THE COOKBOOK TEST #???2: THE CREAM PUFF METHOD

Another wild card installment with a tasty finish

Dear Readers, Subscribers, Friends, and Jocular Onlookers,

What’s half of 52? I’m not a math guy, so rather than solve this reasonably straightforward equation, I sort of prevaricated for a couple of months. By the time I worked out the answer (it’s 26, or 27, or something like that) I realized that I’d hit my self-imposed deadline for THE COOKBOOK TEST to monetize - six straight months of posting new reviews and recipes and commentaries, week in and week out without fail.

At this point in the arc of this newsletter, I’d hoped to be funded to the tune of 100 or so paying readers. I am not. It’s closer to 40. Logic dictates that I close up shop and spend my time doing just about anything more financially rewarding (recycling aluminum cans, foraging for acorns and grinding them into flour, selling plasma, etc. etc.).

If you’re a fan of this newsletter, here’s some good news: I am not a logical person. If I were logical, I would’ve decamped for the world of marketing (or advertising, or communications, or law) an awful long time ago. So I am going to tough it out with THE COOKBOOK TEST for another six months, at least. I love writing this newsletter, and I’ve gotten some wonderful notes from many of you - old friends and new friends alike - encouraging me to keep going with it.

But here’s my ask to you: if you like the newsletter, if it’s helped you find great new books or delicious new recipes, consider stepping up and subscribing for a few bucks a month to help make it something that I can sustain for longer (or maybe even indefinitely!)

If you don’t have the bandwidth or the budget, I get it completely - I’m also juggling handfuls of subscriptions and emails. So, if you can’t subscribe, tell a friend - post on Facebook or Instagram or TikTok while we still have it, or email someone directly, or just mention it over lunch sometime.

That’s my pitch. Thanks for listening. And in return, I hereby grant you something really magical.

I grew up in south-central Wisconsin. Summers would get hot (not crazy hot, but 80s and 90s) and for a week or two every year, my parents would whisk us up to the Door County peninsula on Lake Michigan, where it was cool and beautiful and green and flanked by water pretty much wherever you looked.

Our big dinner every year was at the Glidden Lodge supper club restaurant, and while I enjoyed every classic Wisconsin morsel that hit the table, the thing that brought me to a childhood apex of happiness was the cream puff: pâte à choux stuffed with vanilla ice cream and drizzled with hot chocolate sauce.

This past weekend, I collaborated with the dudes in my cooking club to put on a full Wisconsin supper club meal - fried cheese curds, a big old lazy susan with summer sausage and port wine spread and pickles and cheeses, fried walleye filets, prime rib, a salad bar featuring chocolate pudding for some reason and - for dessert - homemade ice cream cream puffs, plus hot chocolate sauce.

If you want to serve up a really special dessert, you could do a lot worse than this. It’s simple, it’s charming, it’s absolutely delicious. It’s a crowd pleaser, and it’s a bit of family history for me.

CREAM PUFFS
Makes about nine large cream puffs

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, plus more for baking sheets
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 egg yolk beaten with 1 teaspoon water, for egg wash
2 to 3 pints vanilla ice cream, for serving

Make the dough: Preheat oven to 425 degrees. with racks in upper and lower thirds. Butter two large rimmed baking sheets.

Combine butter, 1 cup water, and salt in a 2-quart heavy saucepan; bring to a boil over high heat, stirring until butter melts. Reduce heat to medium.

Add flour; cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, until mixture pulls away from the sides of the pan and forms a ball, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Remove from heat; cool 1 minute.

With an electric handheld mixer, beat in eggs, a little bit at a time, until completely incorporated (dough should look shiny and be soft enough to slowly fall off a spoon).

Bake the puffs: Drop scant quarter cups of batter onto baking sheets (you should have 8 to 10), about 2 inches apart. Using a pastry brush, lightly brush puffs with egg wash (do not let it drip on sheets).

Bake, rotating sheets between racks halfway through, until puffed and brown, about 25 minutes. Remove from oven; turn oven off.

With a toothpick, poke a hole in each puff. Return to oven (still off) for 10 minutes (this helps puffs dry out).

Fill the puffs: When cool, halve each puff horizontally with a serrated knife.

Working in batches (to prevent ice cream from melting), place a scoop of vanilla ice cream (a scant half cup) in each bottom half. Replace tops; press gently. Arrange on rimmed baking sheet; freeze until firm, up to 2 days.

Arrange puffs in shallow bowls; drizzle with warm chocolate sauce. Serve immediately.

CHOCOLATE SAUCE

¼ cup light corn syrup
6 ounces semisweet chocolate, broken or cut into small pieces
¾ cup heavy cream

In a small saucepan, combine corn syrup and chocolate. Stir over medium-low heat until smooth, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Whisk in heavy cream until smooth. Serve right away, or let cool to room temperature before transferring to an airtight container.