The next two months are filled with family gatherings, holiday parties and, of course, baking. If you're looking for something unique to bring to your next function, try choux pastry.
It's a basic pastry recipe that is commonly used to make cream puffs and eclairs, as well as gougeres, a.k.a. cheesy puffs.
The word choux means cabbage in French, which is a little what the blobs of pastry look like when cooked.
It is a rare pastry that consists of adding flour to boiling water and fat to develop the gluten. This causes the dough to puff up into a crisp shell when baked, leaving a space in the middle that can be stuffed with a variety of fillings.
These pastries can be made in an assortment of sizes. Small pastries make good finger food and large ones can be either an appetizer to be served on a plate or a light and delicious dessert.
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You can also make these pastries ahead of time. Just fill and freeze them, then thaw them out a few hours before the big event.
With so many options, you'll want to make these pastries year-round.
Basic Choux Pastry:
This recipe makes about 2 ½ cups of pastry. It makes about 48 little puffs or 24 bigger puffs..
Ingredients:
1 cup of water
1 cup of beaten eggs (about five large eggs)
3 ½ ounces unsalted butter
1 cup all-purpose white flour
A pinch of salt
Equipment:
two baking sheets
parchment paper
a sturdy Ziploc bag and scissors or piping bag with round nozzle.
Instructions: Heat oven to 420 F. Line the baking sheets with parchment paper and spray with oil.
Cut up the butter, and put it with the water and salt in a pan. Heat over medium heat until the butter has melted. Add flour, and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until the flour is completely incorporated and the dough ball starts to slightly film the pan with floury residue. (This means that excess water has gone.)
Remove from heat. Transfer the dough to an electric mixer and beat on a low speed a minute or two to release the steam from the dough.
Once the dough is lukewarm, add the beaten eggs and continue to mix until you have a smooth thick paste. Spoon or pipe mounds of dough onto the baking sheet, spacing them a couple of inches apart.
Beat together one egg and a pinch of salt for the glaze. Using a pastry brush, gently brush the glaze on the tops of the dough.
Baking time varies depending on how big your blobs are. Bake two-inch blobs for 15 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 350 F and bake for an additional 30 to 40 minutes, or until the shells are a nice amber color and they are dry inside when split.
Turn the oven off and, with the oven door slightly ajar, let the shells dry out for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove them from the oven. Either poke a hole in each of the puffs or slit them open and let them cool on a wire rack.
These little shells can be kept in an airtight box for a few days.
Fillings:
Savory fillings: Try tuna or chicken salad, baby shrimp with curry-flavored mayonnaise. Dolce latte (or any other blue cheese) mixed with butter is also a good filling. Sprinkle paprika on top for a finishing touch. You can also mix smoked ham or smoked salmon with herbs and cream cheese to use as a filling or even an egg salad, which can be given a kick with horseradish or hot sauce.
Salmon mousse filling: Beat 1 cup softened cream cheese in a bowl and add ¼ cup cooked salmon or smoked salmon, ¼ teaspoon Old Bay seasoning, 2 teaspoon dill and 1 to 2 teaspoons cream (to thin the mixture to piping consistency).
Crab mousse filling: Mix together 1 cup softened cream cheese, ½ cup cooked lump crab meat, ¼ teaspoon Sriracha sauce or other hot sauce, 2 teaspoons dill or parsley and some cream (again, to thin the mixture). If you do not like hot sauce, use horseradish or wasabi, or even some minced garlic or garlic seasoning. You can even use ¼ cup of onion dip mix if you have time for it to set a while.
Sweet fillings:
To make sweetened whipped cream, whip 1 cup heavy cream until almost stiff, add ¼ cup powdered sugar and ½ teaspoon vanilla. Beat until stiff. Fill the puffs and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
For chocolate cream, use the recipe above, but add 3 tablespoons cocoa or Hershey's chocolate syrup with the sugar and vanilla. Sprinkle tops with cocoa instead of powdered sugar.
For other flavored creams add sufficient seedless preserves like raspberry, plum or apricot to taste. You can also add a teaspoon of flavored liquor like Hot Damn or Kahlua for adult tastes.
Once you have the basics, you can experiment with any number of fillings.
Susan Havers is owner and chef of the historic Elk Mountain Hotel. She has a diploma in cuisine and pastry from l'Ecole de Cordon Bleu in Paris. For more information, see www.elkmountainhotel.com.
