Cream Puffs

I am so thankful for this day.  It's been a while since I've been able to sit down on a Saturday morning with my coffee, feet up, and enjoy writing a blog.  A quick {side note - I love drinking my coffee from my "Mrs" cup.  I'm convinced it makes my Starbucks Blonde taste so much better.}  

It was Sunday morning on Labor Day weekend that I made a pot of coffee and snuggled up on the couch to watch Super Soul Sunday on OWN (Josh was golfing with my dad and brother) and I decided to give my mom a quick call to see what she was doing for the day.  {another side note: I am so thankful for the relationship that my husband has with my dad and brother. It makes my heart so happy}  After a few minutes of the usual "what did you do this weekend?" she said "I was thinking I might try to make cream puffs today...would you want to come up and do that with me?"  There was no need for "thinking about it" and I immediately said "yes...yes, I want to do that.  I will be up after Super Soul Sunday."  It was a nice moment for me because while I was excited to go make cream puffs, I had a sense of happiness, thankfulness, and joy overflow my body as I thought "I'm going to go spend the day in the kitchen with my mom, making cream puffs, sharing laughs, and making memories."  Making cream puffs and that experience will be something that I will share with my children some day as she has shared with me the many experiences and memories that she has with my grandma (her mother).  It just made me feel happy.  

I loaded up the dog (he loves going to grammy's house), put on my comfy clothes, and headed north to my moms.  The morning started out over coffee at the kitchen table and swapping stories and laugh and then she said...."Well, we better get started on these cream puffs before the guys get back" and that's just what we did.  Mom started delegating ingredients "Open up a stick of butter...need a cup of water...don't forget the flour...I will work on the cream filling...the dough needs to cool...I'll crack the eggs" and before I knew it, we had our very own version of Hell's Kitchen going on at 806 Cherry Lane, mom was the sous chef of course, and then I realized that we were half way through the process and I had not documented our recipe with photos for my blog.  So...I apologize.  I got a few but not photos of the step by step process.  

 Love her. 

 Bently & Ruby playing while we baked

                    

 

Cream Puffs:
1 cup flour
1 stick butter
1 cup water
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 pint of chilled whipping cream
1 box of instant white chocolate pudding
1 box of instant vanilla pudding
2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 425

First, add water and butter to sauce pan and bring to boil.  Once boiling, quickly stir the flour into the water/butter mixture until it forms a ball, then set aside to cool.  While your puff dough is cooling, prepare the cream filling.  With a stand or hand mixer and using the whisk attachment, whip your cream and vanilla until stiff.  In a separate bowl, stir the two boxes of pudding together with the milk (will be very thick).  Once complete, fold the pudding into the whipping cream.  When cream filling is complete, spoon into a piping/icing bag and put in the fridge to chill.  

Now that your puff dough is cooled down, add it to your mixing bowl and add one egg at a time and mix completely.  Once all eggs have been added, turn up the speed for 15-20 seconds to add some air and make sure they are mixed thoroughly.  Once finished,  spoon the dough with a teaspoon or mini cookie scoop onto the baking sheet (sounds small but trust me, they will grow in the oven) and bake for 20-25 mins or until golden brown.  When you take them out of the oven it is very important to poke a hole or two in the top to release the heat or else they will get soggy in the center.

Once the puffs are cooled completely, you may either cut them in half and pipe the center with cream filling or poke a hole in the side and fill the center with the cream filling.  My mom and I both like to do it differently :)  Last, dust the tops of them with powdered sugar and drizzle with chocolate.  {Side note: store left over cream puffs in the fridge or they will get soggy} 

They are sure to be a hit - Enjoy!

I hope you've enjoyed this post from my mom's kitchen

-K-