This is one of the most popular dessert recipes featured on One Chef One Critic. It came from Andrea Maunder, who often appears in our wine pairing segments. Andrea and partner, Mike Barsky, own Bacalao Restaurant in St. John’s. While Mike runs the main kitchen, Andrea often looks after developing and preparing desserts for Bacalao in her separate pastry kitchen. Her Cream Puffs are a real treat.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (250 ml) water
- ½ cup (125 ml) butter
- 1 cup (250 ml) flour
- 4 eggs, beaten but not whipped
Filling
- 1 cup (250 ml) whipping cream
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) sugar (or to taste)
- dash vanilla extract
How to Make It
- In a saucepan, boil water with butter. When butter has melted, add flour all at once. Stir with wooden spoon until mixture leaves sides of pan, coming together in a ball. Remove from heat.
- Transfer dough ball to bowl of electric mixer. Beat in eggs one at a time until incorporated. The resulting mixture will be a little sticky but will hold together. Preheat oven to 425 F (220 C).
- Line a pan with parchemnt paper and drop dough onto it in 8 mounds of equal size. Have a separation of 3 inches (7 cm) between mounds. Bake on middle rack of oven for 45 to 50 minutes or until golden, firm, and hollow-looking. Remove from oven and poke a hole in each puff near its bottom. Return to oven for another 3 or 4 minutes until puffs dry out. Remove from oven and cool on rack.
- Just before serving, whip the cream with sugar and vanilla. Cut puffs in half laterally. Fill bottom half with cream and replace top. Spoon desired topping over – homemade jam works well – and serve with a little more cream if you like.
