OK. So you show up to a Kiddush or a vort and you see these amazing looking cream puffs. The chocolate glaze looks shiny and amazing and you run to grab a bite. But that mouthful is a massive disappointment. The pastry tastes like cardboard, the freezer taste of the custard makes you think that it's from a few Pesachs ago and the shattered chocolate has (thankfully) fallen off the cream puff and onto the floor. So all Shabbos you are waiting to get to the bakery to feed your craving but when you finally get there, you realize that each one costs like $2.00 and you wonder whether it was worth the wait.
Thankfully, it is extremely easy and relatively inexpensive to make cream puffs at home. And the ones you make will look professional but taste far better than the ones you saw at the Kiddush. There are three components to these cream puffs and you can even break up the tasks over a few sessions to make it even easier. If you really want, you can skip the chocolate glaze and just dust on some powdered sugar. And the best part is that you know what went into these things and in which century they were made. I made them pareve (and I think I even said "milk" once when I meant pareve milk) but you can make them either dairy or pareve. You can even substitute whipped cream for the pastry cream or make a crème legere by folding whipped cream into your pastry cream. Oh, by the way, I almost always give flour measurements for baked goods in weight (grams or ounces). It is way more accurate since when you use volume measurements you aren't sure how packed the flour is. Get a digital scale. They're like $10-$15 and are very helpful in the kitchen. I use mine all the time.
So please try challenging yourself a bit with these little desserts. You will see how truly easy they are.
