Baked cream puffs are simple, captivating for young chefs

If anything will get children interested in hanging around in the kitchen, it’s dessert. Some posh desserts are far too difficult to try at home but cream puffs are actually quite simple.

Making cream puffs involves several steps but none are time-consuming, and the results are heavenly and light, the perfect dessert for a special Valentine’s Day family meal or children’s party. Finger food doesn’t get much better.

As with any recipe that you’re trying with children, read it through together first and make sure all the ingredients are at hand. Then supervise the cooking process closely, using your best judgment as to which tasks are too dangerous for children to handle, i.e. taking a pan of boiling water and melted butter off the stove and removing a cookie sheet from the hot oven.

The recipe calls for piping the pastry dough with a piping bag or a plastic bag with a hole cut out of the corner, but even this isn’t necessary if it’s too difficult for smaller hands. The pastry can be dropped by the tablespoon instead, like cookie dough, onto the baking sheet.

Another name for this dessert is profiteroles; bite-sized cream puffs in France are also called “petits choux” – little cabbages.

Banana Cream Puffs

Adapted from What’s Cooking: Chocolate by Jacqueline Bellefontaine

Pastry:

2/3 cup water

1/4 cup butter

3/4 cup all-purpose flour, sifted

2 eggs

Filling:

11/4 cups heavy cream

1 ripe banana

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

2 tablespoons banana-flavoured liqueur (substitute 1/2 teaspoon vanilla or banana flavoring)

Chocolate Sauce: (optional)

31/2 ounces dark chocolate, broken into pieces

2 tablespoons water

4 tablespoons powdered sugar

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Lightly grease a cookie sheet and preheat oven to 425 degrees. To make the puffs, place the water in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the butter to the water. Heat until the butter melts, then bring to a rolling boil. Remove the pan from the heat and add the flour all at once, beating well with a wooden spoon until the mixture leaves the sides of the pan and forms a ball. Beat in the eggs, until the mixture is glossy and smooth. Let cool until it is warm instead of hot. Spoon the paste into a piping bag fitted with a 1/2-inch nozzle; alternatively, spoon into a heavy-duty plastic bag and snip off the bottom corner to make a 1/2-inch opening.

Pipe about 18 small balls of the paste onto the cookie sheet, allowing enough room for them to expand during baking. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes until crisp and browned. Remove from the oven to cool on a wire rack. Make a small opening in the side of each one while still warm, with a dull knife, to let steam escape.

To make the sauce, place all ingredients in a microwave proof bowl and heat until chocolate is melted; stir to make a smooth sauce.

To make the filling, whip the cream until standing in soft peaks. Mash the banana with the sugar and liqueur and fold into the cream. Place in a piping bag with 1/2-inch nozzle (or plastic bag with hole cut in the bottom corner), insert nozzle in puff through the hole and fill puff with cream. Puffs should be refrigerated or frozen at this point in an airtight plastic container. Serve chilled, either plain or with the warm chocolate sauce drizzled over the puffs.