Savory cream puffs

Time 20 minutes - Serves 20 puffs

Versatile and super tasty, savory cream puffs are the gourmet version of the sweet ones and are ideal to serve for a quick aperitif or a delicious dinner, different from the usual. Not everyone knows that their dough is also called choux pastry because of its particular shape!

Filling for savory cream puffs

There are so many ideas for making fillings for savory cream puffs: depending on the tastes of your guests, you can opt for a filling of salmon, goat cheese and chives, or cooked ham and spreadable cheese or a vegetarian version with black olives, cherry tomatoes, basil and feta.

As with classic pastry cream puffs, savory cream puffs can also be prepared 24/48 hours in advance and then filled on the spot to maintain their freshness and, unlike purchased ones, they are much tastier because they are made with selected ingredients.

What are the ingredients to choose carefully to make gourmet cream puffs?

Choosing eggs and flour carefully is not enough, you also need to use a quality sea salt such as Riserva del mare salt to obtain a delicious recipe. This ingredient will not only give your dishes the right flavor, but will enhance any ingredient, without in any way covering the delicate taste of the other components present in the recipe.

Doses and preparation time:

• Doses: 20
• Preparation time: 20m
• Cooking time: 25m
• Total time: 45m

Ingredients:

• butter: 40 g
• eggs: 2
• 00 flour: 80 g
• whole salt: 8 g
• natural water: 70 ml

Salty Cream Puffs procedure

1. First, melt the butter, water and salt over a low flame. Once it starts to boil, turn off the heat and add the flour, stirring vigorously to avoid lumps, then cook everything over a low flame for a short time, about 2/3 minutes. Cooking times can vary: in general, you should remove from the heat when a white film has formed on the bottom of the pan, a sign that the flour has started to cook.

2. After the necessary time has passed, let the mixture cool to room temperature and only after it has cooled add the eggs one by one, continuing to mix. The mixture must be free of lumps, otherwise you can use the electric mixer for a few minutes.

3. Insert the choux pastry into the piping bag and on a baking tray with baking paper have fun creating the shapes of the cream puffs, taking care to space them apart. Don't worry if they don't turn out perfect, the important thing is to form balls all of the same size to facilitate and even out cooking.

4. Once you have created the cream puffs, cook them in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for about 20/25 minutes. Also in this case the cooking time varies depending on the oven and the size with which you have created your cream puffs. In any case, you will understand that they are cooked by their golden color.

5. Once the cooking time has elapsed, remove them from the oven and let them cool at room temperature, then fill them as you like.

How to store savory cream puffs for a few days after cooking

As mentioned, cream puffs can be made up to 24 to 48 hours in advance and then filled on the spot and served.

How should they be stored to prevent them from drying out and losing their fragrance? First of all, it is best to avoid storing them in the refrigerator, but it is preferable to store them in a cool, dry place. However, if the outside temperatures are too hot, it is necessary to use the refrigerator as long as cling film is not used. In both cases, whether you opt for the fridge or not, it is necessary to store them in a hermetically sealed container with a lid or in a tin box to prevent excessive humidity from making the cream puffs too soft and not very crumbly.

Another secret that few people know is that, if once stored the cream puffs are too soft, you can put them back in the oven preheated to 180 degrees for a few minutes until they are nice and crunchy again, just like when they were just made.

Don't forget to let them cool before filling them!