Weekend in a French Kitchen Aug. 22 & 23

From A Kitchen in France by Mimi Thorisson I made Coffee Cream Puffs (p. 140).

Filled, powdered and ready to eat

It’s been a long time since I’ve tried making cream puffs, so I was delightfully surprised how easy this was and how great they turned out. The time for the baking was a bit off for my oven though since when I checked with 10 minutes left on the timer mine were golden brown.

Cream Puffs cooling on the rack

I did decide to only make a half recipe since it says they are best eaten on the day they are made. I knew we’d never eat 30 of these little gems, even as delicious as they turned out. I ended up with a bakers dozen (thirteen). I was a little over zealous with my filling, so I ended up with two without filling, which worked out great since son-in-law didn’t want any cream filling.

Coffee cream filling

Being the stingy, thrifty person that I’m trying to be because our vacation is coming up soon, I decided to not purchase a vanilla bean and used pure vanilla extract instead. I found no need to make an insert before inserting the tip on the pastry bag, since it went in nicely with a gently nudge.  I will definitely be making these again and maybe even trying out some different fillings as well.

This weeks recipe from the Cafe Boulud Cookbook was Salsa Cruda with Horseradish and Avocado Mousse (p. 273). While this recipe sounds like one I’d really enjoy I just couldn’t find the time to get the ingredients and get this one made. Hoping I can do this one another time soon.

If you’d like to see how the other bloggers did this weekend or if you want to join us in cooking from one or both of these great books you can get all the information at: http://weekendinafrenchkitchen.com/ Until next time, Bon Appétit.