Bake and Cook

Special Dessert Recipe

Good Monday Morning!

A new week begins and the air smells of the holidays to come!

Here is a fun dessert I made for me and my hubby Jeff. It was indulgent and we loved it!!

IMG_3194

The recipe is so simple. Find a good recipe for Petit Chou or try mine:

One cup water

5 tablespoons of salted butter

A pinch of salt/ butter is already salted but I like a bit more, suit your own taste.

One cup of all purpose flour.

3 eggs

Bring water and butter to boil, add flour all at once and stir well until it forms a soft dough. The dough is hot so you’ll have to temper your eggs or let it cool down some. Otherwise you could end up with a little scramble egg pieces. Gross.  I did this by adding a spoonful of the dough in my eggs and mixing. Set eggs mixture aside and add the flour mixture to the kitchen-aid or a bowl to blend with hand mixer (you can do this part by hand with a wooden spoon but it takes a long time) Add your egg mixture in three parts and mix until the dough sheets off the paddle or hand mixer blades easily. If it’s too runny add just a  bit of flour and if it’s too stiff add a bit of water. Blend well again. Don’t over blend though. Your dough should have a nice sheen to it.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spoon onto lightly greased baking sheet in rounds or oblong shapes. (Or any shape you like – it’s fun to see what comes out) Bake for 25 minutes or until puffed and golden brown- Turn off your heat and  poke a slit in each one and bake for another 5 minutes. It lets out the air that can make the puff soggy so make sure you do this step. It might take longer for the drying so check on them. A tap to the bottom of one should sound hollow. Take out, fill them warm or cold.

There are lots of ways to use these scrumptious delights. Here I put a small scoop of Chocolate Chip ice cream and dusted them with powdered sugar after they had cooled. For our dinner we had the long ones, still warm filled with a salmon salad – (The recipe for the salmon salad is my daughter’s creation. I’m sure she won’t mind me sharing in an upcoming post. It’s too good to keep it to ourselves!)

Don’t be afraid of Petit Chou. I’ve made these for over 40 years (oh geez, am I that old?) and most of the time they come out like this and sometimes they come out flat. ?? Even so, they are still so yummy.

Have fun and enjoy the bake!

Love and Peace,

Veronica

IMG_3194

Watercolor Life

Painting for the Holidays

Good Monday Morning to you all!

It’s time to start on my Christmas cards. Since I decided to paint each one, it’s not too early to begin this project. I might get through two, maybe three. My goal is six. I will be stamping the greeting inside. Yay! I get to buy a new stamp!

Here is a sample of the the first one. I’ll reveal the rest as I paint them. Painting on card stock is more difficult, but I just went for it!

What a joy it is to take a break from life and just paint 🙂

Have a wonderful day and week,

Peace and Love,

Veronica

IMG_3196 (1)