It was a busy day yesterday to say the least. As you can see I spent a little time in my kitchen. I wouldn't have it any other way. Sunday is my favorite day of the week! Italian-American traditions take place! I remember going to church with my family as a child and one of my aunts (who would take turns every Sunday) and my grandmother would stay behind to cook Sunday dinner. They always had church on t.v. while cooking! I don't usually share too much, but I'm feeling sentimental today as I post.
My grandmother made these enormous homemade ravioli's. She would be offended if you didn't go back for seconds. Eat, eat they would all say to you, even if you felt like you were going to bust at the seams? You ate lol. Those were really "the good ol' days" for me. You name it, it was on the table. She always had pastry's, salads, meatballs, sausage and orange sherbert just for me. That always made me feel special. I would sit in the living room with her and watch the family eat at the table. Mostly we laughed at how they all sounded speaking Italian. We said one of these days we were going to tape record them, so they can hear how funny it sounded.
She always stuffed tissues in the sleeve of her arm lol just in case! She taught me to do the same, at the time I thought it was gross. Now I treasure all of these little things. I miss her to pieces. She taught me what tears of happiness were. That was truly a beautiful moment that I will treasure forever. Ahh onto the food!
For the Pastry:
1 cup of water
1 stick of butter
1 cup of all purpose flour
4 eggs
Preheat oven to 400
In a pot on the stove, heat the water and butter and bring it to a rolling boil. Next whisk in the flour until it forms a ball and there are no lumps. Remove from heat. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl. Slowly whisk them into the flour mixture. Whisk until it resembles a dough and is no longer runny and wet.
Spoon by tablespoon onto a greased cookie sheet, 3 inches apart (for the cream puffs). For the eclairs, Use 2 tablespoons, wet your fingers, and form into long logs (picture shown below). Bake for about 20 minutes or until light golden brown. Let cool about five minutes.
With a serrated knife, cut lengthwise, just the tops. This next step is completely optional, you can scoop out the inside of the pastry or leave it. Fill the pastry with cream, as you serve, put the tops back on. I personally wouldn't pre-fill them, only because they will become soggy. To top the cream puff, just sprinkle on a little powdered sugar. For the eclair, I always spread on Nutella. However you can use melted chocolate.
For the Filling:
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2/3 cup granulated sugar 1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Pinch of salt
1 large egg, beaten 1 teaspoon almond, vanilla, or rum ( I love rum) extract
In a pot, whisk together the cornstarch and sugar, making
sure there are no lumps. Gradually whisk in the milk. Add the butter,
place the pot over medium heat, and cook, stirring constantly with a
whisk, until it's thickened. Remove from the heat and stir in the egg
yolk and extract. Pour the custard into a bowl, place plastic wrap right on the custard so skin doesn't form. Pop in the fridge until ready to use. You should make the filling before the pastry.
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