It's A Cream Puff Day

Oh, cream puffs! How I adore you. Especially after I realized that I can make and eat a dozen without having to break the bank at Beard Papa's!

The Beaverton Uwajimaya recently opened a new Beard Papa's (first in Oregon, I believe). Of course, I had to try them! Unfortunately, this brand-new Beard Papa's was still working out some chinks and the service was a bit haphazard. For example, the girl making the cream puffs for the customers in front of me was quite generous with the cream; but when my turn came, a different girl took over and she was more efficient, but less crowd-pleasing. The joy of enjoying my cream puff was a bit diminished when my cream puff was only half-filled.

Of course always looking for a silver lining, the affront to my cream puff inspired me to try my hand at making my own. A quick Allrecipes search landed a seemingly easy cream puff recipe. Yet, when I read the reviews, I became fearful of deflating cream puffs (a common problem with the recipe apparently). I read a few more articles and watched a video on making cream puffs before setting out.

The result? Beautiful, decadent cream puffs! I fear for my waistline... now that I have easy access to cream puff-ery! The vanilla pudding cream makes the cream puff recipe really easy, but the taste is not quite Beard Papa's worthy. Maybe it's because I substituted milk for the heavy cream. Next time, I will try filling up the cream puff shells with a pastry cream recipe (used in making fruit tarts) for additional indulgence.

Cream Puffs 
--modified from Allrecipes.com--

2 (3.5oz) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk

1/2 cup butter
1 cup water
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 eggs

Directions:

1. Whisk together vanilla instant pudding mix, cream, and milk in large bowl for about 2 minutes. Transfer mixture into a gallon-size ziplock bag. Refrigerate to set.
2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
3. In a saucepan, bring water and butter to a rolling boil. Stir in flour and salt until mixture forms a ball. Transfer dough to a large mixing bowl and let cool for a few minutes. Using an electric mixture, beat in eggs one at a time. Beat until dough is tacky and elastic. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto a greased baking sheet. 
4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown. Turn off oven and use a toothpick to poke a hole in each cream puff. Leave cream puff shells in oven for additional 5 minutes to prevent deflating. 
5. Remove cream puff shells from oven and let cool. Snip a small corner in ziplock bag containing pudding mixture and then fill each cream puff shell with pudding mixture. 

Some additional tips: 

• Use any pudding flavor you want. Next time, I will try chocolate! Experiment :).
• The dough was very very sticky! I got really messy and dough was everywhere! Next time, I might scoop all the dough into a large ziplock bag, cut a corner of the bag, and pipe the dough onto the baking sheets. 
• Use a ziplock bag (or pastry bag if you have one) to squeeze in cream filling into each cream puff.

Dropping batter by 2 tablespoonfuls!
I like my cream puffs big!

Cream Cheese Frosting (with Red Velvet Cupcakes)

One thing that you should know about me is that I'm a hoarder. Yep, my pantry and fridge and freezer are stocked full at all times. I dislike throwing away food, so I'll refrigerate or freeze food as long as I can. Hoarding isn't as great as it sound... When it comes around to spring cleaning, I always end up throwing away lots of freezer-burned mystery meat or expired cans.

One hoarded item was a box of red velvet cupcake mix. I probably should have made the cupcakes when I first received the mix (as a birthday gift) a few years back... But I wanted to save it for a "special" occasion; when the opportunity and the time never coincided, the mix got shoved to the back of my pantry. I found this a few weeks back, aaaand, well, cake mix can't really go bad, right? I finally made these Sprinkles (think it's a famous cupcake shop?) Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting, and they still tasted pretty darn good. Bomb-dot-com good!

The cincher was the cream cheese frosting. The instructions for cream cheese frosting that came along with the mix is a definite keeper. Not too sweet with enough cream cheese flavor that shines through. One problem I had was that my frosting was too runny even after adding the required amount of powdered sugar. The solution? More powder sugar! I added 1/4 cup more powder sugar at a time, beating well after each addition. Also, I tasted the frosting (yummy!) after each addition, in order to avoid overly sweet frosting. I was trying achieve the perfect nirvana in terms of frosting: a stiffer frosting that also isn't sickeningly sweet. The original recipe is below, add more powder sugar at your pleasure!


Cream Cheese Frosting

8oz cold cream cheese
1 stick unsalted butter, firm but not cold
1/8 tsp. salt
3 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

1. With an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese, butter, and salt on medium-low speed until smooth and creamy (about 2 to 3 minutes).
2. Reduce speed to low, and gradually beat in confectioners' sugar until incorporated. Add vanillla.
3. If frosting is too thick: add milk 1 tsp. at a time until frosting is at a spreadable consistency.
4. If frosting is too thin: add additional powder sugar 1/4 cup at a time until frosting is at spreadable consistency.