I really, really love fresh cranberries.

So much so that I bought 3 lbs of them. I was at Costco; nothing less was acceptable.

They are versatile enough to be paired with some combination of turkey, cream cheese, brie, orange, or a toasted baguette. So in typical Tiffanie fashion, in go all those ingredients into the shopping cart. I love you, Costco.

Every day I ate something with cranberries. To my dismay, I still had 1 lbs of cranberry left. I needed new ideas.

This recipe comes from the Food section of BBC (a British based broadcasting company). The different metrics were slightly a turnoff but thank goodness for that handy kitchen scale. Not only is this recipe charming to look at it, it’s the perfect combination of tart and sweet. Pair it with a cup of tea and you’ll be ready for that next tea party.

Ingredients

• 100g soft cheese
• 250g caster sugar
• 175g cranberries
• 200g plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 75ml flavourless oil , such as sunflower
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

Heat oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with muffin cases. Beat the soft cheese with 25g of the sugar and chill until needed. Heat the cranberries together with another 25g of sugar until they start to pop. Mash lightly and cool.

Sift the flour into a large bowl and add the remaining sugar, baking powder and a pinch of salt. Add the eggs, oil, vanilla and cranberry mixture, and stir together. Don’t worry if the mix looks a bit lumpy. Divide it between the cases, they should look about two-thirds full. Make a small dip in the centre of each and put a blob of soft cheese in. Bake for 18 mins or until risen and golden and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

From BBC Good Food

Somewhere across the world, I hear someone silently cursing at me. It goes something along these lines:

“stupide Americains!” (or is it Americains stupides? There goes 3 years of studying French)

“Why do you insist on placing cinnamon on my beautiful fruit desserts and then ruining it with vanilla ice cream? The dessert is about tasting the pear and the pear-infused mousse!”

From there I mutter that I tried it the way it was written and felt it was lacking. Gasp. Silence in the room.

I revert to my “America’s test kitchen” mode and make 5 variations of the cake: with mousse (original recipe calls for a mascarpone mousse), with mousse and cinnamon, without mouse, without mousse but with cinnamon, without mousse with cinnamon and ice cream.

Considering I was the sole judge and tasted the different varations one after the other, I came to the very partial verdict that the cake without the mousse and topped with a scoop of ice cream and sprinkled with cinnamon was the hands down winner. The mousse texture and flavor did not seem to compliment the texture of the cake and pears whereas the ice cream melded all the flavors together. Can you really go wrong with ice cream anyway?

Recipe adapted from Grand Finales: Neoclassical View of Plated Desserts

Ingredients

For cake:

•  1 cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 cup strongly brewed chai tea
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ¼ cup honey (the recipe calls for chestnut but I just used liquid honey)
• 150g unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup buttermilk, at room temp

For pears:

• 6 large bosch pears, ripe but slightly firm (or an alternative seasonal fruit)
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 125ml dry white wine

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 190ºC.

2. Sift together the brown sugar, granulated sugar, flour, baking powder, and baking soda. In a separate bowl whisk together the remaining ingredients.

3. Add the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients and whisk until thoroughly combined.

4. Pour the batter into a well greased 23cm x 33cm cake tin and bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until the cake is set and a skewer comes out clean. Begin checking at 25 minutes. Immediately invert the cake onto a rack and cool completely.

5. Meanwhile while the cake is baking, prepare the pears. Peel and core the pears and cut them into eighths. In a large sauté pan , caramelize the sugar. Once the sugar has turned a light golden color, add the pears and lemon juice and remove immediately from heat.

6. Add the wine. Simmer over a low heat until the pears are soft. Reserve cooking liquor.

6. Cut the cake into eight circles (7.6cm) then carefully arrange pear slices on top to suit (I used 5 to 6 slices on each). Drizzle any remaining cooking liquor over the top of the pears and place a small scoop of vanilla ice cream (no cheap vanilla ice cream, please). Sprinkle with cinnamon and serve immediately.

Ohh.. you sexy thing.

Yes, I am flirting with my food.  Would you please give me a little privacy?

Here’s a lovely muffin that sums up all the deliciousness involved with Fall. While the muffin is quite good sans le caramel, the caramel adds that extra drool-factor and will have you licking the plate– and bowl for that matter–after the muffin is long gone.

