How to Make Cream Puffs

Here’s a delicious dessert to enjoy when you have plenty of eggs. Cream puffs are actually easier than they look! Give them a try.

one batch of double chocolate pudding (or pudding of your choice)

1 cup water
1/4 tsp. salt
6 tbls. unsalted butter
1 cup AP
4 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. In a medium saucepan, mix the water, salt, and butter. Bring this mixture to a boil over medium heat.
3. As soon as it boils, remove from heat and sift in the flour. (A fine mesh strainer works well here. Measure your flour into the strainer and then shake it over the mixture.)
4. Stir with a rubber spatula and return to the medium heat. Stir the mixture constantly over the heat for about 3 minutes. It should come together in one piece and begin to look a little drier.
5. Transfer the mixture to a medium bowl and let cool for 1 minute.
6. Add eggs one at a time. Mix well after each addition. (This will become easier, though it’s tricky after the first egg.)
7. Fill a pastry bag with your pastry mixture and fit it with a large, round tip. (Alternatively, you can improvise with a plastic bag. Cut the corner off and it will work just fine.) Pipe your cream puff onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Begin by making a tight spiral of your desired width, and then continue adding about two smaller spirals on top. (You want to do this all in one continuous piping motion. If you do not make a complete disc on the bottom, you may wind up with a hole in the bottom of your cream puff.) For larger, single serving cream puffs, begin with a bottom disc of about 3 1/2  inches. For dainty ‘tea size’ servings, being with a disc about 2 inches.
8. Bake these cream puff shells for 20 minutes. Then, lower the temperature to 350F degrees and bake for 20 minutes longer. Cool on a rack.
9. When cool, cut the top off the cream puff and fill the bottom with pudding. Put the ‘lid’ back on and finish by sprinkling with powder sugar.

Notes:

• Have fun with fillings! Ice cream and chocolate sauce would be extra decadent. A fruit filling is intriguing. How about a savory cream puff with fromage blanc and herbs?
• Pastry shells are best used on the same day. Fill right before serving. After a day, they will taste just as delicious, but be a little less crunchy. Store by wrapping tightly in plastic or by freezer.

Planning for the Holidays and the Winter

Just a few tips for islanders:

• Persephone Farms has heritage turkeys available for order for November or December. If you haven’t made arrangements for your holiday bird yet, what an opportunity! Contact Louisa at: 360.621.8949 .
• Storage boxes for your winter hoarding are also available from Persephone right now. They include:
  - 5 pounds of rose fingerlings
  -5 pounds of ozette fingerlings
  -10 pounds German butterball potatoes
  -10 pounds onions
  -15 pounds winter squash
  -10 bulbs of garlic.
  The box is $95 and is available for pickup at the Bainbridge market. Visit Rebecca at her stand this weekend to make arrangements.
• Sweet Dahlia Bakery, a local baking venture, has released their winter and holiday menu. Make things a little easier on yourself this busy winter and let someone else do your fancy baking.

Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread

This bread makes great toast. Spread fromage blanc on it and it’s almost an entire breakfast. Double the recipe. It freezes well. Adapted from the ever wonderful Bread Baker’s Apprentice.

For two loaves:
2 1/2 c. bread flour
1 c. white wheat flour (or sub. more bread flour)
4 tsp. sugar
1 1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. instant yeast
1 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 large egg, beaten
2 tbls. shortening, melted
1/2 c. buttermilk or whole milk
3/4 c. warm water
1 1/2 c. raisins
1 c. chopped walnuts

For filling:
1/2 c. sugar
2 tbls. cinnamon

1. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Whisk together wet ingredients.
3. Pour the wet into dry and knead by hand or machine for about ten minutes. Knead in the raisins and walnuts.
4. Let rise in a clean, dry bowl for two hours.
5. Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces. Grease two 2-lb loaf pans.
6. Roll out into a large rectangle, with the short side of your dough being slightly longer than your pan.
7. Sprinkle with the filling mixture, leaving an inch on one side. Roll up tightly, pulling the dough slightly toward you as you roll. Seal the seam by pinching it. Place in loaf pan to rise for 90 minutes.
8. Bake at 350F for 40 minutes.

Farmers’ Market Eggrolls

Even though a lot of my eating habits have radically changed over the years, I still can’t help craving a big plate of Chinese food now and then. Or often. This is why I went looking for delectable homemade fried rice, which then led to home sprouting. Now, I am looking for a good, homemade eggroll. Reason number one: nothing says comfort food like a crispy eggroll. Reason number two: it’s time to start finding creative ways to get rid of cabbage.

This is a plain and simple roll – just veggies and crunch. While the Asian ingredients and egg roll wrappers are a little bit of a cheat, it’s certainly better than carry out, right?

Makes 6 eggrolls.

3-4 cups cabbage (Chinese or otherwise), washed and sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch of small scallions, chopped finely (about 1/2 cup)
2 carrots, grated
1/4 c. mung bean sprouts, chopped

2 tbls. peanut oil + more for pan-frying rolls
1/2 tsp. ground ginger

3 grinds white pepper
1 tbls. light soy sauce
2 tsp. vegetarian black vinegar (or rice wine)
2 tsp. sesame oil

flour paste for sealing: 2 tbls. flour + 2 tbls. water

1. Prepare vegetables.
2. Heat wok over medium high. Add oil and heat until snapping.
3. Add ginger, garlic, and scallions. Cook and stir for about 10 seconds.
4. Add carrots and cabbage. Cook and stir until the cabbage is wilted.
5. Add bean sprouts, soy sauce, pepper, and vinegar. Stir and cook for an additional minute.
6. Pour this filling mixture into a colander to drain and cool completely. Drizzle with sesame oil.
7. Lay out a wrapper and place about 4 tbls. of filling on one edge. Tuck the ends and roll up. Seal with the flour paste.
8. Heat a small pan over medium. Heat oil until sizzling. Cook, turning to brown all sides evenly, for a total of about 4 minutes.

Notes:

• The procedure is based on the one described in one of Ken Hom’s books.
• Egg rolls reheated well in a hot oven.
• If you’re making at the same time as fried rice, save yourself some work. Chop a few extra veggies in the same manner and just toss them into the rice. Adding cabbage was quite good.

Kitchen Scraps

And now for a little news….

• Congratulations to our favorite island vintners: Bainbridge winery wins big at state fair
• That Wendell Berry always seems to pop up, but it’s a point worth revisiting: Apples with a sense of place

Baked Risotto with Winter Squash

This is an easy risotto to make on a busy evening – you bake it in the oven! Serve with a salad for instant comfort food.

1 lb. winter squash, peeled and cut into about 3/4 inch dice
2 cups Arborio rice
4 tbls. butter
3 1/2 c. chicken stock
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp. salt
about 6 leaves fresh sage, chopped finely
white pepper
1/2 c. Parmesan
1/4 c. almonds or hazelnuts

1. In a medium skillet, melt butter. Add rice and saute until it begins to turn a little brown.
2. In another pan, heat stock with bay leaf.
3. Add rice to a 2 quart casserole. Stir in squash, salt, pepper, and sage.
4. Stir in warmed broth.
5. Cover dish with lid or tightly fitting foil. Bake at 400F for 30 minutes.
6. Remove lid. Sprinkle with Parmesan and nuts. Bake for 10 more minutes until nuts are toasted.