The Cream Puff

I posted about pastry cream a few months ago and my excitement upon discovering that Alton Brown included his own pastry cream recipe in Good Eats: The Early Years. Well, I finally got around to trying this new application and found it to be an intriguing culinary adventure; one that I look forward to taking again and again.

The first hurdle to overcome was making the pâte à choux; something I had never attempted. I felt confident, though, since I was armed with detailed instructions from AB's book, as well as a recent viewing of Choux Shine fresh in my mind. With high spirits, I began working on the new challenge I laid out for myself.

To my delight, the pâte à choux was quite easy to make. I made both eclair (long) and cream puff (round) shapes from the dough. The cream puff shapes turned out better with a bigger cavity inside. I wasn't able to get much lift out the eclair shape, and I still don't know what I did wrong. The cream puffs were perfectly shaped, and even though AB suggested filling them with ice cream or turkey salad, I decided to use pastry cream.

The pastry cream was a cinch to make, too. The cream came out thick, rick and velvety smooth without a single lump to be found, unlike to many of my attempts with other recipes. I filled the puffs with the cream, melted some chocolate, drizzled it on top, and my cream puffs were complete. They were a hit both in taste and presentation. I couldn't be happier with the way they turned out. Thanks again for the pastry cream recipe, Alton!