Cream Puffs with Chocolate Ganache-just let everyone else think they are hard to make!
I’m so excited to be grouping up with some of my favorite bloggy friends to celebrate a special Holiday. Festivus. Are you a Seinfeld fan? If so, then you know exactly what I’m talking about. If not (like me) then here’s a little explanation for you.
Today we’re taking a break from all the Christmas celebrations to discuss an odd group of friends, a strange pole and a ‘show about nothing.’ And by now, all you Seinfeld fans are smiling. It’s been 15 years since the TV series left the air but it’s still very much around in syndication, popular culture and a little made-up holiday called Festivus. Celebrated with a bare pole and an airing of grievances, it’s a time to come together and say “I got a lot of problems with you people!” It’s all in good fun, of course, and in its 9 seasons, quite a lot of delicious food came up on the show. So some of my blogger friends and I decided to cook the foods best associated with the Seinfeld years and give away some great holiday gifts.
Aren’t my friends just the coolest? Did you catch that last line? There’s a giveaway involved today as well!
So now I guess I need to get into the spirit of the Holiday and air a few grievances.
I’m a happy person, I don’t really let things get to me, I just go with the flow and if someone annoys me, I just figure karma will catch up with them later.
So, let’s see what I can come up with.
My son’s socks. It’s actually become more of a joke these days. I feel sorry for his future wife, to be honest. My son just can not pick up his socks. I find them all over the house. It’s like they run away from him the minute he takes them off his feet. If you really want to know the full extent of this problem, I wrote a post about it and baked a cake in honor of his socks here. The Cinnamon Streusel Cake is worth the effort to click over.
Another sock issue. Matching socks, can’t stand to do it, I don’t do it. If you wear socks in my house, you’ll find them in a big bucket in the laundry room. Match them yourself.
Dirty dishes left in the sink. We have a dishwasher. Nuff said about that one.
I feel so lame. I really can’t think of much else to complain about. My life’s not perfect by any means, but I just go with the flow and let most of the annoying little things pass.
Now as for these cream puffs. I do have a grievance. My sister first made this recipe when she was in high school. She’s an overachiever like that. Always creating complicated recipes just to see if she could. She’s always made everything she accomplishes look so easy and effortless. I know now how hard she works for all that she’s achieved and I’m so proud of her.
She warned me the puff would be the hard part of this recipe. She’s wrong. The puff was the easy part, and effortless. I know this because I had to make the puffs 4 times before I got the cream filling right. And I ate most of those empty puffs. So light, mostly air in the middle, so I could eat more than one (or 3) and not fill up. No the cream was my issue. The first time I made it, I put the gelatin mixture in the fridge to chill and left it, thinking I could finish it the next day. Eight hours later, chatting with dear sis, I’m informed, no, you can’t just leave it. She was right, I had a hard rubbery, solid blob of gelled goop. The second time, I still let it chill too long, not my fault this time. I had a child calling needing a ride from school at the last minute. The third time. I made them at night. They came out wonderfully but the weather was awful for days and I never got them photographed. The forth time, perfection!
Cream Puffs
Ingredients
Pastry
- 1 Cup water
- 1/2 Cup butter
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 Cup all purpose flour
- 4 eggs
Vanilla cream filling
- 1 envelope unflavored gelatin
- 1/2 Cup sugar
- 2 Tablespoon all purpose flour
- 4 egg yolks (keep the egg whites for something else)
- 1 Cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
Chocolate Ganache
- 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375° F. Grease a large cookie sheet (or use parchment paper.)
- In 2 quart saucepan over medium heat, heat water, butter and salt till better melts and mixture boils. Remove from heat.
- Add flour all at once. With wooden spoon vigorously stir until mixture leaves sides of the pan and forms a ball. Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition. Using a large cookie scoop (use a small cookie scoop for minis) Drop by rounded tablespoonful onto cookie sheet The drops should be 1.5-2" in diameter. You can smooth out the tops with a moistened finger if you like.
- Bake 30-35 minutes or until golden. Remove to racks to cool.
- For the Vanilla Cream filling, In a 3 qt saucepan mix gelatin, sugar and flour. In a small bowl with wire whisk, beat egg yolks and milk till well mixed. Stir into gelatin mixture. Cook over med-low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon until mixture is very thick and coats the spoon well (about 10 minutes). Do not boil.
- Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Cover and refrigerate until cold, about 45 minutes (do not over chill)
- In a small bowl, beat heavy whipping cream till soft peaks form. Fold into custard mixture.
- Use a bread knife to slice tops off puff pastries (about 1/3 from the top to 1/2). Spoon cream into opening and a little more to fill the top. Place top back on top of your cream.
- Prepare your Chocolate ganache. Place chocolate in a medium bowl. In a small saucepan, heat cream over medium heat. At the first sign of boiling, remove from heat and pour hot cream over chocolate. Whisk till all the chocolate is melted and smooth. Spoon over prepared cream puffs.
Notes
To make eclairs, place pastry dough in a pastry bag with a large, wide tip, then pipe dough into a log on your baking sheet.
These cream puffs are best eaten the day they are made. If you do need to make them ahead of time. Gently cover with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator.
recipe source ChocolateChocolateandmore.com
Now this wouldn’t be a Festivus celebration without friends.
