Creme Puffs!

I've made these a couple times now.  They are really delicious.  I thought they would be a little harder to make because I've never really worked with pastries from scratch before, but this worked really well.  The first time I made the cream just by whipping heavy whipping cream and vanilla together for a yummy homemade whipped cream.  The next time I made the cream the recipe called for.  It was delicious but I think I prefer the simple whipping cream.  I also prefer them to be a little smaller than I made them this time.

before they cooked..

fresh from the oven.

the cream cooling

finished product with optional melted chocolate drizzled on top.

yum.

Cream Puff Recipe (found at http://www.cooks.com/)

1/2 Cup butter

1 Cup boiling water

1 Cup pre-sifted flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 eggs

Preheat oven to 350* F.  Place butter and water in small saucepan.  Stir over high heat until melted and boiling rapidly.  Add flour and salt.  Raise saucepan a few inces above the heat source.  Stir briskly.  Mixture will come away from sides of pan and form ball in center.  Cook and stir 30 seconds more.  Remove from heat.  Break 1 egg into the paste.  Beat fast until smooth and fluffy.  Repeat until all eggs are used.  Drop by whatever size you desire onto an ungreased cookie sheet 3 " apart.  Bake at 350*F until puffed and golden, 35-40 minutes.  Cool away from drafts.  Cut off tops and fill with filling or ice cream (or whipped cream) [Also, I piped the filling inside instead of cutting off the tops.  You just need a ziplock bag and an icing tip designed for filling cupcakes or donuts, they are usually longer than regular icing tips]

Filling: (also from http://www.cooks.com/)

1/3 Cup sugar

2 Cups Milk

2 Tablespoons butter

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 egg yolks, slightly beaten

Mix sugar, cornstarch and eggs in 2 quart saucepan.  Stir in milk gradually.  Cook over medium heat stirring constantly until mixture thickens and boils.  Remove from heat.  Stir in butter and vanilla.  Cool, then fill cream puffs.

Enjoy!!

Spring time sugar cookies!

Ok, so a perk to being an activity day leader is I get to make special treats for the girls for recognition night.  Yesterday was my first recognition night with the girls.  I must say the work that they do in a year is impressive!  I wanted to make something special for them and had to take a milk allergy into consideration when preparing these lovelies.  So I altered my regular Almond sugar cookie recipe by using butter flavored crisco and using the royal icing from http://www.bakeat350.blogspot.com/.  I love her step by step instructions and photos for how to make the icing.  Only thing I didn't do right was I didn't add enough karo syrup so they weren't as shiny after they dried.  Next time...
I liked how the crisco kept the cookies softer longer as well.  Might keep this substitution for future uses!

I also reallized that since I so rarely use my kitchen table to eat at that I could use bed risers to lift my table up six inches so I have a surface counter height to work on!  Now I just need to go buy them! Its amazing how messed up my back was after baking and decorating 100+ cookies!  I can't wait to have a real house with a real kitchen so I don't have to have cookies lining my table, stacked on the stove and drying on boxes all over my living room. 
It was a great evening and I didn't have to take a single cookie home with me!