Drop by tablespoons onto the baking sheet, leaving space between the puffs. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until golden and crisp. DO NOT open the oven door during the first half of baking or the puffs wills collapse.

Upon removing rom the oven, immediately cut a small slit in the side of each puff to release the steam. Allow the puffs to cool thoroughly. Once completely cooled, using a sharp, serrated knife, cut the tops off each one or pipe the filling into the puff.

for the filling:

Prepare the filling by whipping together the whipping cream and instant pudding mix until thick. Pipe filling into the puffs. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired.

Source: http://www.quick-german-recipes.com/cream-puff-recipe.html