Check out all the wonderful creations my friends have come up with
Susan from The Girl In The Little Red Kitchen is making Marble Rye from “The Rye”
Kim from Cravings of a Lunatic is making Calzones from “The Calzone”
Renee from Magnolia Days is making Eggnog Frozen Yogurt from “The Non-Fat Yogurt”
Isabelle from Crumb is making Cherry Almond Muffin Tops from “The Muffin Tops”
Liz from That Skinny Chick Can Bake is making Challah Pretzels from “The Alternate Side”
Shanna from Pineapple and Coconut is making Lobster Scrambled Eggs with Wasabi Hollandaise and Crispy Leek and Potato Cakes from “The Hamptons”
Kelli from Kelli’s Retro Kitchen Arts is making a Big Salad from “The Big Salad”
Kelly from Kelly Bakes is making Mulligatawny Soup from “The Soup Nazi”
Joan from Chocolate, Chocolate and More is making Cream Puffs from “The Gymnast”
Marnely from Cooking with Books is making Apple Pie from “The Pie”
Diane from Created by Diane is making Black and White Cookies from “The Dinner Party”
Anita from Hungry Couple is making Chocolate Babka from “The Dinner Party”
Happy Festivus Everyone!
feel free to leave me a few grievance comments, after all it’s what this Holiday is all about!
Thank you to our amazing sponsors
Do you still want more?
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Liz says
4 times??? You are a trooper…but I would have been happy to help you eat the cast offs 🙂 Your cream puffs look perfect!
Lindsay @ Life, Love and Sugar says
I was really more of a Friends fan, so I don’t know the holiday, but I’ll make the cream puffs anyway 😉 They look awesome!
And I’m not a fan of matching socks either. I always come up missing some and my husband can’t seem to take them off without turning them inside out, so it’s really turning the right side out that gets tedious. 🙂
Shanna@ pineapple and coconut says
The first time I made cream puffs were from following my mom’s recipe. She makes them so often that she has it memorized. But she doesn’t write up recipes well. She left out some steps and some were wrong altogether. If I can recall I think my first time making them I ended up making the shells several times. Finicky little puffs I tell ya! Thanks so much for taking part in this! Happy Festivus!
Isabelle @ Crumb says
Oh man, I’d have grievances with cream puffs too if I’d had to make them 4 times. I don’t think I can eat that many, for one, even if it is spread out over a few days. Hopefully you managed to enlist the neighbours to help you out with all the extras or something. 🙂
Kayle (The Cooking Actress) says
I. LOVE. Cream puffs!!!! and how deceptively simple they are to make–yours are gorgeous!
Amber says
My fiance watches Seinfeld every night for about an hour. Not going to lie, it irks me! It’s not my favorite show, but it’s one of his favorites. I’d love to win the boxed set for him!
Kitchen Kelli says
These look so delicious! I had no idea cream puffs were so easy to make. I could eat ganache (that I learned from you to make) with a spoon and nothing else. I can’t wait to make these for the family. Thanks for participating and making my first time such a great one – and also for being persistent in making them!
Renee says
Dang, I would have driven to your house to get those extra puffs while you were playing around with the cream filling. At least they did not go to waste. Now if you would just pass that platter through the screen to me it would be wonderful.
Laura @ Lauras Baking Talent says
I am not a big fan, but these cream puffs look to die for 🙂
colleen says
heavy whipping cream??? do I have to whip it first or just add to recipe..
Joan Hayes says
For the cream filling, you whip the cream till soft peaks form then fold it into the gelatin mixture. For the chocolate ganache, you just heat the cream (no whipping) then pour over your chocolate.
Christiane - Taking On Magazines says
I haven’t attempted cream puffs since my failed croqembouche and now you’ve made me want to give them a go again. Even though it took 4 times, yours are perfect. And I’m sure they were the previous times. It sounds like life intervened, not that the recipe went wrong.
Janine Solley says
I”ve made cream puffs before but cheated and used vanilla pudding.. it was much easier. I’m going to try this recipe… wish em luck…!!! Saturday is my daugther’s 14th birthday and she wants to take something different into school on Friday. Since her Bday celebration at school always pairs up with Christmas we don’t do cookies or cupcakes… was going to use strawberries and banannas cut up and formed into a candy cane like pattern… but these cream puffs seem like a good idea too…!! Hmmmm…. BUT… let’s see what’s she’s willing ot help with… LOL. I have MS and losing energy quickly these days so as long as she’s willing to help we can do anything..!!! Thansk for the recipe..!!!
Sharon Cooke says
I love Seinfeld!! It sounds like such a fun party!! I hope you have a wonderful time. I guess my grievance right now is that I don’t have any darn cream puffs… they look yummy!!
Roxanna says
I LOVE cream puffs! Those look awesome. I’m definitely going to have to make them!
Kim Beaulieu says
Trying to match socks is about as possible as actually finishing the laundry with teenagers in the house, lol. I like your attitude woman, going with the flow is a good thing.
I love these cream puffs. They are one of my favourite things to make and eat. So yummy. I eat half of them right out of the oven.
Happy Festivus lady. xx
Dionne Baldwin says
Matching socks is pointless in my house. I usually get my complaint out of the way with the person involved so everything is aired out at the moment, but I got a kick out of reading yours! Going with the flow is great. And let karma do the dirty work. 🙂 That leaves more time for cream puffs!
Evangeline Ng says
I love love love cream puffs! Going to make some. How much is an envelope of gelatine? My store had it in bottles. Thanks!
Joan Hayes says
I Use Knox unflavored gelatin, it comes in a 1 ounce package with 4 envelopes, so each envelope is 1/4 ounce.
Beverly says
Am I correct in thinking since instruction # 3 stated eclairs, that this recipe would work for eclairs also?? Thank you for this recipe since I have not found one that I can make as of yet. They always fall (not that I mind eating them), but I can’t serve them like that to guests!! lol
Joan Hayes says
Yes this certainly would, for eclairs, you would want to pipe your dough in a log shape to bake.
Lana says
It was so fun to read through all the recipes associated with the Seinfeld food episodes! Your cream puffs look amazing!
Cinder says
I have made cream puffs plenty of times but I also use french vanilla pudding but I add some almond extract and some cool whip… Really light and delicious.