It’s summertime and festivals area going on all around us. Wisconsin State Fair is still a month away. The minute I said, “State Fair” people around here started picturing cream puffs. In an homage to the dairy state, one of the most popular offerings at the fair is cream puffs as big as your head. The delicate choux pastry exists only as a vehicle (and excuse) for consumption of clouds of whipped cream. I’m not talking about those wispy clouds that you might see on a sunny summer day as you lay lazily in the grass. I’m talking about the huge clouds that start to gather right before a sudden cloudburst. You get the idea.
You are starting to want a cream puff about now, aren’t you?
I’m going to tell you something else that’s going to make your head start to spin in another direction. It’s cherry season at my house. Those of you that follow me on Facebook or Instagram have already been treated to pictures of my fabulous cherry stoner (that needs a new handle). But what was I doing with those cherries? First I made a Cherry Meringue Pie. It was rapidly consumed. I probably need to make some Cherry Dessert one of these days and some cherry-limeade jam. But with egg yolks leftover from the meringue, I needed to something. I thought about various curds, lemon, lime, grapefruit, orange…nothing sounded like what I wanted.
I started searching through my recipes trying to figure out what I could do. It was staring me in the face. Right there on the screen. Cherry Cream Puffs. I was helpless to resist the pull. I had everything on hand that I needed. The egg yolks got used my choux with other eggs. Most recipes call for additional whites to add more lightness to the pastry, but because these were there just so I didn’t have to spoon cherry whipped cream straight into my mouth, I didn’t really care how fluffy they were.
Because I was using raw sour cherries, I cooked the cherries with the syrup to sweeten them up a little bit. And then, in a further act of rebellion, I folded everything into the whipped cream instead of serving the syrup as a sauce. I stand by my decision.
My children could barely contain themselves through eating dinner (a lovely trout with satay sauce, rice, ginger scented beets, and a green salad). They had watched me pull the cream puffs out of the oven and were ready to dig in without even knowing what I was going to fill them with. As they were finishing their meals, I excused myself to whip the cream. While pouring the cream I was interrupted as the girl pulled over a stool and nearly dropped it on my toe. “Can I help?” she asked. “What volume do you need it at?” She asked reaching to turn on the mixer. “10,” I replied.
As the cream whipped she treated me to another of her
fascinating stories about her imaginary friends. When the cream was as thick as it could be without turning into butter, I folded in the cherry syrup I had made earlier. By this time, I had 3 children watching, begging to be allowed to participate in the tasting. “After dishes.” I told them. “I just need to get a picture.” But once I had licked my finger after putting the cream puff on the plate, I knew it was all over. By the time the dishes were done, there were 3 lonely puffs left on the tray. (It did take them a long time to do the dishes, but still…) The last 3 didn’t make it to bed time.
There was still some cream left. Some of it got used to top chocolate marshmallow ice cream, the rest of it was used for…oh, I can’t tell you yet. That’s going to require another post.
Reading the recipe, I got the idea that it was pie crust with choux pastry spread on top. You have eaten choux pastry as a cream puffs or eclairs. It’s rich and eggy and if you don’t let the steam out, it deflates and gets sort of creamy inside. That was exactly what it was. There was nothing sweet about the pie crust or the choux, just richness, a bit of crisp, the almond flavor. The sweetness came in from the glaze poured all over the top.