One of the beauties of Fall is the abundance of pears and apples from my parents’ garden. Lo and behold (and with the gracious help of my cousin), I received a boxful of apples and pears from home. Instead of eating them as perhaps a normal person would, I found a recipe that would utilize the most apples and pears.  Even one month later, my coworkers are still goo-goo-eyed over the thought of this muffin. And yes, they are that good.

Ingredients

Muffin:

• 2 cups chopped apples (I used ripe bartlett and d’anjou)
• 2 cups chopped pears (varieties that are good for baking – i.e. granny smith, gravenstein, Fuji)
• 2/3 cups vegetable oil
• 2 cups of sugar
• 4 egg whites
• 3 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of cardamom (if making without caramel, substitue 1 tsp cardamom and 1/2 tsp cinnamon)
• 1/2 teaspoon of ginger

Caramel:

• 6 tablespoons of butter
• 3/4 cup of sugar or vanilla sugar
• 1 cup of heavy cream
• 1 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt

Directions

1) Chop the apples and combine them with the sugar and let them macerate for one hour. Next add the oil and stir.

2) Preheat over to 350 degrees F (165 C).

3) Slightly beat egg whites just until a light foam appears. Combine them with the oil and apple mixture.

4) Sift the flour, salt, baking soda, and spices together. Stir into the apple mixture, and then place into cupcake papers about 3/4ths full.

5) Bake for 15 minutes undisturbed, then rotate the pan and cook for another 3-5 minutes, testing with a toothpick for doneness. Careful, as if the toothpick goes into an apple it will not come out clean, but cupcake may be done.

6) While the cupcakes are baking, prepare the caramel. Melt the butter in a large, deep heavy-duty saucepan. Stir in the sugar and and stir until golden brown.

7) Take off the heat and pour in half the cream and whisk like a crazy person until the caramel is smooth. Whisk in the rest of the cream and the salt. Strain into a bowl and then spoon over cupcakes. (For a thicker caramel, let the carmel cool to room temperature, covered).

Recipe adapted from Vanilla Garlic

Obsession.

My obsession with Walker’s dark chocolate gingers started 4 years ago as my cousin and I were meandering through the cobblestone roads of Edinburgh. There were plenty of memorable experiences: the tartan patterns, the baked potato topped with tuna macaroni, haggis, the clotted cream, “shake shake”-ing it on the playground overshadowed by Edinburgh castle, the late night pizza run (yes, we ate it all), and the contrast of the light and dark shadows painting the skyline of Edinburgh into something out of a fairytale. These memories will forever be imprinted in my memory but there was one edible delight that will never be forgotten: Walker’s dark chocolate gingers.

I would easily pick these cookies over the perfect chocolate chip cookie. Despite its crunchy nature, there is something strangely addictive about the crunch, the spice, the dark chocolate, the way the ginger bits threaten to stick to your teeth. Add in the factor that these cookies are extremely hard to find (nevermind in the US because I have never seen it in the US, I was hard pressed to find it in the UK), these cookies are (almost) worth more than gold.

It has probably been more than 2 years since my dearest cousin very thoughtfully shipped me a pack of dark chocolate gingers. I could only prolong their shelf life for so long before they slipped out of my reach once again. With a few recipes and ideas in my head, I began the trek of recreating these dark chocolate gingers….

This version is less buttery but still punchful with the same flavor and bigger. Hey, I live in America. I am allowed to super-size, right?

Ingredients

• 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger*
• 1 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon*
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves*
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cups butter (1.5 sticks), room temperature
• 1 cups granulated sugar
• 1 eggs
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1/2 cup coarse sugar or granulated sugar
• Dark chocolate

* Can substitute the ground ginger, cinnamon, and cloves for an equal amount of pumpkin pie spice.

Sliminess, be gone.

Okra has a notorious reputation of being slimy. Forget trying to sound intelligent for a moment but ew. ew. Really. EW.

The only acceptable method of eating okra is by battering it up and giving it a good ol’ deep fry — until now.

This okra is pan-charred to perfection and seasoned with a tantalizing mixture of spices. Serve it with a side of homemade tzatziki and you may even forget that craving for In-n-Out’s animal-style fries….

Best of all, this recipe is done in 15 minutes.

