Strawberry Puffs

You need these puffs for Valentine's Day.

They are pretty easy except the batter can get a little tricky.

The last step when making the pastry batter is adding the eggs and it starts out looking like this...

And it takes some elbow grease to get it to look like this...

For real cooks, this part is probably a breeze, but I'm a pretend cook and pastries are not my strong suit. However, I am an expert on breakfast cereals.

TIP: Don't butter the tins all the way up the edge or the batter will slide down and you won't be able to get it to stick to the sides.  Instead grease the inside of the tins up to a 1/4 in. from the top.

Poke each puff a couple of times around the 13 minute mark. 

You can't use too many strawberries.

The recipe posted below is for one large puff, to make the individualized puffs shown in the pictures above, note steps 1-3:
1. The recipe makes 8 individual puffs.

2. Use large cupcake tins.

3. Cook for 15-20 minutes total and poke puffs with a toothpick around minute 13 to deflate puffs.
4. Also I never make the sauce that goes on top, it's delicious even without it.  I don't sprinkle powdered sugar over the strawberries either, but don't tell my grandmother, she might consider this a cooking sin.

This recipe is courtesy of Charlotte's Kitchen.  

Jourdan