My Very Simple Way to Make Very Good Cream Puffs

(Includes raspberry, cherry, and lemon variations)

If you can make cupcakes, you can make cream puffs.  They’re that simple.  I don’t mean fancy, decorator cupcakes; I mean bake-them-from-a-mix-and spread-frosting-on-them cupcakes.  They are not just amazingly good; they’re easy.

I  remember when I had my first cream puff.  I was a kid.  I remember that they were kind of mysterious—something magical.  I had no clue how they were made but I sure liked them.  Now I know how simple they are.

With cream puffs, you can be a successful pastry chef—a magician in your own kitchen.  They’re so easy, they’re foolproof and so good that you’ll dazzle your family and friends.

There are three parts to cream puffs: the baked pastry shell, the Bavarian cream filling, and the chocolate topping.  It’s not just the combination of tastes; I love the crisp shell against the cool, silky smooth Bavarian cream along with the melt-in-your-mouth chocolate.

Step 1:  The pastry shell.  The batter for the pastry is extremely easy.  It’s only three ingredients excluding the water.  There is no baking powder or yeast; these are leavened with steam.   The key in baking the shells is to get your oven hot enough that the moisture will quickly turn to steam expanding the dough until it triples in size and then baking them just until they get a little caramel colored with crispy edges.

Step 2:  The filling.  Buy pre made Bavarian cream.  You can buy it cheaper than you can make it and it’s a lot less trouble.  It comes in a two-pound squeeze pack.  Cut a quarter-inch off the plastic package, insert the tube in the edge of a pastry, and squeeze.  You’ll feel the pastry become heavier and start to swell as the Bavarian cream fills the pastry.  It’s the easy way to fill cream puffs.  
When you’re through filling your cream puffs, fold the corner on the pastry bag over, put a paper clip on it, and store the rest of your pastry cream in the refrigerator for up to six months.

Step 3: The chocolate.  You can use any sweet, high-quality chocolate.  chocolate wavers are made for candy making and have a smoother grind and more cocoa butter than chocolate chips.  You can either dip your cream puffs in the melted chocolate or spoon it over the top of each.  The hotter the chocolate, the thinner is the coating.  If it is melted but not too hot, you’ll get a thick layer of chocolate.

The Recipe

This is the recipe for traditional cream puffs made with Bavarian cream and chocolate.  Following are instructions for making variations like raspberry, cherry, and lemon cream puffs.

Ingredients

1 cup water
1/2 cup butter (one cube)
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
Bavarian pastry cream (be sure to order our pre-made creams & fillings)
Chocolate wavers or other good quality melting chocolate

Directions

1. Mix the dough.  In a medium saucepan on medium-high heat, place one cup of water and one stick (1/2 cup) of butter.  After the butter is melted, turn off heat and add one cup all-purpose flour all at once.  Stir until the dough forms a ball and flour is absorbed.
2. Place dough ball in your stand-type mixer with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed until the dough starts to cool, 1 to 2 minutes.  Add the eggs all at once and mix on low speed until the dough absorbs the eggs and the dough becomes very sticky. This will take about 8 to10 minutes.
3. Bake the cream puffs.  With a large ice cream scoop (1/4 cup), spoon mounds of evenly spaced dough onto a greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes and then turn the oven down to 350 degrees for
   another 10 minutes. You can also use a small cookie scoop as shown in the pictures. You’ll just need to lower the baking time to 15 minutes at 400 degrees and then turn down to 350 for another 7 minutes.
4. Fill the cream puffs with Bavarian cream.  If you are using a scratch recipe, make a horizontal slit in the edge of each cream puff and slip a large spoonful of cream into each cream puff.  If you are using professional bavarian cream, insert the tip of the plastic bag into the edge of each cream puff and squeeze.

Melt the chocolate.  You can do so in the microwave using 20 second bursts or in a chocolate melting pot.   Do not overheat the chocolate.  You can either dip the tops of the cream puffs into the chocolate or spoon chocolate over the cream puffs.  Let the chocolate set before serving.

