Muffin Monday....or pastry Wednesday ..take your pick

Muffin Monday was a day late this week. We had Husband's big dawg bosses over for dinner on Monday night. So there was no way I was even going to try to do too much in one day.

Will received a Ratatouille game for his Leapster for Christmas. One of the things they do on the game is put together food items to make various recipes. One of the things they can make is eclairs. Or 'd'clairs' as Will likes to call them. So this week the kids kept saying they wanted to make eclairs for muffin Monday.

We make muffins because I know we can prep, mix and bake....and be done in an HOUR. But he was bent on making them. Okay, okay, put my grouchy mommy attitude away for a bit.

I have NEVER made pastries in my life. But I can follow a recipe. I got out my trusty Better Homes and Garden cookbook. Yeah, yeah yeah. we have water, butter, sugar, flour....let's get on it.

It was actually fairly easy. I am very reluctant to let them cook around the stove, so they really just handed me stuff. They did get to break the eggs into a cup to mix in...but I pretty much made these.

We put a chocolate pudding filling in the inside. Will has issues with texture and did not like the filling in them at all. So, a handful were just pastry with the chocolate glaze.

Overall, very good, I would even say excellent, but very labor intensive. Make pastry....make pudding filling (the bake on the stove kind!!) and then the chocolate glaze.

Ingredients
1 cup water
1/2 cup butter
1/4 tsp. sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
3/4 cup all-purpose
1/4 cup whole-wheat flour or all-purpose
4 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly grease a baking sheet or line with parchment paper; set aside. In a medium saucepan combine water, butter, sugar, and salt. Bring to boiling. Add both flours all at once, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon. Cook and stir until mixture forms a ball. Remove from heat. Cool for 10 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well with a spoon after each addition.

2. Drop dough using a 2-tablespoon-capacity ice cream or cookie scoop or by heaping tablespoonsful 3 inches apart onto prepared baking sheet. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a deep golden color and puffs are firm. Transfer puffs to a wire rack; cool completely.

3. Cut puffs in half; if necessary, remove soft dough from inside. Spoon in filling. Replace tops. Sift powdered sugar over tops.

Makes 10 cream puffs.

Eclairs: Prepare as above, except spoon dough into a heavy resealable plastic bag. Snip a bottom corner to make a 1/2-inch opening. Pipe 20 to 22 strips of dough (about 4 inches long) 3 inches apart onto two baking sheets that have been lightly greased or lined with parchment paper. Bake for 30 minutes or until deep golden and firm. Cool and split, as in Steps 2 and 3. Fill eclairs as with the cream puffs. Makes 20 to 22 eclairs.