Puff Pastries

Source: Jennifer Hollhubner

Yield: about 18 pastries

Rating: 3 of 5 – easy, fast, tricky

Ingredients

• ¾ c. water
• 1/3 c. butter or margarine
• ¾ c. flour
• 3 eggs
• Filling:
• small box of vanilla pudding
• 1/3 c. whipping cream
• a few ounces of chocolate for drizzle

Directions

• In a sauce pan, heat water and butter/margarine. Bring almost to boiling. Remove from heat and stir in the flour until well-mixed and forms a ball.
• Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing each egg well before adding the next.
• Drop by the teaspoon-full onto a greased pan. (Note: the best pastries are achieved if the drops of dough are very smooth and round.)
• Bake at 400 degrees F for 20 to 22 minutes. Make sure you do not open the oven during this time!
• Make the vanilla pudding per the instructions on the box. Whip the whipping cream until stiff peaks form and then fold it into the pudding. Open each puff and pipe in the cream filling. Drizzel the puffs with melted chocolate.

Notes

I have made this recipe a number of times. On some occasions, the pastries refuse to “puff” and it all fails. I think the quality and age of the butter (or whether it is butter vs. margarine) may be the trick.