PASTRIES - CREAM PUFFS #1

Makes 18 swans

2/3 cup water

3 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon sugar

Pinch salt

2/3 cup sifted all-purpose flour

3 to 4 eggs

1 egg, slightly beaten, for glazing

1 recipe of Chantilly Cream or 1 recipe of Pastry Cream  

CHOUX PASTRY

Preheat the oven to 400F.  Brush 2 baking sheets with the softened butter. 

Combine the water, butter, sugar, and salt in a heavy-bottomed saucepan.  Cook over medium heat until the butter melts and the water comes up to a boil; remove from the heat and add the flour all at once.  Beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until thick, smooth dough forms.  Reduce the heat to low and return the pan to the stove.  Cook, stirring constantly, until the dough pulls away from the sides and bottom of the pan.  Remove the pan from the heat and beat in 1 egg until thoroughly blended.  Repeat with the second egg.  Lightly beat the third egg in a small bowl and add it to the dough, a little at a time, until the dough is smooth, shiny, and falls slowly from the spoon in a point.  (It may not be necessary to use all the third egg, or it may be necessary to add all or part of a fourth egg in the same manner, depending on the size of the eggs and the quality of the flour.)

To Make Round Choux Puffs

Fit the pastry bag with the plain 1/2 –inch tip and spoon in the dough.  Pipe small mounds of dough, about 1 inch in diameter and ½ inch high, 1 to 2 inches apart on the baking sheet.  Brush each choux with egg glaze; flatten slightly with the back of a fork dipped in water.  Bake for 15 minutes without opening the oven door.  Reduce the oven temperature to 350F and continue baking until choux puffs are golden, including the interior of any small cracks, and sound hollow when tapped, 5 to 10 minutes longer.  Cool on a rack.

To Make Swans

For the body of the swans, fit the pastry with medium plain tip and fill with dough.  Pipe 18 teardrop shapes – about 1 inch wide by 1 ½ inches long – approximately 2 inches apart on the baking sheets.  Brush with egg glaze and bake 15 minutes without opening the oven door.  Reduce the oven temperature to 350F and continue baking until choux puffs are golden, including the interior of any small cracks, and sound hollow when tapped, 5 to 10 minutes longer.  Cool on a rack.

For the heads and necks, fit a pastry bag with the small plain tip and fill it with the remaining dough.  Pipe 18 S-shaped figures, each about 2 inches long, on the baking sheet.  Bake, unglazed, for about 8 minutes without opening the oven door.  Reduce the heat to 350F and continue baking until golden, about 4 to 7 minutes.  Cool on a rack. 

Assemble The Swans

Slice the top one-third off each body with a serrated knife.  Cut each top in half, lengthwise, to make wings.  Set aside.  Pipe a continuous figure 8 of Chantilly cream into the cavities of each body, finishing about 2 inches above the top of the pastry.  Sift confectioner’s sugar over the outsides of the wings.  Insert 2 wings, rounded edges down, into the center of each Chantilly cream body so that they form a V shape, with the rounded edges meeting in the cream and the pointed tips standing out like uplifted wings.  Insert an S-shaped neck into the cream at the narrow end of each body.  Pipe a small point at the wide end to represent the tail.  Serve on a platter. 

From Le Cordon Bleu At Home.