Cream Puffs - Grandma Ross

I don't remember much about Grandma Ross' cream puffs, mainly what I remember is her serving desserts that were sandwiched together with whipped cream.  Mostly meringues with whipped cream but Mom says she also made cream puffs and I found her recipe for them.  I've made choux pastry before and, despite common opinion, it's such a doddle that I didn't know why Mom never picked up the recipe, especially if she was trying to impress company because choux pastry always looks impressive.  Cream puffs are especially impressive because they're nice and big.

A recent conversation with Mom revealed that she was just stymied by the recipe instructions her mother left and for some reason they were always slimy inside even though she thought they were fully cooked.  Well, I can understand her difficulties, especially in the pre-internet world, these are the instructions from Grandma's recipe, "When water & butter are boiling add flour & salt.  Remove from heat.  Add eggs & beat one in at a time." - that was it, nothing else, so no wonder, huh?  If it wasn't for the internet I wouldn't know what to do with the recipe either, so thank-you technology.

 

Cream Puffs

Pre-heat the oven to 400^F (205^C)
Heat in a pot until boiling:
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup butter

While waiting for the water to boil, sift together:
1/2 cup flour
1/8 tsp salt
The moment the water and butter are boiling, turn the heat off, move your pot to a cool burner.  Dump all the flour into the water in one go and start stirring furiously.  I use an electric hand mixer but don't if your pot has a non-stick coating, mine are stainless so I'm good.

Once the dough comes away from the side start adding one at a time
2 eggs
It'll look like scary scrambled eggs for a while but keep mixing until the dough is smooth, shiny, and drops off the beaters (or spoon) easily.

Grease your baking sheet then splash some cold water on them and give them a shake so that you only have small drops of water clinging to the sheet.  This is a trick I found on the internet, because it's the steam that causes the choux pastry to puff up, if you have slightly damp baking sheets it creates extra steam for extra puff.  I'm not sure if dampening the tray makes much difference, I've always had my choux pastry puff up big and I only found the water trick recently, you still have to grease the sheet though, even if it's non-stick.

Spoon big tablespoon sized dollops of the dough onto the sheets leaving enough space for the cream puffs to expand to double their size without touching each other.

Bake  for 40 mins.

When you take them out of the oven, scoop them up off the baking tray immediately and punch a small hole in the bottom then put them on a wire rack to cool.  The internal structure of the choux pastry will remind you of strands of cobwebs like you see as special effects in old haunted house movies.  If you don't make a hole the steam has no where to escape, it'll stay inside, condense, and turn the cobweb strands slimy.  You could possibly try rescue your cream puffs by scraping the insides out with a spoon after you cut them open but you won't have any body left to it and the steam might also have gotten into the shell of the cream puff and there's no rescue for that.  Punch a hole in it, I used the handle of a spoon.

Once they're cooled, they'll keep for a few days if you don't fill them, but where's the fun in that?  Cream puffs can be cut open and filled with whipped cream or creme patisserie.  If you make profiteroles, the cream puff's miniature-cousin, they should be filled by piping the filling in through the hole you made to vent the steam.  To make the dessert extra indulgent you can also top them with sauce or chocolate shavings.

 

Gram LuVerne and Allana's Lemon Curd Caper

*Image note below

Intro by The Scone Apprentice:

My sister Allana went to university on Vancouver Island, where Gram LuVerne and Grandpa Bill Pierce lived in their retirement years. Allana was near enough to visit them on weekends and it was during all these visits that Gram and Allana forged a bond that is more than just Grandmother and Granddaughter, they became good friends. I don't think it was just geographical proximity that created this friendship; those two are sometimes thick as thieves. So when I heard about their most recent kitchen escapade I thought I'd hand the reins of the blog over to Allana to archive one of these events.

The Lemon Curd Caper:

I’m not known to be a very good baker or cook. I eat whatever I make - good or bad. Despite being complacent with my own cooking, I do recognize good cooking and baking when I taste it and my Gram LuVerne is an excellent baker and cook. During all my visits to see her and Grandpa Pierce, it was 100% goodness at every meal.

