Sassy Southern Cooking with a French Twist

Easy Bake Creamsicle Cream Puffs For Mother’s Day

Sweet, Nostalgic Treats to Spoil Mom on Her Big Day

With the daily onslaught of National-this and National-that days for everything from hot dogs to pets, it’s easy to get a case of celebration fatigue. Don’t get me wrong, I love hot dogs and pets, but in my book, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are HUGE. After all, we all have one of each, even though some of us never knew them or in an increasing number of cases among my friends, they have passed on.

I’m very lucky, I knew both of my wonderful parents, they’re still living, and I have been blessed to have several “extra” mothers in my lives, mothers of my close friends, who helped me feel safe, loved, and nurtured. And, lucky for me, they all loved to cook and were great at it and sharing their goodness with me and my friends. Two of these dear women, Mrs. Unger and Mrs. Neale, passed in recent weeks. Another, Mrs. Kimmel, likely has, as well, but I long since lost touch with my childhood friend Cathy, to whom she was mother. I wrote about her recently in a piece I have not yet published, and since Mother’s Day is approaching, and since much of this could be said about my own mother and my cherished extra mothers, I’m sharing some of it here:

“Petite, pretty, and just slightly plump, Mrs. Kimmel wore her hair in perfectly coiffed, tumbling curls, like Marilyn Monroe’s in ‘Some Like it Hot,’ and often wore a floral dress that looked like it was cut from the giant magnolia blossoms on 1930’s-era wallpaper. When she was in the kitchen (which seemed like all the time), she wore a frilly, chiffon apron over her dress, tied with a crisp bow around her waist. Like Cathy, she work dark pink cat eye glasses that set off her pale blue eyes and corn silk blonde hair.

Her kitchen, the entire Kimmel household in fact, had a very distinct and persistent aroma that forty years later, I can still remember. It was a cross between maple syrup, browned butter, baking bread, and very, very remotely, moth balls. The source of the latter remains a mystery, but as for the food aromas, that’s a cinch. Mrs. Kimmel, a native of Mobile, AL, excelled in cooking all things Southern.  In her country, New England kitchen, I experienced my first White Lily Flour baked biscuits, slathered with butter. Also, crunchy, black walnut-dusted waffles cooked on a folded-top waffle iron and drizzled with warm sorghum molasses, golden, thick-crusted fried chicken fresh from her ancient cast-iron skillet, and green beans from her garden cooked in a pressure cooker.

She could cook anything, and I loved her and Cathy even more for it. In the cold, snowy New England winters, Mrs. Kimmel mixed clean, country snow with sugar, cream, and vanilla extract and served it in bowls for an after-school snack. It the fall, it was hot chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven. Late summers were spent canning. Throughout the winter her blackberry jams and bread and butter pickles were staples on her kitchen table, which she lined with a plastic, red and white gingham table cloth, the combination casting a flow of eternal summer and warmth upon the entire space, and my early childhood.”

When I started thinking about a recipe to share for you to consider sharing on Mother’s Day, I thought of cream puffs, made from choux pastry.  Like a good, loving mother, it has sturdy, tough walls, indifferent to spoiled or brat behavior, and a tender, airy, delicate interior, like a kind, maternal heart. Also, you have to beat the heck out of the pastry to get it to react that way once it’s in the oven, not unlike the trials and travails I know me and my siblings railed against my mother, not even knowing we were doing it.  The creamsicle flavors of cream and orange are perfect for spring, and remind me of Mrs. Kimmel’s retro flair and childhood ice cream pops. On a practical note, “choux” is easy to prepare and can be prepped ahead and even frozen (then thawed) before filling. This recipe comes from my cookbook The French Cook – Cream Puffs and Eclairs (Gibbs Smith, 2013).

Creamsicle Cream Puffs from The French Cook – Cream Puffs and Eclairs – are the perfect way to spoil Mom this coming Mother’s Day, or any day. Photograph by Alexandra DeFurio.

Creamsicle Cream Puffs

(Yields 24 to 30 petite cream puffs)

For the choux pastry:

1 cup water

3/4 stick unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1/2 cup bread flour

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt

4 large eggs, room temperature, beaten together

Egg wash: 1 egg yolk, splash of water, pinch of salt, blended together

Preheat oven to 425F. Line two half-sheet baking pans with silicon mats or parchment paper. Measure all the ingredients and have them ready before starting to prepare the dough.

In a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat the water and butter together of medium-high heat, stirring once or twice to help the butter melt. Once melted, reduce the heat to medium.

Sift together the two flours and salt over a medium bowl. Add the sifted dry ingredients all at once to the water mixture, and set the bowl nearby. Stir the dough vigorously with a wooden spoon to bring it together. Continue stirring, less vigorously, until the pastry pulls away from the sides of the pan and forms a uniform ball. Turn the pastry into the reserved bowl and let it sit for about 1 minute. Add half of the remaining egg mixture and continue to stir until the pastry is uniform and glossy, about 1 minute. Repeat with the remaining egg mixture.

While the pastry is still warm, pipe or plop into 1 – 2 inch size balls on the prepared baking sheets, leaving space between them to expand. Brush the top of each pastry with a light coating of egg wash, being careful not to let the egg wash drip down the sides of the pan.

Bake until puffy and golden brown, about twenty five minutes. Do not open the oven door until they’re done or very near done. They should feel light in your palm and sound hollow when done.  Set aside to cool. (Note: Once cool, they can be stored in the freezer for several months in an air-tight container. This makes them perfect for instant entertaining, as well as Mother’s Day. Thaw at room temp before filling).

For the filling:

3 tablespoons fresh orange juice (do not substitute concentrate)

1 cup cold whipping cream

Zest of 1 orange, finely chopped (about 1 teaspoon)

1/4 teaspoon orange extract

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup powdered sugar

Reserved reduced orange juice

For the royal icing:

1/3 cup powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon orange extract

2 tablespoons heavy cream

Orange-colored granulated sugar

To prepare the filling, in a small saucepan, reduce the orange juice to 1 teaspoon over high heat, 1 to 2 minutes. Turn out into a small bowl and refrigerate to cool. In a large, cold bowl, combine the remaining filling ingredients, including the cooled teaspoon of orange juice. Using a blender, blend on medium speed until the cream is whipped to firm peaks.

Prepare the royal icing by stirring together the ingredients in a small bowl until smooth and incorporated. To fill the choux, cut each in half horizontally. Plop a heaping teaspoon of the cream filling in the center of each. Replace the respective “caps,” trying not to press down too firmly on the filling. Glaze each lightly with the royal icing using your fingertip or the back of a teaspoon. Top with a pinch of the orange sugar. Freeze for at least 30 minutes to set the cream.

Bon appetit!

Wishing you and your Mother, extra mother, memories and families a beautiful Mother’s Day. This column is dedicated to my mother, Mrs. Neale, Mrs. Unger, and Mrs. Kimmel. God bless you all!

Holly

 

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