Ingredients

My birthday fell on a Saturday this year so I thought it would be appropriate to take Friday off. I think originally I had grandiose plans of going to Catalina or maybe even driving to Julian to see the wolves and indulge in apple pie with cinnamon ice cream. Instead, Friday rolled on by and I found myself twiddling my thumbs thinking about how cool I was.

To reinforce my new revelation, I pulled out my 9×13 baking pan and decided I needed to make a time-consuming recipe to occupy my day off. Unlike women, baklava gets better with age so I patiently waited 28 hours for the syrup to perform its magic. Of course as the days passed, the flavors melded together and I wasn’t complaining about eating baklava every day…for the past week.

I’ve never had authentic baklava from Turkey but eventually one day I’ll make it over there to die in baklava happiness. For now, the Cooks Illustrated version is the best version I’ve made thus far!

Note: Unfortunately Alton Brown’s microwave method of thawing phyllo dough did not work for me. The moisture collected within the plastic and the sheets turned out slightly damp and stuck together. I’d still recommend thawing overnight as the surest way of prepping phyllo dough.

This is the Cooks Illustrated version except I used a combination of walnuts and pistachios instead of blanched almonds

Sugar syrup:

• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 4 inch long strip zest from 1 lemon
• 1 tbs juice from lemon
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 5 whole cloves
• 1/8 tsp salt

Nut filling

• 8 oz walnuts (about 2 1/2 cups)
• 1 cup peeled pistachios
• 1 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 2 tbs sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt

Pastry and Butter

• 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter (3 sticks), clarified, melted, and cooled slightly (about 1 cup)
• 1 pound frozen phyllo , thawed over night

Directions

For the sugar syrup: Combine syrup ingredients in small saucepan and bring to full boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally to ensure that sugar dissolves. Transfer to 2-cup measuring cup and set aside to cool while making and baking baklava; when syrup is cool, discard spices and lemon zest. (Cooled syrup can be refrigerated in airtight container up to 4 days.)

For the nut filling: Pulse almonds in food processor until very finely chopped, about twenty 1-second pulses; transfer to medium bowl. Pulse walnuts in food processor until very finely chopped, about fifteen 1-second pulses; transfer to bowl with almonds and toss to combine. Measure out 1 tablespoon nuts and set aside for garnish. Add cinnamon, cloves, sugar, and salt; toss well to combine.

To assemble and bake: Brush 13- by 9-inch traditional (not nonstick) baking pan with butter. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees. Unwrap and unfold phyllo on large cutting board; carefully smooth with hands to flatten. Using baking pan as guide, cut sheets crosswise with chef’s knife, yielding two roughly evenly sized stacks of phyllo (one may be narrower than other). Cover with plastic wrap, then damp kitchen towel to prevent drying.

Place one phyllo sheet (from wider stack) in bottom of baking pan and brush until completely coated with butter. Repeat with 7 more phyllo sheets (from wider stack), brushing each with butter.

Evenly distribute about 1 cup nuts over phyllo. Cover nuts with phyllo sheet (from narrower stack) and dab with butter (phyllo will slip if butter is brushed on). Repeat with 5 more phyllo sheets (from narrower stack), staggering sheets slightly if necessary to cover nuts, and brushing each with butter.

Repeat layering with additional 1 cup nuts, 6 sheets phyllo, and remaining 1 cup nuts. Finish with 8 to 10 sheets phyllo (from wider stack), using nicest and most intact sheets for uppermost layers and brushing each except final sheet with butter. Use palms of hands to compress layers, working from center outward to press out any air pockets. Spoon 4 tablespoons butter on top layer and brush to cover all surfaces. Use bread knife or other serrated knife with pointed tip in gentle sawing motion to cut baklava into diamonds, rotating pan as necessary to complete cuts. (Cut on bias into eighths on both diagonals.)

Bake until golden and crisped, about 1 ½ hours, rotating baking pan halfway through baking. Immediately after removing baklava from oven, pour cooled syrup over cut lines until about 2 tablespoons remain (syrup will sizzle when it hits hot pan); drizzle remaining syrup over surface. Garnish center of each piece with pinch of reserved ground nuts. Cool to room temperature on wire rack, about 3 hours, then cover with foil and let stand at least 8 hours before serving. (Once cooled, baklava can be served, but flavor and texture improve if left to stand at least 8 hours. Baklava can be wrapped tightly in foil and kept at room temperature up to 10 days.