The Family of Recipes:  Variations on a Theme

Discover a whole new world of cream puffs like raspberry cream, cherry cream cheese, and lemon cream puffs.  You can make these by simply varying the filling and the topping.

New Fillings for New Cream Puffs

Professional pastry fillings come in the following types:

• Bavarian Cream
• Chocolate Bavarian Cream
• Cream Cheese
• Raspberry
• Blueberry
• Cherry
• Lemon
• Apple
• Contact me to order any of the products we have now available to you to help make your Cream Puffs amazing...
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While you can fill your cream puffs with any of these pastry fillings, they just don’t seem like “cream” puffs without the cream filling.  You can mix the cream fillings with the fruit fillings to make a raspberry cream filling, a cherry cream cheese filling, or a lemon cream filling.  You can do that two ways.  You can mix raspberry and Bavarian cream filling in a bowl and spoon your raspberry cream filling into the cream puff pastries.  We don’t bother mixing the two in a bowl.  Simply insert the raspberry filling with a squeeze and then squirt Bavarian cream in through the same hole.  The filling will be red streaked with Bavarian cream but no one seems to mind; the streaks are attractive.

Adding a Frosting

The topping doesn’t have to be melted chocolate.  You can top your cream puffs with melted white chocolate or with frosting.  You can tint your frosting or white chocolate with professional color gels and add flavors.

A lemon cream cheese frosting on a lemon cream puff is delightful.  A raspberry cream filling and a raspberry frosting tinted light pink is a favorite.  (We recommend our flavorings/extracts and professional color gels  to get your frosting the right flavor and color.  They are both reasonably priced and Americolor comes in such a wide selection of colors like four shades of pink.)

We used this recipe:

3 oz. cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 t. vanilla or other flavor
milk

1. Whip the cream cheese until soft. Add the powdered sugar.
2. Stir in the flavor. Add enough milk and continue stirring until it reaches the desired consistency.

How About A Chili Bar

A chili bar is so great because it will give your guests the option to customize their bowl to their own creation. This concept is also great for a pot luck meal, you can have a couple of different chilies available. Chicken and green chili, traditional, Tex Mex chili.

Topping Ideas:
Cheeses
Bacon
Green Onions
Sour Cream
Beans
Olives Cilantro
Olives
Avocado
Corn Chips
Mac n' Cheese
Hot Dog Wienies
Fresh Tomatoes
Corn Muffins

3 Ingredient Banana Bread

INGREDIENTS:
-3 ripe bananas mashed up
-2 eggs
-1 box of yellow cake mix
DIRECTIONS:
*Mash the bananas
*Mix in your eggs
*Then mix in the cake mix.
*Bake in 2 small loaf pans for about 40 mins at 350 degrees.
*You can freeze one of the loaves for later.

How to Make Stuffed Pancakes

I heard that one of the pancake houses in Idaho Falls was serving stuffed pancakes.   Intrigued, I checked it out.  They were simply putting pastry filling between two pancakes.  “I can do better than that,”  I thought.

After a morning in the test kitchen, I was making cute little pancake turnovers with raspberry or other fruit fillings inside.

Here’s how:

1. Prepare the pancake batter from your favorite recipe or mix. It works best if the batter is a little thin.
2. Preheat a skillet or griddle by melting a little butter over medium heat.  To assure that yourpancakes cook all the way through, you’ll want the heat a little lower than for other pancakes.
3. Pour an evenly round circle of pancake batter on the skillet.
4. Let it cook until little bubbles form, then pop, and the indentations stay on the batter.
5. Spoon a small amount of pastry filling on half of the pancake, making sure not to get too close to the edges and not to overfill it. A little goes a long way and it will press and spread as you fold over the pancake.
6. Fold the uncooked pancake over the filling. The edge of raw batter on the top half should touch the raw batter edge on the other when folded.  It will continue to cook and seal itself on the griddle.
7. Put on a lid over the pancake to help it cook through. Flip as needed to keep the browning even.  Let it cook until all the batter looks cooked through.

