A tip...for cleaning tips; of piping bags, that is.

This is what NOT to do when trying to clean parts of piping bags:

I got the wash cloth just a little too far into it, so I tried to just pull it all the way through. Bad idea. Not only did it not work, but I actually had to take my kitchen shears and cut the wash cloth to get it out of the tip!

Note to self: do not stick entire wash cloth through piping bag tips.

Lesson learned.

First Food Blog posting....CREAM PUFFS!

Welcome friends! This is my food blog. A place where I plan to share recipes with the masses and my tips and/or tricks I've learned in the kitchen. Also, having taken a job (7mos ago) that pays considerably less than my previous one, watching our money is very important to me. I want to give you recipes that are not only good, filling, somewhat healthy (not my main goal, I LOVE to bake), but also wallet friendly. I don't tend to cook with ingredients that are outrageously expensive or that only use a little bit in one recipe. The way I see it, if you're going to spend upwards of $4.00 for some fresh basil, you better get a recipe that uses it all!

I'll try to post pictures with each recipe, step by step, like my beloved Pioneer Woman, but this will not always happen. It usually happens where I get halfway through a recipe and think, "Shoot! I should've taken pictures so I can post this!" So bear with me. OH, and if I can give you guys one HUGE piece of advice to start off...read a recipe through completely once first before you start cooking. Especially if it is a new recipe. Some recipes are sneaky and hide certain ingredients or directions in the middle of the recipe. There is nothing worse that getting halfway through a cookie recipe and finding out that you have to chill the dough for 4 hours before you can even start baking it. Seriously. Read the recipes first. You won't be sorry.

Without further ado, the first recipe:

I've never made cream puffs before. They're tasty and I enjoy devouring their deliciousness, but have never felt the need to ever make my own. I have a special reason for wanting to try, which I can not divulge at this time (it's a surprise!). I found two separate recipes for cream puffs, and so far have only tried one, but it worked! And I'm going to use it! My coworkers gobbled these up when I brought them into work, and one girl was telling people (with a evil little grin) not to eat them so she could have them to herself. She did this with my Chocolate Chip cookies too...I'll have to make cookies for them again...ANYWAY-

This recipe comes from "Cream Puff Murder" by Joanne Fluke. It's a super simple recipe to follow and I already had all the ingredients in my pantry/fridge. Can't beat that. And it's filled with vanilla custard. Delicious, creamy, heavenly vanilla custard. Drooling.

Preheat oven to 400.

1 cup water

½ cup butter

¼ tsp salt

1 tbsp white granulated sugar

1 cup flour (packed down in measuring cup, and leveled off)

1 ½ tsp baking powder

4 extra large eggs, at room temperature

Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. You’ll need 2-4 cookie sheets depending on how large your puffs are.

Place the water in a saucepan. Cut the butter into small pieces and add it to the water. Sprinkle in the salt and sugar. Turn the burner on medium to melt the butter.

While the water is heating and butter is melting, measure out the flour and place it in a bowl. Add the baking powder and stir it in with a fork.

When the butter has melted, turn up the heat and bring the water to a full rolling boil. Turn the burner to low and dump in the flour mixture all at once, stirring it in quickly with a wooden spoon. After a few moments of stirring, the dough will clean the sides of the saucepan and begin to ball up. This takes about 30 seconds. Pull the saucepan from heat and turn off the burner.

Let the dough sit on a cold burner or on the counter to cool, for 20 minutes.

When the dough has cooled, break an egg, and add it to the cooled dough. Beat it in with a wooden spoon. Continue to beat vigorously until the egg is fully incorporated and the dough is smooth. Repeat 3 more times with remaining eggs, adding one egg at a time and mixing thoroughly after each egg.

Test your dough by lifting out a spoonful and dropping it on top of the rest of the dough. If it stays on top and retains its shape, the dough is ready to bake. If not, beat it some more until it does.

Drop the dough by spoonfuls onto the cookie sheet. Make 12 mounds (for larger puffs) or 15 smaller mounds for mini puffs. You can also fill a piping bag with the dough and pipe out nice mounds onto the cookie sheet. Don’t crowd the puffs; they don’t spread out too far, but give them room to grow.

Bake at 400 degrees for 45-50 minutes for larger puffs, or 30-35 minutes for mini puffs. (Mine took 30 minutes).DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN! If you do,  horrible things will occur. And you will be banished from ever making cream puffs again. Finished puffs should be firm to the touch and golden brown.

Remove puffs from oven and pierce the side of each one with the point of a sharp knife (NOT necessary for mini puffs!). Cool the puffs on the baking sheet, careful to keep them away from drafts.

Vanilla Custard

½ cup white sugar

1/8 tsp salt

¼ tsp freshly ground nutmeg or ground cinnamon

1/3 cup flour

1 cup milk

1 cup heavy cream

2 beaten eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

¼ stick butter

Combine sugar, salt, nutmeg (or cinnamon) and flour in saucepan OFF THE HEAT. Stir well.

Gradually stir in the milk and cream. Blend everything together OFF THE HEAT. Turn the burner on medium high heat, and cook, stirring constantly, until thickened.

Remove the saucepan from the heat, but leave the burner on.

Break the eggs into a small bowl and quickly beat them until they are well mixed. Stir several tbsp of  the hot mixture into the bowl with the eggs (this is tempering the eggs so they don’t cook). Whisk until incorporated.

Slowly, pour the eggs into the saucepan with the hot mixture, whisking it the whole time.

Return the saucepan to the heat and stir for 2-3 more minutes, until the mixture is very thick.

Remove the saucepan from the heat (and turn off the burner). Add the vanilla, stirring it in quickly. Add the butter and stir it in until it’s melted.

Let the mixture cool and use it to fill your cream puffs, or pour it into bowls while it’s hot , chill in the fridge, and serve with a little sweetened whipped cream.

Cut off the top third of each puff for the lid. Remove any filaments of dough inside and fill the puffs with sweetened whipped cream, Vanilla custard, Chocolate pudding, ice cream or any flavor pie filling. Overfill a bit so the lids sit jauntily on top of the filling. Dust each with powdered sugar and serve.  You can also use a piping bag to fill the puffs; grabbing a whole puff, pierce the side or top with a pointed tip of the piping bag and squeeze in filling.

SO GOOD! I apologize for the length of this post. It won't happen again. Probably.