Cream Puffs for Everyone

Happiness is found in Cream Puffs. Oh yes, it's true!

See for yourself:

Don't they look gloriously delicious?

My little helpers - there was some extra frosting that couldn't go to waste. (Or my waist?)

You too can enjoy these tasty treats. They are super easy (a little time consuming, but not difficult) and people will be super impressed that you made these from scratch.

Cream Puffs:

1 cup water

1/2 cup butter

1 cup flour

4 eggs

Filling:

One small box vanilla pudding (preferrably the cooked kind, but instant will work if you're in a hurry)

One 1/2 pint whipping cream

Frosting:

(I never measure anymore, so this is as close as I can figure)

About 1/4 cup butter

About 1/3 cup cocoa

About 1/3 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

About 1 1/3 cup powdered sugar

(If it's too thin, add more powdered sugar. Too thick- add some milk)

Directions:

1. If you use the cooked pudding, do this step first. Make the pudding according to the directions on the box, then put plastic wrap on top of the pudding (not covering the pan, but really ON the pudding- it keeps it softer) and let it cool COMPLETELY.

2. Make the puffs: Preheat your oven to 400 degrees (my oven takes a while, so plan ahead)

Put water and butter in pan and bring to a full boil over med- high heat.

3. Remove from heat, and add flour stirring quickly with a fork until mixed well.

4. Add eggs (have these already beaten together in a bowl) and beat with electric mixer until it's the consistency of sticky paste. Everything should adhere together. (Occasionally the mixture doesn't adhere well. You can still cook them, and they will be tasty, they will just be a bit flat)

5. Spoon onto an ungreased cookie sheet (the heavier the better) as big as you like them to be. I like them bigger, but if you make them for a big group of people, make them a little smaller so there are plenty to go around.

6. Bake at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes until they are golden brown. Err on the side of overdone rather than under-done or they will collapse.

7. Remove immediately from pan and place on cooling racks or they will get soggy bottoms (and you don't want that!) Let them cool completely.

8. Finish the filling: Whip the whipping cream until it's a nice thickness (like cool whip probably- which maybe you could use, I've just never tried it)

9. Add pudding to cream and mix well.

10. Assemble everything together: Use a knife with a serrated edge and cut the puffs in half. Pull out excess egginess inside (or not, whatever). Spoon your filling into the puffs and close them up. We have used a pastry bag to fill them without cutting a hole, but that's really time consuming and I think they taste the same either way- so save time and just cut them. :)

11. Frost them. If they are just for my family I'll just use a knife, but if I'm taking them to a social event, I will use a pastry bag for the frosting. Again, they will taste the same and disappear just as quickly if the frosting is sloppy, so do what you like. Also, I have a brother in law who is allergic to chocolate so we sprinkle powdered sugar on the tops.

12. Eat up! Refrigerate if you're not going to eat them right away. Occasionally we haven't devoured them all in a day or too and the pudding gets really runny after about 3 or 4 days. So really, eat them!

Other notes:

My mom says not to double the recipe. I don't know what happens, but I believe her, so I just make the recipe and wash the dishes and then start the next batch when there's about 5 minutes left on the timer for the first batch. However, go ahead and double the recipe for pudding. Just use the large box of pudding and 1 pint of whipping cream.

We have also used chocolate pudding instead of vanilla. They are quite tasty. I have a friend that used pumpkin instead of pudding and said they turned out well too.

I imagine you could use sugar free pudding and not frost them and then they would be a sugar free treat. I haven't tried it, so I can't tell you how that would taste. Leave a comment if you do try those some time.

Good luck!