Cream Puffs

At the insistence of my dear sister and cousin, I finally made cream puffs. Those crisp, round, hollow choux pastry filled with ice cream, sweetened whipped cream or vanilla pastry cream (creme patissiere), and drizzled with spun sugar, chocolate syrup or just a dusting of confectioner’s sugar.  

Some say the choux pastry shells look like small cabbages.  In French choux means cabbage, hence the name choux pastry.  Panterelli, head chef to Catherine de Medici (an Italian who married France’s Henry II) is credited by food historian as the inventor of choux pastry and it has been the base for many desserts like eclairs and profiteroles.

I made my cream puffs with vanilla creme patissiere topped with caramelized sugar.  My shells puffed up crisp and hollow with very minimal soft dough inside, which can be taken out to give more space for the filling.  The vanilla creme patissiere was smooth and creamy with just the right hint of vanilla, from the vanilla bean not extracts.  Except for my disastrous sugar syrup which did not turn into glassy crytal sugar.  I must say my attempt was a success, the cream puffs dissappeared in minutes.

Cream Puffs recipe from the www.joyofbaking.co