Cream Puffs With Almond Cream Filling Recipe

This recipe for Cream Puffs With Almond Cream Filling makes 12 mouthwatering desserts.

Ingredients

Cream Puffs
1 cup water
½ cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter
⅜ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cupsall purpose flour
4 large eggs
Filling
1 pint heavy or whipping cream
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract
Chocolate Sauce
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 ⅔ cups granulated sugar
1 ¼ cups water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Garnish
1 cup toasted almond slivers
Makes 12

Directions

Toasted Almond Slivers

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Spread nuts in one layer on an ungreased shallow baking pan.

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden brown.

Take from the oven and dump them into a bowl. They will continue cooking if left on a hot pan and could burn. Set aside and let cool.

Chocolate Sauce

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine cocoa, sugar and water. Bring to a boil and let boil 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Refrigerate until needed.

Cream Puffs

Preheat the oven to 425°F.

Lightly grease or line with parchment two baking sheets.

In a medium sized saucepan, combine the water, butter, and salt and heat until the butter has melted. Bring to a boil then remove the pan from the heat, and add the flour all at once, stirring vigorously.

Return the pan to the burner and cook over medium heat, stirring all the while, until the mixture smoothens out and follows the spoon around the pan; this should take less than a minute.

Remove the pan from the heat, and let the mixture cool for 5 to 10 minutes. Itll still feel hot, but you should be able to hold a finger in it for a few seconds. If you have an instant thermometer, the temperature should be below 125°F.

Transfer the mixture to a mixer, and beat in the eggs one at a time; it will look curdled at first, but when you add the last egg it should become smooth. Beat for at least 2 minutes after adding the last egg.

Using a level muffin scoop or ice cream scoop, drop the thick batter onto the prepared baking sheets in 3 to 4 tablespoon mounds. Space the mounds about 3" apart, to allow for expansion.

Bake the pastries for 15 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 350°F and bake for an additional 25 minutes, until pastries are a medium golden brown. Do not open the oven door while the pastries are baking.

Remove the pastries from the oven. Make a small slit in the top of each, and return them to the oven for 5 minutes, to allow the steam to escape.

Place them on a rack to cool. When they are cool enough to handle, split each in half to make top and bottom pieces. Splitting and exposing the centers to air will help keep them from becoming soggy.

Filling

Chill the clean bowl of a stand or hand mixer and the whisk attachment in the freezer for 10 minutes. Add all of the ingredients to the bowl and whisk on high speed until medium peaks form, about 1 minute.Don’t over beat as it will get too stiff.

Fill the bottom halves of the puffs with whipped cream, then replace their tops. Dust with confectioners sugar and spoon on the chocolate sauce and roasted almonds.

Garnish - How to Roast the Almonds

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Spread the almond slivers evenly across a non greased baking sheet. The almonds toast better if they are not overlapping each other. Place the sheet into the oven.The almonds will need to be flipped or stirred every few minutes. Do not leave unattended. After 2 minutes, open the oven door and stir the almonds around on the baking sheet with a wooden spoon. Close the oven door and continue to stir the nuts every 2 minutes for 5 to ten minutes. Remove the pan from the oven.

The almonds will continue to cook for a short time after leaving the oven so if they are roasted to your satisfaction dump them off the hot pan into a bowl.