When searching for Chinese sticky rice recipes, I came across similar stories that usually go like this:

-I love Chinese sticky rice (or the other version: I love, love, love sticky rice)
-It’s usually only eaten during holidays and most memorably, stuffed inside the Thanksgiving turkey.
-Sticky rice expands in the stomach and will make you feel more full (does this mean sticky rice would be a good diet food? ;))
-Why do I have for special occasions for eat sticky rice? Time to head to the kitchen!

My story is no different. I just provided the cliff notes version for any search you’ll find on Chinese sticky rice. You’re welcome.

The only difference to my story is that I bought a 10 lb bag of sticky rice…and now I have more of an incentive to make this tasty treasure again and again. While Summer is still in full force down in Southern California, the clothing stores have started to switch to their Fall clothing line, thus signaling that is it time to start eating more comfort foods. I love my twisted logic.

Note: Chinese barbequed pork is not similar to American barbequed pork. Chinese sausages are not similar to European sausages or god forbid, hot dogs. You will be able to find Chinese barbequed pork, Chinese sausages, and fried shallots at your local Asian market or Chinatown.

As you can tell from the picture, I like my rice filled with lots of mushrooms and meat. If you prefer a higher rice to mushroom/meat ratio, reduce the amount of mushrooms and meat to your liking.

Ingredients:
2 cups sweet rice
1 cups jasmine rice
12 Chinese dried shiitake mushrooms
3 Chinese sausages (lop chong)
1/2 pound lean Chinese barbecued pork, store-bought   (if you can’t find Chinese barbequed pork, use 2 more Chinese sausages)
1/4 cup fried shallots
1/4 cup finely diced red onion (yellow can be substituted)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2.5  cups low sodium chicken stock
1.5 tablespoons oyster sauce
1/2 cup chopped scallions
1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Directions:
1) In a bowl, soak the mushrooms in warm water for about 30 minutes, until softened. In a 6-quart stockpot, wash all the rice in several changes of cold water until the water runs clear. Soak the combined sweet and jasmine rice for 1 hour in enough cold water to cover.

2) When softened, drain and squeeze dry the mushrooms, reserving the liquid. Cut off and discard stems and chop the caps.

3) Chop sausage and barbecued pork and set aside separately.

4) Heat large wok or skillet over high heat until hot but not smoking. Add oil, onion, fried shallots, Chinese sausage, and stir-fry 1 minute. Add the mushrooms and barbecued pork, and stir-fry for 3 to 4 minutes, until heated through. Add 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce, stir to combine, remove from heat, and set aside.

5) Drain rice. Add chicken broth and enough the reserved mushrooms liquid to measure 1/2 cup, and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook 10 minutes. Uncover and quickly scoop Chinese sausage mixture onto top of rice. Immediately cover and continue cooking the rice 25 to 30 minutes, or until broth is completely absorbed and rice is tender. Let stand 5 minutes. Add 1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce, oyster sauce, scallions, cilantro and stir to combine. Adjust seasonings to taste. Serve and enjoy.

When practicing portion control with desserts, the freezer is a girl’s best friend. Most cakes and cookies freeze beautifully and ensure there is always a steady supply of sugar available at a whims notice. It might not prevent you from eating the whole batch, but it will prevent you from eating the whole batch in one sitting.

On a typical day, I’ll have in my freezer: coconut cupcakes, salted fudge brownies, rugelach, snickerdoodles, pate a choux dough, and puff pastry dough.  It isn’t the typical makeup of a freezer but I’m not complaining (neither do my friends). Sometimes they are made as designed or sometimes I get these crazy ideas to try something new. Take for instance the frozen snickerdoodles I got tired of eating.

