Cream Puffs

Here's another recipe from Grandma Giapponi. She makes these cream puffs every year for Easter. Unfortunately, since I don't live nearby, I have only gotten to have her cream puffs once, when I was living in Boston.  She gave me a lesson on cream puffs when I went that time, so now I can  make them for my family and friends in Ohio. Don't let the idea of cream puffs intimidate you, they are actually quite easy if you just follow the steps below!

 

Cream Puffs

Makes: 15

 

Cream Puffs:

1 cup hot water

½ cup butter

1 Tbs sugar

½ tsp salt

1 cup flour

4 eggs

 Filling:

1 package pudding mix, any flavor you want

1 ¼ milk

1 (8 ounce) container cup cool whip, thawed

In a medium sized saucepan, bring the hot water, butter, sugar and salt to a rolling boil over medium to medium-high heat.  Once at a rolling boil, add the flour.  Beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until mixture leaves sides of pan and forms a small ball. Remove the dought from heat and quickly beat in 1 egg at a time, beating until smooth after each addition.   Dough may be shaped and baked at once or wrapped in wax paper and stored in refrigerator overnight. 

For baking, scoop mixture into about 2 tablespoon sized scoops and drop onto lightly greased baking sheet, about 2 inches apart.

 

Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for another 20 minutes or until they're golden brown.  Remove puffs to a wire baking rack and let them cool.

To make the filling:  Whisk together the pudding mix and milk (if using skim milk, only use 1 cup) in a medium bowl.  Fold cool whip into pudding mixture together.  Chill for about an hour for mixture to thicken a bit.  I tinted mine pink (not shown below) for Easter. Feel free to add a little food coloring to yours as well to jazz things up a bit :)

 

 

To finish, take the baked puffs and with a small, sharp knife, cut out a piece on the top of the puff.  Then take a good sized dollop of the pudding filling and top the bottom half of the puff.  Replace the top, sprinkle with powdered sugar and voila!  Perfect cream puffs!  Enjoy!  P.S. Cream puffs are best eaten on the same day they are made.

 

 

 

xoxo Melissa