Strawberry Cream Puffs
Ingredients
1 cup water
1 stick butter, cubed
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup flour
4 eggs
1 cup heavy whipping cream
⅓ cup powdered sugar
½ cup diced strawberries
½ cup thinly sliced strawberries
Steps
In a medium sized saucepan, add 1 cup of water, 1 stick of cubed butter, and ¼ teaspoon of salt
Place the pan on the stove over medium heat, stirring the butter with the water as it melts
Once the liquid is boiling, add 1 cup of flour
Vigorously stir the flour with the liquid until everything is combined and forms a dough ball
Take the pan off heat and allow to cool for a few minutes
Add 4 eggs, one at a time, stirring the egg with the batter until it is completely smooth between each egg addition
This dough is known as the basic French choux pastry
Add all the pastry dough to a clean plastic ziploc bag
Cut a small corner off the end of the bag
Use the plastic bag to squeeze out small but tall dollops of the pastry dough onto a parchment paper lined tray
Bake the puffs in the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes
Lower to oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and bake for another 20 minutes
Remove the baked puffs from the oven when the tops are golden brown and allow them to cool completely
Pour one cup of heavy whipping cream into a large bowl
Add a ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract and ⅓ cup of powdered sugar to the heavy cream
Use a handheld mixer to beat the whipped cream with the sugar and vanilla until the mixture has thickened and holds stiff peaks
Fold in a ½ cup of diced strawberries to the whipped cream
Once the puffs have cooled, cut one in half, separating the two pieces
Place a few spoonfuls of the strawberry whipped cream onto the bottom half of the cream puff
Arrange 2 thin slices of strawberries on top of the cream
Put the top of the cream puff back on covering the strawberries and cream
Continue assembling the remaining cream puffs, cutting the baked puff in half, spooning with the strawberry whipped cream, placing the sliced strawberry on top and putting the top of the cream puff on