When asked “What is your favorite dessert?” my answer is spontaneous.  Cream puffs, those exquisite little morsels of pastry and sweet whipped cream.  And one of the best things about serving cream puffs is to hear the “oh’s” and “ah’s” when they are presented at a dessert table.  They are so simple to make with inexpensive ingredients, and really get the bang for the buck.  There is nothing better to see than the eyes of children when they catch sight of the cream puffs, and the adults that turn into kids while stuffing the little darlings into their mouths.

We have had a family tradition for the past 7 years of throwing a New Year’s Day party.  It seems that the older we get (which includes our friends), the less interest we have in partying our brains out the night before and dealing with drunk drivers on the road at 2 am.  We are suburban cowards, party poopers, and quite alive, hence the party.  One of the main draws of the party is that I serve an enormous choucroute garnis – the queen of the Alsatian sauerkrauts. Where my mother comes from in France, it is good luck to eat choucroute on New Year’s Day.  Choucroute is a wonderful meal with ham hocks, bacon, sausages, juniper berries, white wine and caraway seeds. I usually use the local producers of sausage such as Aidells (the roasted garlic and gruyere is sublime) and Corralitos Meat Market.  Also we serve a lovely Riesling (if I can get it, it’s from Joseph Meyer of Wintzenheim, France near Colmar) and to top off the day, cream puffs.

I’ve been using the same New York Times recipe for years and have added my own bag of tricks.  Once the cream puffs have cooled down from the oven, prick them several times on the bottom so that the puff can dry out.  This also keeps them from collapsing from the trapped moisture.  Remember to set the timer so you can turn down the oven heat and if you are doing several batched of the puffs, remember to reset the oven to the high heat.  If you have a neighborhood Costco or equivalent of a bulk store, buy the whipped cream in the ½ gallon container.  Costco carries Producer’s Whipped Cream, which produces wonderful, inexpensive whipped cream.  Just buy really great vanilla, such as that sold by Patricia Rains at the Vanilla Company.  Patricia will only deal with fair trade growers and her vanilla, whether it is from Mexico or Madagascar, is divine.

CREAM PUFFS

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees

INGREDIENTS – Puff Pastry – up to 30 cream puffs

1 stick of butter chopped (1/2 cup)

1 cup of water

1 cup of sifted all-purpose flour (I use King Arthur)

2 dashes of salt

4 eggs

Confectioner’s or powdered sugar

In a nice medium-size heavy pot, pour water and add chopped butter and salt.  Use a medium flame or setting and stir occasionally until butter has melted.

Take the pot off the flame and dump in the flour.  Quickly whisk the mixture until it balls.

Crack the egg and add it to the mixture.  Whisk until it is well mixed – no gloopy egg parts.  Repeat with the other 3 eggs.  By the 4^th egg, the mixture should become a lovely glossy batter.

On a cooking sheet, place spoonfuls of the batter on a lined cooking sheet with either a silicon pad or parchment paper (if you have neither, butter the cooking sheet).  Pop into the oven and bake for 15 minutes (don’t forget the timer).  Then reduce the oven to 350 degrees and cook until the little bubbles of fat on top of the puffs are gone.  Depending on the size of your puffs, this can take 15 – 30 minutes. Once the puffs are cool, slice them sideways so that people can put cream into them.  Usually I let people spoon in the cream themselves.  Sprinkle (or use a sifter) the puffs with confectioners/powdered sugar.

If you are like me, with arthritis in your wrists there is a solution.  Don’t whisk, but put the mixing attachment on your mixer (the whisk will turn the dough into pudding), wait a ½ minute from the time the dough was cooked and lightly whisked, and follow the recipe in the same manner as if you were whisking the eggs into the batter.  The cream puffs aren’t as beautiful this way, but your wrist won’t hurt and with a nice covering of powdered sugar, no one will notice, since they are too busy pigging out on puffs.

INGREDIENTS – this is for 3 to 4 loads of the cream puff recipe

¾ of a half gallon container of whipping cream

Cup of  Sugar – you can use regular, ultrafine or powdered

Tablespoon of vanilla extract

In a large mixer bowl, add cream, sugar and vanilla extract.  Whip  in your mixer until the cream has heavy peaks.  If you are unsure, then grab a regular spoon, place it spoon down, and see if the whipped cream can hold up the spoon.  If not, whip a bit longer until the cream is stiff.  Cover with plastic wrap and put in refrigerator until serving time.  Serve in a nice bowl with a large spoon so that people can help themselves.