Adapted from the pâte à choux recipe in Madeleine Kamman’s The Making of a Cook, this basic formulation can be used with both sweet and savory fillings.
Place a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Generously butter one or more 15-by-10-inch cookie sheets and then rinse them under cold water. Shake off any excess water. (Rinsing will keep the puff bottoms from scorching.)
Combine 1 cup water with the butter pieces and salt in a medium (3-quart) saucepan. Place over medium to medium-high heat and slowly bring to a rolling boil.
Remove from the heat and quickly add the flour all at once, stirring well with a wooden spoon to keep the mixture lump-free.
Return the pan to medium heat and dry the paste by stirring and smearing it along the bottom of the pan with the spoon. The drying process may take as long as 7 to 10 minutes, so be patient and stir constantly to keep the paste from scorching. When dried to the proper degree, the paste should cling together in a thick mass and have a slight sheen from melted butter on the surface.
Remove from the heat, cool slightly and beat in the eggs, 1 at a time. Stir vigorously to avoid cooking the eggs upon contact with the hot paste. To keep the mixture thick, only incorporate the next egg after the previous one has been uniformly absorbed by the paste.
Turn the filling into a pastry bag fitted with a œ-inch round tip and pipe 1- to 1Œ-inch mounds, about 2 inches apart, on the prepared cookie sheet(s). (Alternatively, use a spoon to portion the paste.)
For the egg wash: Whisk together the egg yolk and milk. Carefully brush a small amount on top of each puff, taking care to smooth out any peaks in the dough and to avoid dripping onto the pan. (Drips will cook onto the dough and pan, and may prevent the puff from rising.)
Bake 20 to 25 minutes for small cocktail puffs (or 5 minutes more for larger puffs). Pierce the sides of each puff with a small skewer in the last 5 to 10 minutes of baking to dry the insides as thoroughly as possible. (If the puffs seem to be getting too brown, you can drop the temperature to 350 to 375 degrees to dry even longer.)
Let the puffs cool completely on racks. Split with a sharp knife and remove any soft dough from the inside before filling.
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
½ to 3/4 tsp. table salt (Use the lesser amount of salt if youre planning a sweet filling.)
1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
4 large eggs
For the egg wash:
1 large egg yolk
3 Tbsp. milk
This article appears in Dec 1-31, 2007.