4:00pm cream puffs

What I love about cream puffs is that the recipe is astoundingly simple. Melt 1 stick of butter with 1 cup of water until it's at a roiling boil. Add 1 cup of flour, a pinch of salt and stir until the whole thing forms a ball. And then here was my favorite part, my mom would call my dad over for his strong beating arm, and as he beat the batter, she would drop in, one by one, 4 eggs. It was the one thing which required his participation in the kitchen. He'd beat the batter until it was stiff enough to stand up in little poufs on the baking tray. The poufs were baked at 425 for about 20-25 minutes and then stuffed with custard, pastry cream or even store bought vanilla pudding if you're too lazy to make a filling. I had high hopes for the Paris Sandwich cream puffs but sadly they were limp and a bit stale. Now that the thought of cream puffs is in my mind I might have to go home and make some rather soon.
Paris Sandwich, 213 Grand St, NY, NY 10013 (btwn Elizabeth and Mott)