Technically, this is a frozen strawberry ice cream pie with a coconut-snickerdoodle crust topped with strawberries drizzled with balsamic vinegar, coconut, and white chocolate. It’s quite the mouthful to say but saying “strawberry ice cream pie” just doesn’t do it justice. So using my limited creative naming skills, it’s now called strawberry delirium (I am open for suggestions on how to name it though :)

Notes:

*I certainly understand that it’s usually rare to have a batch of snickerdoodles lying around. Substitute with graham crackers if you must!
*If you’re making the ice cream from scratch, make the ice cream the day prior and lightly thaw when assembling the deliriums.
*Vanilla ice cream also works really well

Servings: 12 mini frozen deliriums

Ingredients

The strawberry ice cream (use store-bought good quality strawberry or vanilla ice cream if you’re in a pinch)

• 1 quart fresh strawberries, hulled
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream, divided
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 3 tablespoons light corn syrup

The crust

• 1.5 cups of ground snickerdoodle crumbs (snickerdoodles recipe here)
• pinch of cinnamon
• 1/4 cup flaked coconut, packed
• 4 tbs butter, melted

The balsamic strawberries and toppings

• 3 1/2 cups sliced hulled strawberries (about 16 ounces)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• Grated white chocolate (use vegetable peeler for curls)

Directions

The ice cream (if using store bought ice cream, take the ice cream out to thaw and skip to the ‘The crust’ section)

Place the berries into blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Pour into a large bowl, and set aside.

Heat 1 1/4 cups of the cream in a saucepan over medium heat until it begins to bubble at the edge of the pan. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, egg yolks, remaining 1/4 cup cream, and corn syrup. Gradually pour the hot cream into the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Return the mixture to the saucepan, and heat until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon, about 5 minutes (you must keep stirring at this point to avoid clumping!) Do not allow the mixture to boil. Strain custard into the berry puree through a sieve, mix, and refrigerate until chilled.

Fill an ice cream maker with the mixture, and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

The crust

Line a regular 12-cup muffin pan with individual pieces of plastic wrap (leave a little bit of overhang to facilitate removing the pies when frozen). Using muffin liners will also work.

Add the cookies to the food processor and process until cookies look like course crumbs. Add the cinnamon and coconut and continue to pulse until the texture resembles fine crumbs. Remove mixture and place in a small bowl. Add melted butter and mix well.

Firmly press about 2 tbs of cookie crumb to the bottoms of the muffin cups.

Assembling the deliriums

Fill the muffin cups with ice cream about until about 3/4 full. Technically speaking, about 85% full. Ensure the ice cream is packed in by using the back of a spoon to press the ice cream into the muffin cups. Place in freezer for 3 hours at minimum for the ice cream to set.

Making the balsamic strawberries (make about 2 hours prior to serving)

Hull and halve the strawberries. Toss strawberries, sugar, and balsamic vinegar in medium bowl. Let stand at room temperature until juices form, at least 1 hour and up to 3 hours.  Remove the strawberries from the ‘juice’ and coarsely chop. Reserve the ‘juice’ as it will be drizzled over the deliriums.

When ready to serve, remove the plastic wrap/muffin liners from the deliriums. Garnish with chopped strawberries, a drizzle of the balsamic strawberry juice, coconut, and white chocolate flakes.

And there’s the last of coding I remember, at least, choose to remember.

Profiteroles (aka cream puffs) are a favorite dessert of mine. Something is indescribably ethereal when eating these puffs filled with cream–only after giving them a proper bathing in dark chocolate sauce. Unfortunately the closest thing to profiteroles are eclairs at French bakeries or the gallon size tub of frozen profiteroles sold at Costco.  There’s a reason why fresh ones are hard to find — because they take so much time to make.

The difficulty level and the “c’est impossible” factor set in when I turned my eyes towards this recipe. But something happens when I face challenge. As my dearest friends would know it, watch me.

200 cream puffs later (thankfully it didn’t take to 200 to perfect the recipe), voila, profiteroles.

Then I had to take it a step further to the almighty towering croquembouche. While merely for decoration and *gasp* factor, who can really turn down a tower of cream puffs?

A few tips and tricks I learned along the journey:

• Unless you have the entire day to spend on making profiteroles, plan on making the pastry cream and the pâte à choux (the dough for the puffs) the day prior.
• The brilliance of pâte à choux is that it’s freezable. Just flash freeze them in the shape you want (petite mounds), wrap in plastic wrap, and store in a heavy duty freezer bag. These will last for months and will save you from your friends’ last minute naggings for profiteroles. They do not need to be defrosted when baking them.
• Using a pastry bag or ziploc bag with the corner cut off is the easiest way of creating petite mounds with the pâte à choux dough. Because the dough is sticky, using a spoon creates uneven shapes.
• Wait for the pastry cream to come to room temperature (or slightly chilled) and the cream puffs to come to room temperature before filling then. Otherwise the steam from the heat making the profiteroles soggy. Gross.
• If baked correctly, the pâte à choux mounds will only deflate slightly after being removed from the oven. Many blogs suggest leaving them in the oven. I’ve found pricking a small hole with a tookpick on the bottom of the profiterole helps the steam escape. It also serves as the place where you’ll fill the profiteroles. Two for one!
• While using a pastry bag is traditional, using a plastic squirt bottles work the best in filling the profiteroles.
• Profiteroles taste best when filled the day they plan on being eaten.

