My Mistakes

Last night we enjoyed the company of great friends, the smells of delicious Italian cuisine, and the taste of some of the best bargain wines available. It was an exceptional evening...with two exceptions. My assignment was to provide an appetizer and a dessert. Here's what I learned:

1. When it says to let dough rise in a warm place...put it in a warm place. Over a cold stove is not sufficiently warm.

2. Follow directions carefully. My Cream Puff filling went into the trash after reading "slowly add one third of the egg mixture into it" rather than"slowly add one third of it into the egg mixture". Curdled filling is gross. Jello Pudding to the rescue!

Sometimes creating from scratch is more fun, but you have to be willing to accept the higher risk of failure involved. I had a 1/3 success rate for recipes this time...but I would say the event was a huge hit!

Here's the only successful recipe...fill these delicious pastries with pudding, whipped cream, or ice cream :)

1 cup water
1/2 cup butter
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 eggs

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a baking sheet. In a medium saucepan combine water, butter, and salt. Bring to boiling. Add flour all at once, stirring vigorously. Cook and stir until mixture forms a ball. Remove from heat. Cool for 10 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well with a wooden spoon after each addition.
2. Drop 12 heaping tablespoons of dough onto prepared baking sheet. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until golden and firm. Transfer cream puffs to a wire rack and let cool.
3. Cut tops from puffs; remove soft dough from inside. Fill with whipped cream, pudding, or ice cream. Replace tops. If desired, sift powdered sugar over tops.
4. Makes 12 cream puffs