Cream Puffs

Pate a Choux, used to make cream puffs for the church ladies.
Recipe courtesy Mr. Brown

Ingredients

* 1 cup water
* 3/4 stick butter (6 tablespoons)
* 1 tablespoon sugar plus 1/8 teaspoon salt
* 5 3/4 ounces flour
* 1 cup eggs, about 4 large eggs and 2 whites
* vanilla pudding
* milk
* 1 cup chocolate chips
* 1 tbsp vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Boil water, butter, and salt or sugar. Add flour and remove from heat. Work mixture together and return to heat. Continue working the mixture until all flour is incorporated and dough forms a ball. Transfer mixture into bowl of a standing mixer and let cool for 3 or 4 minutes. With mixer on stir or lowest speed add eggs, 1 at a time, making sure the first egg is completely incorporated before continuing.

Once all eggs have been added and the mixture is smooth put dough into piping bag fitted with a round tip. Pipe immediately into golfball-size shapes, 2 inches apart onto parchment lined sheet pans. Raise oven temperature to 425. Cook for 10 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350 degrees F and bake for 10 more minutes or until golden brown. Once they are removed from the oven pierce with a paring knife immediately to release steam.

Prepare pudding of your choice (I used Jello vanilla) with 3/4 of the liquid called for. Load pudding into piping bag fitted with star tip. Using the hole you created to let the steam out, pipe in enough pudding to fill the cream puff.

Melt chocolate chips in a double boiler with oil. When completely melted, dip tops of each cream puff in chocolate and allow to cool before devouring.

Makes about 4 dozen.

This was so frickin easy I didn't even want to take credit for them last night. Everybody loved them...I think they'd taste good frozen, too.