Profiteroles

Makes about 24 large or 50 small puffs

• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 5 large eggs, at room temperature

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375F and line baking sheets with parchment paper or silcone baking mats. Oven racks should be placed in the center of the oven.

Bring the milk, water, butter and salt to the boil in a heavy-bottomed 2-quart saucepan.  When the mixture is boiling rapidly, add the flour all at once, reduce the heat to medium and start stirring immediately the mixture like mad with a wooden spoon.  The dough will come together very quickly and a slight crust will form on the bottom of the pan, but you have to keep stirring – vigorously – another 2 to 3 minutes to dry the dough.  At the end of this time, the dough will be very smooth.

Turn the dough into the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or a  food processor fitted with a dough blade, or, if you’re wanting to tone your arms, you can continue by hand.  One by one, add the eggs to the dough, beating until each egg is thoroughly incorporated.  Don’t be discouraged – as soon as you add the first egg, your dough will separate.  Keep working and by the time you add the third egg it will start coming together again.  When all the eggs are incorporated, the dough will be thick and shiny and, when you lift some of it up it will fall back into the bowl in a ribbon.  The dough will still be warm – it’s supposed to be – and now is the time to use it.

For little puffs with a diameter of ~1.5  to 2 inches when baked: use about 1 tablespoon of dough for each puff, drop the dough from the spoon onto the lined baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches of space between each mound of dough. If a tip forms on the top of the puffs, press the tips gently down with a barely moistened finger. You do not want water to seep down the puff as this will prevent proper rising.

At this point, you can flash freeze the puffs and then store them in the freezer.

Slide the baking sheets into the oven, bake for 18-22 minutes. Check as soon as 18 minutes and bake until the puffs are golden and firm. This will take a little longer for larger puffs.  Transfer the cream puffs to a cooling rack and immediately prick holes in the bottom of the puffs with a toothpick to let the steam escape. Let cool to room temperature before filling the puffs.

To assemble: Fill the pastry bag fitted with narrow tip or plastic squirt bottle with pastry cream. Insert tip into the hole of the profiterole and gently fill the puff. You will feel the puff expand slightly when it is full.

For croquembouche assembly instructions, click here

To enjoy the profiteroles with a warm chocolate sauce, finely chop about 12 oz of high quality dark chocolate (my favorite is Callebaut) and place in microwave proof bowl. Over low heat, bring 1 cup of heavy cream to a low boil. Pour the cream over the chocolate and let stand for 1 minute. Starting from the center of the bowl, begin mixing until the cream and chocolate have combined. If there are still chocolate chunks, microwave the mixture for 10-15 seconds, and stir, repeat until chocolate has fully melted. You can also stir in a tablespoon or two of vanilla of your favorite rum to spice things up.

Pastry Cream

• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tbs vanilla extract (or 1/2 tsp almond extra + 1 tbs vanilla extract for an almond flavored cream)
• 6 egg yolks
• 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 pinch salt

Directions

Place the milk,  sugar and the vanilla bean in a saucepan over medium heat.

Whisk egg yolks until light in color. Add in the flour and the salt, mix to combine.

When the milk just begins to boil, remove from heat. Very slowly dribble the hot milk into the yolk mixture, stirring all the time. When about half of the milk has been added, place all of the yolk mixture into the saucepan over medium heat. Using a spatula or a whisk, mix the pastry cream as it heats, making sure to reach all of the corners of the pan when you stir. Do not stop stirring. Bring the mixture to a boil. Let boil for about 1 minute, stirring constantly. The mixture will be thick.

Remove from heat and add the butter and extract(s). Strain if you wish for a smoother cream. Place into a bowl and cover directly with plastic wrap to stop a skin from forming on the cream. Chill and use within a few days.