Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for June, 2011

It had been half of forever since I  made cream puffs so when the mood struck the other day, I jumped right into preparations.

They aren’t hard to make and are so tasty when stuffed with a delicious, creamy filling and dusted with sugar.

Make a batch this weekend and see if your family doesn’t act a little bit appreciative of your efforts.

Ingredients for Cream Puffs

 

Boil the butter and water

 

Add flour all at once.

 

Stir until it forms a ball then cool for 10 minutes.

 

Add eggs one at a time, stirring with a wooden spoon.

 

Drop onto a greased baking sheet (I lined mine with parchment) about three inches apart.

 

Bake until golden brown and lovely. Set aside and let cool completely.

 

Ingredients for pudding.

 

 

Stir together dry ingredients, mix in milk then cook until thick and bubbly.

 

Add milk mixture, gradually, to beaten eggs. Mix completely.

 

Pour egg mixture back into pudding.

 

 

Cook until bubbly, but not boiling, remove from heat then add butter and vanilla.

 

Pour pudding into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and chill until ready to serve.

 

Split cream puffs open and remove any soft dough in the middle.

 

Fill with pudding.

 

If you are a chocolate freak like me, drizzle with chocolate before dusting with powdered sugar and devouring.

Cream Puffs

1/2 cup butter

1 cup flour

1 cup water

1/8 teaspoon salt

4 eggs

powdered sugar (for dusting)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine butter and water and salt. Bring to a boil. Add flour all at once, stirring vigorously. Cook and stir until mixture forms a ball that doesn’t separate. Remove from heat. Cool 10 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating with a wooden spoon after each addition until smooth.

Drop batter by heaping tablespoons, three inches apart, on a greased baking sheet (I lined mine with parchment). Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden. Cool on a wire rack. Split puffs and remove any soft dough from inside . Fill with pudding, dust with sugar, serve and enjoy. You could also fill with whipped cream, ice cream, sherbet or fruit.

Vanilla Pudding

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

3 cups milk

2 beaten eggs

1 tablespoon butter

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

In a heavy 2 quart saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch and flour. Stir in milk then cook over medium hit until mixture is thickened and bubbly. Stir constantly.  When it starts to bubble, cook for two minutes more. Remove from heat and gradually stir about one cup of the mixture into the beaten eggs. Return the egg mixture to the pan and cook until nearly bubbly but do not boil. Reduce heat and cook for two additional minutes, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat, stir in butter and vanilla. Pour into a bowl, cover the top with plastic wrap, pressing it down to the surface of the pudding and chill until ready to serve cream puffs.

If you are a chocolate addict like me, you can drizzle chocolate sauce over the top before you dust it with sugar.

Enjoy!

She Who Loves Cream Puffs Entirely Too Much

Read Full Post »

Some of you may know that I have been endeavoring to write a novel. Which morphed into a series of three novels. Which then turned into a series of three novels with an introductory short story.

They are finally, finally published digitally!

You can find them at Smashwords and on Amazon in the Kindle store.

The books are retailing for $2.99 and the prelude is 99 cents on Kindle or free on Smashwords. In about a week and a half, the books will be available on other e-reader formats so stay tuned.

You can also find a free pdf download of the prelude on my website at:  ShannaHatfield.com

Go there to check out what the books are all about! And I’d love to hear what you think of them!

If you don’t have an e-reader, no worries. Kindle has a free application you can download and read books right on your computer. How cool is that?

Thank you to everyone for your encouragement, kind words and support as I jumped into this fascinating journey. It is going to be an exciting ride.

Read Full Post »

See this really cute hot-pink shoe? The one it took me a whole 27 seconds to decide I had to have when I saw it.

I wore it shopping this weekend (which may not have been the best idea I’ve ever had in regard to the future ability to walk normally – at least normal for me).

Evidently hot-pink three-inch wedges are hard to miss.

I’ve never had so many compliments on a pair of shoes. From sales clerks, other shoppers and service desk employees, I heard “Cute Shoes!” so many times I think I was floating on cloud nine.

It was awesome.

Especially when this girl used to wear only flats that closely resembled something your great Aunt Hortense would wear on a day she really needed to be comfortable.  Arthritis tends to suck the fun right out of footwear.

But I could not resist these shoes or the desire to wear them shopping. Despite the barely noticeable limp today, I’m so glad I did.

What is your favorite pair of cute shoes?

Read Full Post »

Happy Father’s Day!

That’s my dad and your truly in the photo above. I wasn’t so fond of getting my picture taken, even back then. Even less now. But you really don’t want to hear about that today.

Today is all about dear ol’ dad.

My Daddy and I got along famously while I was growing up and he is still pretty special in my book.

So today, I’m posting links to a few recipes that my dad would thoroughly enjoy. Among the many things we share, a sweet tooth is right at the top of the list.

Berry Crisp

 

Homemade Ice Cream

 

 

Lemon Meringue Pie

Chocolate Bundt Cake

Make your dad something special and see if he doesn’t appreciate and love it!

Happy, Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there.

She Who Likes Her Daddy, a Lot

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »