Week 9 Part I

Jeff's Almond Cream Puff Strips ☆☆☆☆☆ [pg 121 HFC]
This recipe was in the last edition of the cookbook and I gave my brother a lot of credit for making something so fancy. I had never attempted them because it sounded complicated. These little bites of heaven are quite easy. That said, I must admit my first attempt was less than stellar. Although my first attempts don't look very pretty, they tasted just fine and the second attempts were even better.

The second time I made the puffs, I made them a bit smaller than noted in the recipe. The thinking was that a serving size would be smaller, therefore fewer calories. That never works. If it is good, you just eat more of them. Maybe the walk to the kitchen for the second or third puff somehow uses a few calories. One can hope.

In addition to the smaller size, I changed the filling the second time. On the first try I made the pudding as directed on the box, missing the instruction about 1 1/4 cup milk until after the filling was completed. The second time I used cheesecake flavor pudding and got the milk quantity correct. I also used vanilla flavoring rather than almond extract. Tom didn't have a preference about the filling, although I prefer the cheesecake flavor. I also opted to use parchment paper the second time instead of greasing and flouring the cookie sheet. Much easier clean up and who doesn't love that?

I had a bit of trouble with the glaze the first time. I thought using the microwave was my error, so I did it the old fashioned way, on the stove top, the second time. I still had a stiff glaze, so I added a bit of hot water to thin the glaze and it worked great. If you choose to do this, make sure to add the hot water just one tsp at a time. My trouble might have stemmed from the fact I used dark chocolate chips but it was what I had and the thinning with hot water worked fine.

You can see in the picture I didn't have quite enough dough for the last cream puff strip and it became a cream puff ball. This is inspiring, as I can see making a bunch of cream puff balls for a pinochle party or other event, this dessert is that easy. They are surprising light in taste, unlike store bought cream puffs which taste very rich and heavy.

My biggest challenge was getting the filling into my Easy Accent Decorator. Once that was accomplished, filling the puffs was a breeze. My mind races with summer options. I am certainly going to try a filling with bits of fresh strawberry. According to my calculations, the calories in one of these (4-6 inch length) is 266 calories, which means the smaller 3 inch ones I made were about 133 calories each. (That is using low fat cool whip and sugar free pudding.) One could estimate that the cream puff balls will have about 50 calories each.

I highly recommend this recipe to all my newly wedded nieces (or soon to be wedded) because you can really impress your friends and the recipe is sooo easy. Watch my additional comments as I try variations of filling for this dessert.