After Grandpa passed on, Gram had to change her cooking to suit one person so whenever I went to visit, Gram wanted try something else. About 7 years ago, I arrived at Gram's to find that she had bought seaweed wraps and Japanese sushi rice because she wanted to try sushi. To this day, we still laugh about our attempt to make sushi at home. Using the internet as our guide, we looked up how to roll sushi, make tempura, and deal with seaweed wraps. I’ve eaten tonnes of sushi in restaurants, while Gram had never tried it before. Despite my experience eating sushi, I was of no use when it came to making it. Gram had to assume the responsibilities of rolling the sushi and she did a good job of it too! I did what I do best – I ate it. And it was good.

But this is a baking blog, not a cooking blog. So let’s get back to baking.

I don’t really recall too many baking memories with Gram LuVerne. I remember eating lots of her baking and hearing the tales of her legendary apple pie (Dad). The Scone Apprentice talked about the money birthday cakes, which was a specialty that only she made. Yummy ginger snaps, bran muffins, and oatmeal cookies. I recall homemade canned peaches and cherries with ice cream. Grandpa Pierce showed us how to pack cherry pits inside the top of our lip like a chipmunk so we didn’t have to eat a cherry, spit out the seed, repeat. By packing the seeds in the top lip, you can spit them all out into your spoon at the same time. It’s more efficient. And fun.

Back to the baking.

A short time ago, Gram received an email forward that extolled the virtues of the lemon - from its nutritional benefits to antibacterial properties. According to the forward, the whole lemon has many nutrients, but most people only use the juice, pulp and zest while throwing away the pith, which apparently has many nutrients and we are missing out.

So, armed with a challenge, Gram took out her lemon curd recipe and reconfigured it to suit the entire lemon - juice, pulp, zest and pith. I offered to take a few pictures to document the event and also take some notes for TSA. I hadn't considered that I might be called upon to write for The Scone Apprentice. I am honoured and frightened at the same time because I know my storytelling is not up to her standard; nor are my run-on sentences. (tee-hee)**Scone Apprentice has no issues with her run-on sentences, she considers them a "writing style" and believes her audience finds them endearing.**

Before I launch into the baking lesson, I feel it’s important to impart Gram’s philosophy on becoming a master baker. According to Gram, "if you want to become a master baker, you need to have your hands in the dough" (December 23, 2012).In other words, you need to practice. That is the only way you will become good at it and truly learn the secrets that we playfully accuse Mom, Gram, Granny Ross, and Margaret from keeping from us. So, there it is. The words of wisdom from the master herself.

Today's Recipe:
1/4 c butter
1 c sugar
4 - 5 eggs beaten. Add slowly. (4 eggs if you want a thin curd, 5 for a thicker lemon curd)
Add lemon - 3/4 c (approximately 1/2 a whole grated/finely chopped frozen lemon)

Cook - in a double boiler stirring frequently or microwave for a few minutes, stirring between minutes in the microwave until it reaches the desired thickness.  - The Scone Apprentice wants to interject here, I use an electric hand held mixer because it's easier and I'm lazy.  I'm very impressed with Gram's hand whisking!

Now, The Scone Apprentice has already written extensively on lemon curd in her post about Lemon Tarts by Gram. This post is just some of Gram's finer tips of making lemon curd since I had the opportunity to observe the master baker in action.

Issues with eggs:

From Gram, I learned that if you don't thoroughly mix the eggs whites into the curd properly, you could end up with cooked egg whites (spots of white) throughout the curds because egg whites cook faster than other ingredients in the recipe. To avoid ending up with white bits, it's important to mix the ingredients like a cake. First, cream the butter and sugar together. Blend the eggs thoroughly and slowly add them to the butter and sugar. Stirring a lot in between additions. Then, add your lemon puree slowly, stirring it constantly. If your bowl wiggles all over the countertop while simultaneously pouring and hand stirring, place a damp wash cloth under the bowl and it will not skitter about the countertop.

