It’s always a little difficult to come up with decent treats for a gathering of any sort, and much more difficult to come up with something not only easy, but impressive as well.
When I saw this recipe on Joy of Baking, I thought it would be something fun and tasty. I had no idea it would be easy too. You have to work kinda fast, so it’s a good idea to have everything set up before hand, but it is incredibly tasty; and who could resist something this cute??
I was really surprised at how easy this was. You just bake the dough and it puffs up to this beautiful hollow pastry that you can fill with anything you like. I chose a chocolate whipped cream this time, but the sky is really the limit 
Pate a Choux
Source: Joy of Baking
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup water
2 large eggs
Egg wash:
1 large egg
pinch of salt
Preheat oven to 400F. Cover cookie sheets with parchment paper.
In a bowl sift together the flour, sugar and salt. Set aside.
Lightly beat each of the eggs in a separate bowl.
In another bowl mix the salt and egg for the egg wash.
Place the butter and water in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and quickly mix in the flour mixture with a wooden spoon. Return to the heat and stir constantly until the dough forms a thin dry film on the bottom of the pan.
Dump the dough into another bowl and beat for a minute or two to release the steam. Let dough rest until lukewarm. Beat in the eggs one at a time until the dough forms a thick smooth paste. Spoon into a zip lock bag, cut off the tip and pipe into mounds on the parchment paper. (Note, you do not have to pipe into mounds. You can make the dough into any shape you want. Be creative and have fun with it!) If you want they nicely rounded be sure to flatten the tips lightly with your fingers.
Brush the dough lighlty with the egg wash, then bake for 15 minutes, turning the tray halfway through. Reduce heat to 350F and bake for another 30 minutes (turning halfway through again.) Turn the oven off and with the door proped open, let the shells dry out further. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. When you split them open they should be completely dry and hollow inside.
Unfortunately I don’t know the exact measurements for the whipped cream. I didn’t quite have enough heavy whipping cream for a full 1/2 cup, and even though I put 1 teaspoon of chocolate liqueur at first, after whipping I decided to add another splash of it. It was approximately 1/2 cup whipped cream, 1 teaspoon cocoa powder, 1/2 teaspoon of sugar and 1-2 teaspoons of chocolate liqueur. Just keep beating it until stiff peaks form.
Then you just pipe or spoon into the cut open pastry, sprinkle with powdered sugar and enjoy. Your imagination is really the limit on these things cause you can literally do whatever you want. Just have fun with it and enjoy
Posted by lcsa99 
