Cream Puffs

By Victor Liu
Servings: About two dozen

Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup margarine or butter
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 eggs
• cream filling (from below)

Heat oven to 400. Heat water and butter to rolling boil in saucepan. Stir in flour. Stir vigorously over low heat until mixture forms a ball, about 1 minute; remove from heat. Beat in eggs, all at once; continue beating until smooth. Drop rounded teaspoonful of dough about 2 inches apart onto lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake until puffed and golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool away from draft. Cut off tops; pull out any filaments of dough. Fill puffs with cream filling. Replace tops. Refrigerate until serving time.

Cream filling

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups milk
• 2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
• 1.5 tablespoons margarine or butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix sugar, cornstarch and salt in 2-quart saucepan. Stir in milk gradually. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir 1 minute. Stir at least half of the hot mixture gradually into egg yolks. Blend into hot mixture. Boil and stir 1 minute. Remove from heat; stir in margarine and vanilla; cool.