Cream Puffs Choux Pastry

[judydawn]

Hi renea, welcome to the forum.  Boy, if you can pull that off you will be going great - are you going to have a trial run with the cream puffs? 

[achookwoman]

Renea, this is the best recipe.  Do a test run first,  they wont be wasted.  Welcome to the Forum Renea.

[CreamPuff63]

make sure you take a photo and post it 

[the_vermins]

This was SO easy to make!  Made some last night and made them too big, but that's ok.  Next time I'm going to make smaller ones perhaps a heaped teaspoon size.  Tis my bday today so hubby used them as my cake.  He filled them with custard and topped them with nutella.  I like!!!

[judydawn]

Happy birthday for yesterday Steph, hope you had a lovely day. Sounds like DH did a great job with the puffs.

[CreamPuff63]

  well done! and happy birthday (if I could choose something sweet for my birthday it would be cream puffs too) Hope your day is filled with good friends and laughter

[Cuilidh]

A bit late with my birthday greetings, but hope you had a great day.

[Wonder]

I'm thinking of making a tower of these for my daughters birthday - how far in advance could I make them (without filling) and keep in an airtight container or freeze?

Thanks

[CreamPuff63]

This is what I found on the web:

UNFILLED PUFFS:

Refrigerator: If thoroughly baked, unfilled cream puffs may be refrigerated for a couple of days, but it does stale quickly, so I recommend freezing, instead. Before refrigerating, you'll first want to cut them open and remove the strands of dough to prevent sogginess. Wrap all puffs individually after they have cooled and before freezing. Place them is a resealable plastic bag being careful not to put too many in at once.

Freezer: If you have more dough than you need or want to make them in advance, bake all of it and freeze the finished puffs for up to 3 months (best at one month) and an airtight container and keep away from freezer odors. There's no need to cut cream puffs open or remove the strands of dough before freezing. Thaw at room temperature. To crisp, unwrap and place in a 325 degree F oven until warm. Let cool and fill as desired.

[achookwoman]

CP63,  this recipe is brilliant.  I have said I would make mini Eclairs for a charity function.  I need to make 120  I did a test run and 1 recipe made 16, using a piping bag.  Could I make double the mixture?  Would appreciate any advice .

[Wonder]

How do I get these to keep a good eclair shape? They looked fantastic when I piped them but now that they are cooking they are very misshapen

[CreamPuff63]

yes they do have a tendency to puff out in the least unexpected places. I like to put these ones aside and eat them myself before putting the others on display  You can either use 2 spoons to make a neat shape when placing on the baking tray, or pipe them on.

Apparently you can even freeze the shaped dough and bake it, still frozen, at the last minute.

[achookwoman]

When Piped they hold their shape better.

[Wonder]

Well I've now piped two quantities and they are still puffing up all over the place. I'm sure they will taste good just don't look how I would like them to. The second lot I piped very small eclair shapes and scraped them with a fork as in a few tube videos and they work better but still not perfect, now for the icing. Do I just use melted chocolate or add a little cream to it?

[cookie1]

I use straight chocolate.