Cream Puffs

   

Merry Christmas 2013!
Feast of Christmas Eve this year was low key -- just the four of us.  But it was still a great day, as the kids leisurely opened up their gifts mid-morning, followed by a slow afternoon puttering around.  By the middle of the afternoon, Catherine and I began working on the meal.  While I put this year's Beast in the oven, we made the mashed potatoes and got dessert started.  The inspiration from dessert came from the interwebz -- and of course I can't remember if was Pinterest or one of the new Facebook pages I began following that posts "incredible" recipes daily.  Whichever site led me to the recipe, I was intrigued when I saw this, especially since it seemed rather simple for something I had always assumed was complicated and intricate to make.  The only hard part was trying to bake one cookie sheet at a time while the Beast was cooking.  Other than that, I found it pretty simple... and finger-poppin' good -- at least the small ones!  The larger ones contain oh-so-much-more goodness, but just be forewarned, the cream filling tends to splat out as you bite into it, leading to suggestive jokes and endless laughter.

• 1 stick of butter
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup flour
• 4 eggs
• 2 small boxes instant vanilla pudding (3.4 oz each)
• 1⅓ cup cold whole milk
  (NOTE:  Do NOT follow the pudding box directions.  The amount of milk in this recipe is LESS than a box of pudding calls for) 
• 8 oz. sour cream
• Powdered sugar

DIRECTIONS

Cream Puffs:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Melt stick of butter and water to a rolling boil
3. Stir in flour and stir vigorously over low heat until mixture leaves the pan (comes off the sides) and is in a ball (about 1 minute)
4. Remove from heat and cool for a couple of minutes
5. Beat in eggs (one at a time) with a mixer
6. Beat mixture until smooth and velvety
7. Drop by spoonfuls (walnut sized) onto ungreased cookie sheet (I used a small scoop and a large scoop for two different sizes of cream puffs)
8. Bake until DRY, 20-25 minutes
   (maybe longer -- one of my batches took longer than 30 minutes)
9. Allow to cool

Filling:

1. Mix instant vanilla pudding with whole milk until the pudding is dissolved
2. Add sour cream until thick
3. Put mixture in the refrigerator (at least an hour)
4. Add the pudding mixture into a piping bag
5. Using a piping tip, insert the tip into the side of one of the puffs and squeeze enough filling until it just comes out of the puff (be sure not to overfill the cream puff – you will feel the cream puff slightly expand as it fills)
   (An alternative if you do not have a piping bag and tip -- Slice the cream puffs in half and fill with the chilled pudding mixture)
6. Sprinkle with powdered sugar

Adapted from Real Housewives Blog