Description
Quick and easy pastry shells you can stuff with anything.
Ingredients
- 1 cup Water
- 6 tablespoons Butter
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1/8 teaspoon pepper
- Pinch of nutmeg
- 1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
- 4 eggs for the pâte à choux
- 1 egg, beaten, to tamp the tops of the puff pastries
- Butter or cooking spray to coat the baking sheets
Instructions
- Note: If you are making sweet puffs, omit the pepper, and reduce the salt from 1 teaspoon to a pinch.
- Bring water to boil with the butter, salt, pepper (if making savory ones), sugar and nutmeg, and boil slowly until the butter has melted.
- Measure the flour by putting a measuring cup on some wax paper, and sifting the flour over it until the cup is overflowing. Then level the top with the flat edge of a knife, or some such device.
- Remove the butter mixture from the heat, and immediately pour in all the flour. Beat it with a wooden spoon for several seconds until it is thoroughly blended.
- Return the pan to moderately high heat on the stove, and beat it with the wooden spoon until a mass forms and it pulls away from the sides. This should just take a minute or two.
- Remove it from the heat, once again, and one at a time beat in the eggs until they have been absorbed. Don’t add another egg until the previous one is well combined.
- Pipe or spoon little mounds about 1 1⁄2” wide and 1⁄2” tall onto a greased baking sheet. Then coat a spoon lightly with beaten egg and #atten the tops of the mounds ever so slightly. Do not let egg drip down the puff – or it won’t puff
- Place in preheated 425 degree oven, and bake for 20 minutes or until they are about doubled in size and golden brown. Turn o! the oven.
- Remove your beautiful puff pastries from the oven, slice a little hole in each one with a small knife, to release the steam, and then return them to the turned-off oven for 10 minutes or more to finish drying out.
- At this point you can fill them with whatever you want. Pipe some soft ice-cream into them, and drizzle chocolate on them, like we did; slice the tops off and fill them with tuna salad, like we also did; fill them with a chocolate mousse…it’s up to you.
- You can make these a bit ahead of time, if you like, and reheat them in a 425 degree oven for three minutes to crisp them back up, then put them together for your gathering.