When you first crack open an egg, there are often two little white ghosts beside the egg yolk - one on either side. They are called the chalaza and are the part of the egg that keeps the yolk suspended in the centre of the egg. If you do not remove the chalaza before cooking, they will appear as a little white spot in your recipe. Gram takes a few minutes to remove the chalaza before beating the eggs. I've never done that before and never considered doing that before today. But, I've never made a recipe where that would be such a noticeable bit.  - The Scone Apprentice horning in again, if I think it'll matter to the results sometimes I pick the chalaza out in advance other times I sieve the whisked egg mixture to catch them later, depends on what is easier.

Perfectionism - Strive For It:

Gram is exceptionally organized before beginning baking. When I arrived that morning, she told me that she assembled the utensils and some ingredients the night before and had just set out the last of the ingredients. The jars were already washed and sterilized, just needing to be filled with lemon curd in about 20 min. It's also important to note that Gram keeps her recipe card out and refers to it while baking despite having made lemon curd for decades. I'm sure she knows the recipe by heart, but it shows that you never take for granted that you know everything. 

Gram has two lemon curd recipes.

One from Reader's Digest c.1995 and one from her sister Lillian from 1960.

She uses the Reader's Digest one more often as she says it's less rich.

Gram might be 92 years old, but her eyes and mind are still sharp as she demonstrates her dedication to perfection and pride in her work in her baking. For example, the lemon puree had a couple seed bits in it that the blender missed and Gram spotted them immediately and stopped production to make sure they were removed. I would like to think I would be that dedicated, but I tend to think I'd tell myself to enjoy the extra fiber. Gram's a great example to all of us that you're never too old to take pride in your work and do a good job. So I pledge, from now on, to fish out those bits, should they fall into my recipes, in order to make a good product. 

Microwaves: 

The main recipe calls for using a double boiler, but Gram has moved into the modern world and has adapted her recipe for use with a microwave. When cooking with the microwave, you have to periodically check the lemon curd as it will boil up quite quickly. It's difficult to watch the goings-on with the curd in the microwave due to the fashionable screens on the windows. This is one of Gram’s pet peeves - no one makes a clear window for microwaves or stoves any longer. When the curd starts to boil, take the dish out and give it a stir. You only need to do this about 3 times and then it will be cooked and thick enough. 

Official Scientific Results:

5 eggs definitely makes a very thick and stiff lemon curd.

The lemon curd needs to be refrigerated or frozen after you make it. It keeps well, particularly in the freezer so that you can use it when needed.

Gram, Dad and I enjoyed some lemon curd on crackers for our taste test soon after it was made. Verdict: using the entire lemon is not very tasty. The pith adds bitterness to the curd so it’s probably best to just use the lemon juice and zest when making this recipe.... but that didn't stop me from eating my little jar of lemon curd immediately when I returned to Vancouver. (As I said in my intro, I eat everything I make).

* I couldn't get a good image of Gram's jar of Lemon Curd from the photo that was emailed to me to use as the header, and it was such a sweet photo that I really wanted to include it.  After many hours of arguing with my basic photo editing software with my primary graphics skills I gave up and made a jar of lemon curd myself to recreate the photo in a more usable raw image.  If you're wondering why the colour is funny (and you should be wondering) it's because I didn't have any lemons so I used limes, so it's really lime curd but it's still yellow---ish.

Nutella Thimble Cookies

It's World Nutella Day and since my niece Kayla is a nutella fiend*, but all the way over in Canada, I thought I'd long-distance-tease her with some nutella thimble cookies.

I used the same recipe as my birds nest cookies but omitted the step of dunking the dough in egg white and rolling it in coconut.  Then I filled with nutella instead of jam.


*Kayla and I both think that the ultimate spa day would involve relaxing in a giant hot-tub-sized vat of nutella.