To serve, dust the pancake with powdered sugar, pour on a little fruit pancake syrup, and top them with whipped cream.

What You’ll Need

You can use any pancake batter you choose.  In the picture at the top is a Raspberry Sour Cream Pancake with Raspberry Pastry Filling and Pioneer Valley Gourmet Raspberry Syrup.  We have dozens of pancake mixes to try.  Pair them with the pastry fillings of your choice.  Choose either a fruit syrup or a cream syrup.

Cinnamon Banana Cream Pancakes

We made cinnamon banana cream pancakes with our cinnamon chip pancake mix, but you can use a regularbuttermilk mix and add your own cinnamon chips. For the filling, we squeezed a few tablespoons of Bavarian Cream Filling, and put on a few thinly-sliced fresh bananas. This recipe goes especially well with Cinnamon Cream Syrup.

Berry Cream Pancakes

For berry cream pancakes, you can use any kind of berry mix. We used raspberry, but you can also use blueberry,strawberry, or mountain berry. You could also use a buttermilk mix and just add your own fresh berries to the batter. For the filling, we used Bavarian cream filling, and raspberry filling. It created a luscious, creamy filling that paired especially well with red raspberry syrup. We sprinkled a little powdered sugar over the top, and served ours with fresh raspberries.

Instead of raspberry filling, however, you could just as easily use blueberry filling and Bavarian cream filling swirled together. You could also try any type of fresh berries such as strawberries, blackberries, or blueberries with justBavarian cream. The possibilities are nearly endless.

Pancakes in Paradise

These pancakes will have you singing Aloha and dreaming of sandy white beaches. We used ourSweet Hawaiian Pancake mix that is already loaded with island flavors like orange, mango, and pineapple chunks. For the filling, we squirted a few tablespoons of Bavarian cream filling and sliced fresh mangoes. We topped them with mangoes and bananas and doused the whole thing in coconut cream syrup. Pour yourself a glass of orange juice, and If you’re not careful, you’ll think you’re in Hawaii.

Flavor Combinations to Try:

• Baked Apple Pancakes with Apple Filling
• Strawberries & Cream Pancakes with Bavarian Cream Filling
• Pumpkin Pie Pancakes with Cream Cheese Filling
• Gingerbread Pancakes with Lemon Filling
• Cinnamon Chip Pancakes with Apple Filling
• Cinnamon Chip Pancakes with Cream Cheese Filling
• Raspberry Sour Cream Pancakes with Raspberry Filling
• Blueberry Cream Cheese Pancakes with Blueberry Filling
• Buttermilk Pancakes with Cherry Filling
• Mayan Chocolate Chip Pancakes with Chocolate Bavarian Cream Filling
  
  
  
  

GRILLED EGGPLANT CAPRESE SALAD

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GRILLED EGGPLANT CAPRESE SALAD 
A Classic Salad Made Even Better   and It is Low Carb….
Serves 4

SHOPPING LIST 
1 medium eggplant 
2 tablespoons olive oil 
Salt and pepper 
2 tomatoes 
8 slices fresh mozzarella cheese 
8 large leaves basil 
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar 
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1. Preheat a grill or grill pan over medium-high heat. 

2. Slice top off eggplant and discard. Slice eggplant into 8 thick slices about ¾-inch thick. Toss eggplant slices in olive oil and lightly season with salt and pepper. 

3. Place the eggplant slices on the hot grill and cook 3–4 minutes on each side, until dark grill marks have appeared. Remove from grill and let cool. 

4. Assemble the salad by arranging first a slice of grilled eggplant, then a slice of tomato, then mozzarella, then finally basil. Repeat until you’ve created 8 of these stacks. 

5. Lightly season all with salt and pepper, then drizzle with balsamic and extra-virgin olive oil just before serving. 

HELPFUL TIPS 
Be sure to purchase balsamic vinegar and not “glaze”, as balsamic glaze contains a lot of added sugar and some even contain corn syrup.

