French | Soupbelly

I’m back for now. Sorry for the long hiatus; I’ve been going through a lot of stuff recently and I’ll explain it all some other time. For now, here’s a recipe (finally) for cream puffs. Cream puffs are a very versatile pastry used for both sweet desserts or savory hors d’oeuvres. The dough, called pâte à choux, is made with 5 simple ingredients, and after it is baked the outside is golden and crisp while the inside is delicately hollow, giving you ample space for various fillings such as cream, cheese, meat, or seafood. The same dough is also used for making éclairs.

For my cream puffs, I made a cream cheese filling with a hint of lemon. You can opt out the lemon if you prefer, or add something else in place of it, such as orange zest or vanilla extract.

Cream Puffs (Makes 20-24)

Ingredients for pâte à choux:

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 cup water
1/8 tsp. salt
1 cup all purpose flour
4 eggs

Ingredients for filling:

1/2 pint heavy cream
1 8oz. package of cream cheese
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. lemon zest

Directions:

1) In saucepan, combine butter, water and salt and bring to a boil. Add flour, stirring rigorously until the mixture forms a ball. Remove from heat and cool for 10 minutes.

2) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Add mixture to a mixer, and beat eggs in one at a time until smooth. If you don’t have a mixer, mix with a wooden spoon. On a cookie sheet, drop batter by teaspoons about 4 inches apart. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden. DO NOT open the oven to check until at least 5 minutes before bake time is over; the puffs will collapse if oven is opened too early. Cool on wire rack.

3) To make the filling: beat 1/2 pint heavy cream with a mixer until whipped, and set aside in a bowl in the refrigerator. Then start blending the cream cheese with powdered sugar, adding a little sugar at a time until combined. Add 1 tsp. lemon zest (optional). Fold in whipped cream by hand until combined with cream cheese.

4) Carefully cut the tops off the puffs and add a spoonful of cream cheese filling to each. Serve and enjoy!

**If you are serving at a later time, keep the puffs and the filling separate in the refrigerator until you’re ready to combine them. That way they won’t get soggy. If serving in the distant future, the puffs can filled with filling then frozen in zip-lock bags (for up to 2 months), then defrosted at room temperature.

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Directions with pretty pictures and elaborate jibber-jabber:

Melt 1/2 cup of butter in a saucepan.

Add salt. Don’t mind the 1/4 tsp. I used; I made a double batch.

Add water.

Let the mixture come to a boil.

Then add the flour.

Stir rigorously until the mixture forms a sticky ball of dough.

Like this.

Cool for about 10 minutes.

Preheat the oven for 400 degrees.

Put dough into the mixing bowl.

Add one egg at a time, beating until well blended before adding another egg.

Blend until dough is smooth.

On a cookie sheet, drop batter by teaspoons about 4 inches apart. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden. DO NOT open the oven to check until at least 5 minutes before bake time is over; the puffs will collapse if oven is opened too early.

Cool on wire rack.

To make the filling: beat 1/2 pint heavy cream with a mixer until whipped, and set aside in a bowl in the refrigerator.

Then start blending the cream cheese with powdered sugar, adding a little sugar at a time until combined.

Add 1 tsp. lemon zest (optional).

Fold in whipped cream by hand until combined with cream cheese.

Carefully cut the tops off the puffs and add a spoonful of cream cheese filling to each. I like to put the tops back on haphazardly to show a gap of filling. It’s like a tease.

Serve and enjoy!

Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to eat the rest of the plate.

Here’s a recipe for you to chew on. It’s a potato crusted quiche filled with crumbled sausage, onion, spinach, cheddar cheese and eggs. Great for breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner. Use breakfast sausage, Italian sausage, Chinese sausage, chorizo, etc. etc. The possibilities are endless. Also, opt out the cheddar cheese for another cheese if you’d like. As long as you use roughly the same amount of ingredients as I’ve listed, you should be set to go.

Potato Crusted Sausage, Onion and Spinach Quiche (adapted from seriouseats.com)

printable recipe

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lb. Russet Potatoes
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 small onion, finely diced
4 oz. sausage, cooked and crumbled
10 oz. box frozen spinach, cooked and roughly chopped
4 oz. cheddar cheese, grated or cubed
5 eggs
1/4 cup milk
salt and pepper

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Butter a 9 inch pie dish. Peel the potatoes and grate with a shredder. Mix the potatoes with parmesan, flour, salt and pepper. Press the potato mixture into the pie dish, pushing it along the sides. Transfer into the oven and bake for 30 minutes to dry the potatoes.

2) While the crust begins to bake, prepare the filling. In a sauté pan over medium heat, cook the onions and sausage together, until onions become translucent and sausage is cooked (about 10 minutes). Set aside. Cook the spinach according to directions on box, drain of any excess water. Cube or grate cheddar cheese.

3) Remove potato crust from the oven and reduce the oven temp. to 350 degrees. Layer spinach on bottom, then top with sausage and onion mixture. Top that with cheddar cheese.

4) In a mixing bowl, whisk eggs and milk together. Season with salt and pepper and pour over quiche. Bake for 25 minutes or until egg is set. Let sit for 10 minutes before slicing and serving (THIS IS IMPORTANT!!)

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Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Peel the potatoes and grate with a shredder.

Butter a 9 inch pie dish.

Mix the potatoes with parmesan, flour, salt and pepper.

Press the potato mixture into the pie dish, pushing it along the sides.

Transfer into the oven and bake for 30 minutes to dry the potatoes. Remove potato crust from the oven and reduce the oven temp. to 350 degrees.

While the crust begins to bake, prepare the filling. Cook the spinach according to directions on box, drain of any excess water.

Finely dice one small onion.

I used Bob Evans sausage. This was what was lying in my fridge. Again, any sausage will do.

In a sauté pan over medium heat, cook the onions and sausage together, until onions become translucent and sausage is cooked (about 10 minutes). Set aside.