Cream Puffs

Just in case any of you are wondering if I got my phone back.. yes, I did. I have been told that I am one lucky girl because that doesnt happen very often in today's world. Perhaps.. I was lucky this time. We agreed to meet at IOI bus stop in the morning, she came driving with her kid in the car. She passed me my phone, and as a token of appreciation, I gave her an angpao. Very lucky indeed.

A friend even told me to send my phone to a service centre to check whether a GPS tracker has been installed into my phone. Very thoughtful of him, but I seriously doubt that it is necessary. hmm

Made cream puffs yesterday (before I lost my phone). The puffs were a success but the cream not so.

Puff:

1 cup water

1/2 cup butter

1 cup flour

Salt

4 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 218C.

2. In a medium pot, bring the water and butter to a simmer on medium heat. Add the flour and stir very quickly in one direction. Keep stirring to continue cooking the flour and cook off some of the water, another minute or two.

3. Let the pot cool for a while, until the dough is lukewarm, before adding the salt and eggs one by one into the pot. You dont want the eggs to cook too quickly.

4. Mix rapidly until each egg is combined into the paste. The paste will go from shiny to slippery to sticky. The pâte a choux can be cooked immediately at this point or refrigerated for up to a day until ready to use.

5. Spoon the dough into a piping bag. Pipe onto a baking sheet into little puffs, keeping the puffs 2-inches apart. With wet finger, press down the peaks. Bake at 218C for 10 minutes, then 178C for 18-30 minutes, depending on the size of your puffs.

They turned out better than expected. It was the cream that disappointed me but I guess it was my fault being a newbie and all. There are two usual ways to make the cream. The first being, whipped cream, and the other being making custard cream. Whipped cream will have a lighter, frothier consistency, whereas custard cream is thicker and creamier. I would have made the latter but since whipping cream was available at home, I opted for the former. But.. I forgot about the sugar! oh darn.. the cream puffs turned out to be savoury with some plain cream in between. Was ready to just dispose off the cream puffs but on second consideration, I realised that the cream puffs could do with some simple icing sugar for dusting and they will be just as delicious! heh.

And fortunately, that was the case. Brought it for a friend's steamboat party. Well, the host did say they were awesome! :)