Seasoning the tomato and mozzarella is the often overlooked secret to a good Caprese Salad!

Rose Victoria's Cookie Troubleshooting Guide

Rose Victoria's Cookie Troubleshooting Guide
If your cookies are too tough . . .
You may have used too much flour or a flour with too high of a protein content. Unless you want a chewy cookie, do not use bread flour. Check your measurements–the cookies may not have enough fat or the amount of sugar may be wrong.
If your cookies are too crumbly . . .
They may have too much sugar, shortening, or leavening or may not be thoroughly mixed. Try adding more eggs.
If your cookies are too hard . . .
They may have been baked too long or at a temperature that was too low. Too much flour or not enough shortening or liquid will make them hard also.
If your cookies are too dry . . .
The same elements that make cookies too hard, may make them too dry. Try baking them at a higher temperature for a shorter period. Substitute brown sugar (with its higher moisture content) for part of the granulated sugar.
If your cookies are too brown . . .
The cookies were most likely baked too long or at too high of a temperature. Too much sugar may make a cookie brown too readily.
If your cookies are not browned enough . . .
The baking temperature was too low, they were not baked long enough, or there was too little sugar.
If your cookies spread too much . . .
The baking temperature may be too low. Too much sugar, shortening, or leavening will cause spread. If pans are greased with too much shortening, spread may occur. Add a little more flour or chill your dough before forming the cookies.
If your cookies don’t spread enough . . .
The opposite conditions that create too much spread may cause your cookies not to spread enough. There may not be enough sugar, shortening, or leavening, or the temperature is too high. Try adding more grease to the pan and baking at a lower temperature.
If the edges or crust turns out sugary . . .
The cookies probably have too much sugar. The dough may have been inadequately mixed.
If your cookies have a poor flavor . . .
Make sure all the flavoring ingredients were added. Dated or low quality ingredients may not impart strong enough flavors. Improperly washed baking pans will sometimes cause a cookie to taste bad.
If your cookies stick to the pans . . .
The pans probably weren’t greased adequately. Too much sugar will make cookies stick. Cookies are usually easier to remove from their pans immediately after coming from the oven.

Our Famous Chicken Pot Pie

Famous Chicken Pot Pies

This is old-fashioned comfort food, individual chicken pot pies.  Even your kids will like these little pies.

You can use your favorite recipe for the crust or purchase our amazing pie crust mix...

Ingredients

pie dough for a double-crust pie

1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup 1/4-inch diced carrots
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup diced celery
1 1/2 cups, 1/2-inch diced potatoes
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups cooked chicken cubed
salt and pepper to taste

1 egg for a wash
1 tablespoon water

Directions

1. Sauté the onions and carrots in the butter.  When the onions are crisp tender, about one minute, add the celery, potatoes, water, and broth.  Cook for another five minutes.  Make a slurry with the flour and stir that in.  Let simmer for five minutes or until the gravy thickens.  The vegetables should be firm and nearly cooked.  Add the cooked chicken.  Salt and pepper to taste.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
3. While the filling is cooking, roll out the dough to 1/4-inch thick.  Cut out 12 circles six inches in diameter.  Place a circle of dough in each of six mini-pie pans.  Form the bottom crust.
4. Add the filling to each pan, top with a crust and seal the edges with a fork.  Cut three slits in the top of each to vent the steam. (Or if you choose, you can make a lattice crust.)
5. Whisk an egg with one tablespoon of water and brush the crusts to give them a golden sheen after baking.
6. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the crusts are golden and flakey.

Making Cookies with Multi-Colored Dough

You can tell that we had fun with these cookies. We made Neapolitan cookies—but with one part chocolate, one part almond, and one part cherry—but think of it as a method, not a recipe. By changing flavors and colors, you can make any combination you desire. Use your imagination. Make circles, stripes, swirls, or squares.  (If you look at the cookies in the background, you’ll see three part cookies—pink, then white, then chocolate.)

