Cream Puff Recipe

 Happy Valentine’s Day! Or for those of you who are single, Happy Singles Awareness Day! Lol~

I’m probably right when I say that you guys don’t know much about me and my boyfriend. Since it’s Valentines Day, I’ll share a little bit about how we met.

 My Love Story

It was during the summer of our second year in college that we formally met each other. I was introduced to him at my ex-boyfriend’s bbq party. Before then, I only really knew “of him.” Since we were both affiliated (he was in a fraternity and I was in a sorority), mostly everyone has heard of or knows each other.

Sometime during the school year before I met him at the bbq, he had friended me on Facebook. I wasn’t quite sure who he was at the time, but I knew that he was in a fraternity on campus and that I should accept his friend request to maintain good public relations between our organizations. This is when I first became aware of his existence…

After we became Facebook friends, I saw him on campus every now and then. When we passed by each other, there was that awkward moment of, “should I say hi or wave?” This went on for a while and we never said “hi” or talked to each other. The only interaction that we ever had was when he wrote on my Facebook wall one day, “what’s the homework for ____ class?” My response in my head was WTF I’m not in your class, but I politely responded that I didn’t know what he was talking about. Later on I found out that he was drunk when he wrote that message to me, *sigh*.

Side note: My boyfriend’s story of how we met is a bit different. I thought that I met him for the first time at the summer bbq, but apparently we met before at someones house. He says that he remembers meeting me and thinking that we would be really good friends if we both took the time to get to know each other. But he was lazy and never made the attempt. He claims that I made a lasting first impression on him though, which is probably why he ended up friend requesting me on Facebook one day.

Now fast forwarding to the bbq party, we ended up exchanging phone numbers so that we could get to know each other more as friends. Our story starts off kind of shady since we were both in a relationship at that time, but to be honest, it was all innocent! We found out that we both lived at the same apartment complex, so we started hanging out everyday. It was purely a friendly relationship that we had with each other over the course of the summer. We would always eat together, go to school together, watch dramas together, visit fish stores together, and study together. During that time we seriously did everything together.

But I did not have any feelings for him whatsoever during that time period. The only thing that I knew since the bbq, was that I did not want to be with my boyfriend at that time because of his obnoxious behavior towards me while he was intoxicated. I didn’t have the balls to be the one who broke up with him, so I waited it out until the day he broke up with me. That moment that he called me to break up was the most liberating feeling I have ever experienced.

Anyways, as for my boyfriend and his girlfriend at the time, I feel quite guilty. He had told me that their relationship was not serious. But you know what, now that I think about it, I was gullible to believe him. I believe that if I hadn’t come along, who knows, they may have still been together. I unknowingly probably destroyed a relationship and I’m sorry for that. I am thankful that his ex-girlfriend is such a kind hearted girl to not hold a grudge on me (that I know of). She seems very happy now with her new boyfriend I am I happy for her as well.

My boyfriend and I never showed any feelings towards each other until weeks after we were both broken up. I totally didn’t see it coming! I remember the exact moment that I came to realize that I had feelings for him. It was during a movie night where we sat next to each other for the first time. Before, when we were both in a relationship, out of respect, we would sit far from each other, lol. But yes! We sat next to each other this time. During the movie, for some reason we both started gravitating towards each other and thats when I realized that I wanted to be with him. Wow, what a moment of realization.

It has now been more than 4 years since we’ve been dating. I noticed that I’ve been getting kind of lazy and haven’t been really doing anything cute for my boyfriend. I guess it’s bound to happen in any relationship?

Since I don’t normally bake, and my boyfriend likes eating sweets… I decided to put some time and effort into creating cream puffs for him as his Valentine’s Day gift. I didn’t feel like throwing down money this time and I felt that if I baked something, it would show that I care.

Here’s the results of my cream puffs. They came out quite good and much better than I expected. If you are interested in making them yourself, keep on reading, or just enjoy the photos. 

This recipe that I am writing for you will create 1 dozen cream puffs. I am not a professional at all, but this is what I did to make this particular batch.

What you need:

• 3.5 ounce package of instant vanilla pudding mix
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1 cup of heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 cup of half and half milk
• 1/4 cup of butter
• 1/2 cup of water
• 1/8 teaspoon of sea salt
• 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour
• 2 eggs

How to make the shell:

1. In a large pot, pour the 1/2 cup of water and 1/4 cup of butter in and bring it to a rolling boil. The butter should be completely melted. 
2. Lower the heat to medium and quickly add in the 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour and 1/8 teaspoon of sea salt.
3. Mix everything in the pot together until it forms a ball of dough (or several many balls). Nothing should be sticking to the pot and there should be no more liquid left.
4. Next transfer the dough into a large mixing bowl and begin mixing in two eggs. By the time your done mixing everything together, you should have a smooth consistant bowl of dough.
5. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
6. Use a spoon to drop quarter sized dough balls onto an un-greased baking sheet. Put each ball of dough approximately 2 inches away from each other. You should have a total of 12 evenly distributed balls of dough. (tip: wet your fingers with water to get the dough to not stick to your fingers)
7. Place your tray of dough balls onto the middle shelf of your oven and bake it for 15 minutes.
8. Turn the oven heat down to 350 degrees F and bake for another 15-25 minutes until it is golden brown.
9. Turn off the oven and open it. Poke each cream puff shell with a toothpick to make a hole to let steam escape. This prevents the shell from collapsing on itself and allows the inside to dry. Leave all of the shells in the oven with the oven door slightly open for another 10 minutes before removing.

How to make the cream filling:

1. Mix together the instant vanilla pudding mix, heavy whipping cream, half and half milk, and vanilla extract together. Make sure that you have mixed it until it is smooth and there is no more instant vanilla pudding mix powder left anywhere.
2. Cover and refrigerate to set.

Putting the two and two together:

1. Once the shells are cool, rip off the top of the shell. It should come off very easily and look like the piece that came off was intentional.
2. Usually the shell is pretty hollow, but you can clear it out a little more by picking out the dough inside.
3. Take a small spoon full and pack in the cream until there is no more space inside. Feel free to top it off a little more before capping it.
4. Finally, place the shell cap back on top. Feel free to add final touches such as powdered sugar or melted chocolate.
5. To store, refrigerate and keep it in a safe place, or else the next time you open the fridge, someone would have already eaten all of it.

And voila! There you have it, a yummy cream puff recipe.

Hope you enjoyed my love story and recipe! Thanks for reading!

xoxo Sarah