Cream Puffs with Leah and Kyle

Choux pastry (pate a choux) is a simple to make, classic French pastry batter that has many uses, including cream puffs, eclairs, profiteroles, beignets, cheese puffs, and much more. Today we will make cream puffs.
These recipes come from bakerbettie.com. This is a fabulous website for those who like to bake. Please check out her website for all the variations for this dough.

TIPS, TRICKS, AND TECHNIQUES
For best results, after making the choux pastry batter, transfer the batter into a pastry bag and let is rest for about an hour. The batter can be used immediately, but this will produce more consistent pastry with more puff.

Make sure your oven is preheated well before the shells go into the oven so that it is truly very hot. Do not skip the step of increasing the heat once the shells are in the oven. The active heating cycle will really help the shells puff up.
Be very patient and do not open the oven until the last few minutes of baking to check on the shells. Opening the oven will release the steam and can cause your shells to fall if they are not set yet.
Profiteroles can be assembled with ice cream stuffed in the middle and kept in the freezer for up to 3 months. When ready to serve, simply drizzle with hot fudge sauce or warm ganache.

BASIC CHOUX DOUGH
1/2 cup (4 fl oz.) water
1/2 cup (4 fl oz.) milk
1 stick (4 oz.) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
large pinch kosher salt
1 cup (4.25 oz.) all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
Preheat your oven to 425 F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
Place the water, milk, butter, sugar, and salt in a sauce pot over medium high heat. Stir until butter is melted and everything comes to a boil. When the mixture is boiling, take it off the heat and pour the flour into the pot all at once. Stir quickly and vigorously.
When the mixture becomes smooth, flatten it to the bottom of the pan and return it to medium heat. Let the mixture sit on the bottom of the pan until you hear it begin to crackle. At this point, pull the mixture to the side and if there is a thin film left on the bottom of the pan it is dried out enough. If there is not, let it heat for a little while longer until a film forms.
Remove the mixture from the heat and stir until most of the steam has evaporated and you no longer see steam rising from the dough. This is important to further dry out the pastry dough.
Off of the heat, add one egg at a time into the mixture and stir vigorously until it is completely absorbed into the dough before adding the next. The batter will look smooth and glossy when it is ready.
Move the batter to a pastry bag with an open tip. The pastry can be used immediately or within 3 hours. Hold the bag perpendicular to the baking sheet and place the tip at the center of where you are piping your shell. Apply even pressure to the pastry bag and move up as you pipe the shells. You want to make them about 2" in width. Pipe 9 shells to a baking sheet, yielding about 18 shells total.
Bake only one baking sheet of shells at a time. Place the baking sheet in the preheated oven and immediately increase the heat to 450 F. This creates an active heating cycle in the oven which will produce more steam and puff in your pastries. Bake for 10 minutes without opening the oven door.
Keeping the oven door shut, reduce the heat to 350F. Bake for 13-15 minutes until the shells are dried out.
Allow to cool completely. Cut shells in half and fill with pastry cream or scoops of ice cream. Serve immediately or store in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months. Serve with Hot Fudge Sauce drizzled over the top.

PASTRY CREAM
from Baker Bettie

1/2 cup (3.5 oz.) granulated sugar
6 large egg yolks
1/4 cup cornstarch (1 oz.) cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon Morton kosher salt (use 1/2 teaspoon if using Diamond kosher)
2 1/2 cups (20 fl oz.) whole milk
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoon (1 oz.) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
In a mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks with the sugar either with a whisk or an electric mixer until foamy and about double in size.

Whisk the cornstarch and salt into the egg/sugar mixture.
In a saucepan, heat the milk to a boil.
Slowly pour about half of the milk into the egg/cornstarch mixture while whisking continuously. It can be helpful to nestle the mixing bowl in a damp kitchen towel to stabilize the bowl so you can whisk with one hand.
Pour the milk/egg mixture back into the pot with the remainder of the milk and cook over medium/low heat, whisking continuously, until the mixture thickens and comes to a boil.
Pour the hot custard through a fine mesh sieve.
Add the vanilla and the cold butter and whisk in.
Place a piece of plastic wrap right on top of the custard and refrigerate until completely chilled before using, about 2 hours.
Pastry cream can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

HOT FUDGE SAUCE
1/2 cup (4 oz.) unsalted butter
12 fl. oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (or chopped up chocolate)
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (can be natural or dutch-processed)
1/2 teaspoon Morton kosher salt (use 1 tsp if using Diamond kosher)

Stove Top Method
Set up a double boiler:  Set a medium saucepan filled with about 2 inches of water on your stove and turn it on medium heat to bring the water to a simmer. This will be the base of the double boiler. Choose a medium heatproof mixing bowl that will set on top of the saucepan without touching the water to mix your fudge sauce ingredients in.

Combine the ingredients:  Cut the butter into small pieces and combine it in your bowl with the sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips, cocoa powder, and salt.

Heat the sauce:  Set the bowl over the pot of simmering water. Use a rubber spatula to stir the ingredients until all of the chocolate and butter are melted and create a smooth hot fudge sauce.

Microwave Method

Combine the ingredients:  Cut the butter into small pieces and combine it in your bowl with the sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips, cocoa powder, and salt.

Microwave:  Heat the ingredients in the microwave for 30 seconds on high. Stir the mixture thoroughly, being sure to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl. Heat for 30 more seconds and stir the mixture again. Heat in 15 second increments, stirring in between, until the mixture is a smooth consistency. This will take about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes.