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Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 cup flour
- 4 extra-large eggs
Preparation
Step 1
1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
Put the water, butter, and salt in a heavy saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the flour and stir with a wooden spoon until the ingredients come together into a smooth, uniform dough, approximately 2 minutes.
Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. (If you don’t have a stand mixer you can use a hand mixer fitted with the blending attachments.) Start paddling on low speed, then add the eggs, one at a time, until thoroughly absorbed, mixing for 1 minute in between each egg, and stopping the motor periodically to scrape bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Finish with the final egg and mix for an additional 2 minutes.
Use the dough immediately, It does not refrigerate well.
Transfer the dough into a pastry bag fitted with the #6 plain tip. Pipe rounds on 2 nonstick baking trays, about 2 inches in diameter by about 1/2 inch high, leaving 2 inches between each puff. you should be able to make 24 puffs.
Bake the puffs in the oven, in batches if necessary, until golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes.
Remove the tray from the oven and let the puffs cool on the tray for 0 minutes.
Fill the puffs one of the following ways:
Option 1: Cut in half horizontally with a serrated knife. Use a pastry bag fitted with the #7 star tip to pipe filling onto each bottom piece (you can rinse out, dry, and reuse the same bag you used for the dough, or you can use a spoon i you’d like.) Top with the top pieces.
Option 2: Use your pinkie to hollow out the puffs from the bottom. Use a pastry bag fitted with the #7 star tip (you can rinse out, dry, and reuse the same bag you used for the dough) to pipe cream into the puffs from the bottom.
Serve the cream puffs right away or refrigerate in an airtight container. Cream puffs that have been halved and filled will last for 1 day; those filled from the bottom will last for 2 to 3 days.