Every once and awhile I cook. Seriously. It is only every once and awhile. After feeding seven children and one husband for years, I decided enough was enough. My sweet husband backed me up on this one. He figured I had done some hard time, so, generally speaking, for the last couple of years we've gone out to lunch and dinner on a regular basis. Some of my best friends are the servers & cashiers at Wahoo's, Rumbi's, Schlotzsky's, Qdoba and Noodles & Company. ;o) We see them all on a regular basis. Today the Schlotzsky manager took me, my daughter, and a friend out to lunch on his dime -- told me he appreciated my business. Now, that's a friend worth knowing!
Tonight the missionaries from our church are coming for dinner. When we invite them to dinner, I try to do it up proper and make them a nice home-cooked meal. Sometimes "home-cooked" sounds really good -- even to me. We're having chicken fajitas with fresh tomatoes and cilantro from my gard
en, homemade salsa and guacamole with chips, cornbread with homemade jam, and a salad. Dessert, however, is going to be the pièce de résistance. I'm making ice-cream filled cream puffs. A couple of weeks ago we went to one of my favorite restaurants in Boulder and had the delightful delicacy to the right for dessert. My son took a photo of it with his I-phone. It was delicious. Extraordinarily delicious. So...I figured I would make my own version tonight for dessert. Cream puffs are so easy to make. Some people assume that they are difficult or time consuming to concoct, but they are such a cinch! Anyway, here is the recipe for the puff, then just fill it with your favorite ice cream, top with drizzled chocolate, and add a little whipped cream to the side. (Note: For the drizzled chocolate topping I use a 16 oz. ready-made container of chocolate frosting (Duncan Hines "Creamy Dark Chocolate Fudge" is my fav) Heat it in the microwave for about 30 - 40 seconds, then stir it well, dip the spoon into the frosting and drizzle away!)
Puffs: 1 cup water, 1/2 cup margarine or butter, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1 cup flour 4 eggs
- In a saucepan over medium heat, heat water, butter, and salt until the water boils and the butter melts. Remove from heat and vigorously stir in flour all at once until the mixture forms a ball and leaves the sides of the pan.
- Put in a mixer and add eggs to flour mixture one at a time, beating after each addition until the mixture is smooth and satiny.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease and flour a large cookie sheet and drop batter onto cookie sheet by heaping tablespoon. (Makes about nine 3" cooked puffs.)
- Bake for 40 minutes or until golden, then turn off the oven and let the puffs remain in the oven another 15 minutes. (This gives them a more crispy texture -- delish!) Remove from oven and cool on wire rack.
- Just before serving cut puffs in half horizontally with a long serrated knife. Put a scoop of your favorite ice cream in the puff and drizzle with heated chocolate frosting. You might want to serve it with a dollop of whipped cream on the side.
