Cream Puffs

2 day recipe

Ingredients for cream puff dough:
125 ml water
60 ml butter
1 ml salt
7 ml sugar
125 ml all-purpose flour 
2 eggs

Ingredients for pastry cream:
375 mL whole milk, or heavy cream
125 mL sugar
60 mL flour
pinch of salt
4 large egg yolks
5 mL vanilla extract

Method:
For cream puff dough:
1. Place oven rack in centre. Preheat the oven to 425°F. 
2. In a large saucepan, bring the water, butter, salt and sugar to a rolling boil on medium-high heat.
3. Turn down the heat to medium and add in all the flour at once. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon for 2-3 minutes or until the mixture comes together to form a dough, and leaves a film of flour on the bottom of the sauce pan. 
4. Transfer the dough to a stand mixer and spread the dough out. Let it cool for about 3 minutes. 
5. Beat in the eggs 1 at a time with the paddle attachment; make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl after each addition.
6. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. You can use a lightly wet finger to smooth the tops of the cream puffs.
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown. Centres should be dry. 
8. Take shells out of the oven and using a toothpick poke a hole on the side into the centre to release steam. Bake for another 10 minutes.
9. In units: both groups in each unit will transfer all the cream puffs to a serving tray (blue/red plastic trays). Fill in the slip to identify if the left or right side of the tray belongs to your group. Set the tray on the trolley. We will fill them next day. 

For pastry cream:
1. Warm the milk in a saucepan until you start to see wisps of steam. It should not be boiling
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour and salt. Add the egg yolks and whisk them into the dry ingredients. This will form a thick paste. It's fine if the paste looks crumbly or smooth; the important thing is that the ingredients are thoroughly combined
3. Pour a little of the hot milk into the eggs and whisk to combine. Continue pouring the milk slowly into the eggs, whisking continuously. It's ok to switch back and forth between pouring milk and whisking if you can't manage both at the same time.
4. When all the milk has been added to the eggs, pour everything back into the saucepan. Set a strainer over a bowl and place this near the stove.
5. Set the pan back over medium heat. Whisk constantly. At first, the pastry cream will look very thin and frothy, but it will start to thicken after a few minutes. When it has thickened to a pudding-like consistency, pause whisking every few seconds to see if the cream has come to a boil. If you see large bubbles popping on the surface, whisk for a few more seconds and then remove the pan from heat.
6. Stir the vanilla into the pastry cream and then pour the cream into the strainer set over the bowl. Stir to push it through the strainer. This will catch any bits of cooked egg that may be in your pastry cream.
7. Cover the pastry cream with a piece of plastic wrap pressed right up against the surface of the cream and chill completely.
8. Fill the cream puffs!