These make great kids cookies, great holiday cookies, and great party cookies.

How to Make Neapolitan Cookies

You can make a variety of shapes, colors, and flavors with this basic recipe–from shamrocks to Christmas cookies. In the accompanying pictures, we made tri-colored cookies with chocolate, almond, and cherry doughs.

Ingredients

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter
1 1/3 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate (optional)
flavors and extracts (your choice)
food colors (your choice)

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth. Continue beating until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the dry ingredients in two parts, mixing after each. Mix just until combined.
3. Divide the dough into two, three, or four parts depending on how many different doughs you choose to make.

For the chocolate dough:

1. For one half of the dough, melt two ounces of chocolate. For one fourth of the dough, melt one ounce of chocolate. While still warm, work the chocolate into the dough until uniform.

For flavored and colored doughs:

1. Add four or five drops of food coloring in each one fourth or one third part. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1 teaspoon almond, 1/4 teaspoon peppermint, 1 teaspoon cherry, 1 teaspoon strawberry, or other extracts to the dough and mix in.
2. Form the dough into cylinders, squares, or layers—a separate color or flavor for each. Refrigerate until firm.
3. Cut the dough into 1/4-inch thick slices. To form the cloverleaf shape shown, cut each colored cylinder separately but gently press the different colored discs together on the cookie sheet. Bake on ungreased cookies sheets at 350 degrees for ten to twelve minutes or until the cookies are nearly firmed and very lightly browned. Do not over bake. Cool on wire racks.

Baker’s note: Nuts or fruit can be added to these cookies. Maraschino cherry pieces could be added to the pink dough and almond bits to the almond dough.

Baker’s note: It’s easy to shape refrigerator cookies with waxed paper. To make true checkerboard cookies, you need four layers—not three. Make a rectangle with four layers. Then cut the rectangle longitudinally into four new layers. Layer them back together so that the colors alternate and cut slices across the rectangle. (It’s easier to do than to describe.)

~~~MEXICAN TORTILLA CASSEROLE~~~

If you like Mexican food give this recipe a try. Quick easy and oh so good !!!

~~~MEXICAN TORTILLA CASSEROLE~~~
1lb. ground beef
1/2 cup diced onion
1 pack taco seasoning mix
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 can refried beans (thet spread easier if you warm them in microwave)
1 cup prepared rice (I used Minute Rice)
1 can Mexican blend corn (DRAINED)will only use about 1/2 can
4-5 large flour tortillas
8 oz of thick chunky salsa (your choice mild or hot)

Spray a spring form, round cake pan or casserole with cooking spray
Brown ground beef ,and onion and drain
Add taco seasonings and cook according to package direction
Lay 1 tortilla in bottom of baking dish and spread 1/3 of bean on it ,top with 1/3 of the meat and sprinkle on some cheese .
2nd layer tortilla, 1/2 the rice, 1/2 salsa, 1/2 the corn and cheese
3rd layer tortilla, 1/3 beans ,1/3meat, cheese
4 layer tortilla . beans ,meat, corn, rice, salsa and cheese

Bake covered with foil at 350 for about 40 minutes uncover and bake 10-15 minutes longer. let sit 5 minutes before cutting . After baking top with sour cream,diced onion and shredded lettuce if desired

Butternut Squash & Green Beans with Maple Syrup

Squash and Green BeansThis is a great vegetable dish. It’s easy to make with cubed squash. Consider this for your next company dinner or save it for the holidays.

To make this dish, use one butternut squash, as many beans as you wish, a handful of nuts and some maple syrup. Sounds like a pretty good combination.

This is a wonderful side dish recipe (though I did make a meal of this). The secret to this dish is to not overcook the vegetables.

Ingredients

1 large butternut squash, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
salt and pepper
vegetable oil
1-2 pounds fresh green beans
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/3 cup maple syrup
dash of allspice (optional)

For directions on cutting the squash, see “How to Peel and Cube a Butternut Squash.”

