Cream puffs for two

I suppose "for two" is a relative term, but that's what I had in mind for these cream puffs. The idea is that you'll save some for someone else, but I won't tell if you don't. I've been working a bit on my photography and food styling skills (or lackthereof), so let me know what you think of the pictures too. One word of advice: stir your pastry cream constantly. It burns very easily.

Ingredients:

---- For puffs

• 1 oz water
• 1 oz milk
• 1/8 tsp tsp salt
• 1 oz butter
• 1.5 oz bread flour
• 1-2 eggs

Directions:

---- For puffs

1. Preheat the oven to about 385 degrees F. Then combine the water, milk, salt, and butter in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
2. Once the liquid mixture is at a boil and all of the butter has melted, add the flour (all at once) and stir until the mixture pulls away from the sides of the pan and leaves a slight film. It should clump into a ball of dough.
3. Then take the pan off of the heat and move the dough into a mixer. Beat the dough on low speed for a minute or two, until it's cool enough to touch comfortably. Then, beat in the first egg until well incorporated. What you want is for the dough to be stretchy. To test for the right consistency, take some dough between your thumb and index finger. Stretch the two as far apart as they will go. If the dough stretches into a thread between them and doesn't break, you have the right consistency. If it breaks early, beat in your other egg (or half of it).
4. Next, fill a pastry bag with your eclair paste. Onto a parchment lined baking sheet, pipe rounds of dough. I usually go about the size of a 50 cent piece. If you have little peaks where you stopped piping, you can wet your finger with a little water and smooth them out.
5. Bake the cream puffs for about 17 minutes, until they're getting pretty brown on the outside. Then take them out and stab a little hole in them with a paring knife before popping them back in the oven for a few minutes. This lets the inside of the puff dry out. Now let them cool and prepare your pastry cream.

Ingredients:

----For pastry cream

• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla (or better yet a vanilla bean)
• 2 egg yolks
• .6 oz cornstarch (plus 2 tbsp water)
• 1 tbsp butter

Directions:

----For pastry cream

1. First, combine the milk, sugar, and vanilla and heat over medium heat until simmering.
2. Next, combine the egg yolks and cornstarch slurry, whisking together.
3. Then, temper the egg yolks with a bit of milk, whisking constantly. Add the tempered egg mixture back into the rest of the milk and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
4. Once your pastry cream is boiling, be sure to cook it for at least two minute, to get the taste of cornstarch out.
5. Finally, take the pastry cream off of the heat and mix in the butter until melted. Place the pastry cream in a shallow dish, press plastic wrap to the surface of the cream, and refrigerate until cool. You can also pop it in the freezer to save time.
6. Now you're ready to fill your cream puffs. Make a small hole in them with a paring knife, fill your pastry bag with pastry cream, and fill away! They're especially good covered in powdered sugar and chocolate sauce.

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