Cream puffs (Choux Puffs)
18 February 2009 dans Uncategorized

Ingredients
- 200 ml water
- 80g butter
- a pinch of salt
- 100g self raising flour
- 3 eggs beaten (I used only 2 1/2 eggs since my eggs are bigger)
Method
- Bring water, butter and salt to boil quickly
- Lower fire and pour all flour in. Stir vigorously to get a cook dough.
- Leave to cool for 5 minutes.
- Add in beaten egg slowly to get a thick batter.
- Lay on baking tray (lined with grease paper)
- Scoop 1 Tbsp batter for each puff. can also piped them out to achieve prettier puffs.
- Bake at 180C degree for 20mins (longer for bigger puffs)
- Slit top once cooked and cool it on a wire rack

I got some useful tips for the method above.
- Bringing water and butter to boil quickly at high heat so that butter melt before too much steam is release.
- When flour is added in, stir with a wooden spoon quickly to make sure there is no lump left. Best reduce heat and stir until you can see the batter leaves the side of the pan
- When adding eggs, do it little by little so that the egg will mix evenly for a better rising. I divided 3 beaten eggs into 6 time mixing.
- Do not grease with too much butter otherwise bottom will burn easily. When using parchment paper, I do not grease.
- First round I scooped with a spoon. Not so pretty. 2nd time I piped them out (using a normal plastic, cut a corner and swirl the batter out in swirls). I get prettier puffs.
- First 10mins I baked at 200C degree. Then another 10 mins, I reduce heat to 180C. To achieve a golden brown, I add another 3 minutes since my puff is bigger.
- Once cooked (the oven rings), I took them out immediately to slit with a scissors. Then quickly put back into the oven to continue heating (after oven is turned off) leaving the door a bit open (I slot my baking glove at the door . This is to prevent sogginess so that inner part of the puff can be dried with the leftover heat from the oven.

My beautiful golden puffs. I hope they look edible (this is the best shot from my memory stick). Great to eat with the cream fillings.