Directions

cubed squash
1. Place the squash cubes on a large baking pan. Drizzle one to two tablespoons of vegetable oil over the squash. Salt and pepper to taste.
2. Bake the squash for 20 minutes or until nearly tender, turning once during cooking.
3. While the squash is cooking steam the green beans until they turn color and start to become tender. Do not overcook the beans; they will continue to cook in the skillet.
4. While the beans and the squash are cooking, melt the butter in a large, non-stick skillet. Place the slivered almonds in the butter and sauté for several minutes.
5. Place the squash and the beans in the skillet with the almonds. Pour the maple syrup over the vegetables and stir. Cook until the dish is hot and the vegetables are nearly tender, stirring often. Add more salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot.

Broccoli Orzo Salad

Broccoli Orzo Salad
This is a really good salad, one of the best. We made it, for family re-union….Was a Big Hit !!! Everyone wanted the recipe…So here it is….

Ingredients

1 head fresh broccoli chopped
1/2 medium red onion diced
1/2 pound bacon fried and crumbled
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
3 cups cooked sweet potato orzo (you can order this on my site)

http://ow.ly/CdI57

Dressing
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cider vinegar

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the chopped broccoli, the diced red onion, the fried and crumbled bacon, one-half cup grated cheddar cheese, and the three cups sweet potato orzo until ingredients are well distributed.
Prepare the dressing by mixing the cup of mayonnaise with the one-fourth cup of sugar and the one tablespoons cider vinegar.
Pour the dressing over the broccoli mixture and toss to coat. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a lid and place it in refrigerator for three hours. Serve cold.

Fried Cabbage with Bacon, Onion, and Garlic

Fried Cabbage with Bacon, Onion, and Garlic

Ingredients

1. 6 slices bacon, chopped
2. 1 large onion, diced
3. 2 cloves garlic, minced
4. 1 large head cabbage, cored and sliced
5. 1 tablespoon salt, or to taste
6. 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
7. 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
8. 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
9. 1/8 teaspoon paprika

 

Instructions

1. Place the bacon in a large stockpot and cook over medium-high heat until crispy, about 10 minutes. Add the onion and garlic; cook and stir until the onion caramelizes; about 10 minutes. Immediately stir in the cabbage and continue to cook and stir another 10 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and paprika. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes more.

Beef and Bean Taco Casserole

Beef and Bean Taco Casserole

Ingredients

1. 1 pound lean (at least 80%) ground beef
2. 1 16 ounce can Old El Paso® refried beans
3. 1 16 ounce jar Old El Paso® Thick 'n Chunky salsa
4. 1 1 ounce package Old El Paso® 40% less-sodium taco seasoning mix
5. 2 1/2 cups coarsely broken tortilla chips
6. 1/2 medium green bell pepper, chopped (3/4 cup)
7. 4 medium green onions, sliced (1/4 cup)
8. 2 medium tomatoes, chopped (1 1/2 cups)
9. 1 cup shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese (4 ounces)
10. 1/4 cup sliced ripe olives
11. 1 cup shredded lettuce

 

Instructions

1. 1. Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In 12-inch skillet, cook beef over medium-high heat 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thoroughly cooked; drain. Stir in refried beans, salsa, and taco seasoning mix. Reduce heat to medium. Heat to boiling, stirring occasionally.
2. 2. In ungreased 2-quart casserole, place 2 cups of the broken tortilla chips. Top evenly with beef mixture. Sprinkle with bell pepper, onions, 1 cup of the tomato, the cheese, and olives.
3. 3. Bake uncovered 20 to 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly and cheese is melted. Top baked casserole with lettuce, remaining 1/2 cup tomato, and remaining 1/2 cup tortilla chips.

Tip

1. 1. This is an easy recipe to take and bake. Just save the toppings to take and serve with the hot casserole. In place of the cheddar cheese, try using a taco-flavored cheese.