Anne Marie "Mimi" Doggett
Mimi Doggett, from France, came back home with Dan to Owingsville after his service in WWII. Mimi's daughter, Marcelle, is familiar to most everyone in the county, and she's been known to fix her mother's cream puffs from time to time. She says mixing the eggs in is the hardest part and advises to not cut open the puffs until they are cool. You can skip the cream, if you so wish, and fill the puffs with something different, like chicken salad. They are delicious!
Mimi Doggett's Cream Puffs
Pate a choux (puffs): Add 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 teaspoon of salt to 1 cup of boiling milk or water in the top of a double boiler. When the butter melts, add 1 cup of all-purpose flour, all at once, and stir briskly until the paste leaves the sides of the pan and forms a ball. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Beat in five whole eggs, one at a time, beating briskly after each addition. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a greased baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. If the puff shell holds up, is hollow in the center and brown on the outside, it's done. Do not open oven during first part of baking. Cool, split all, and fill with:
Creme patissiere: Scald 1 1/2 cups milk, then mix together with 1/2 cup sugar and 4 egg yolks, working them together with the wooden spoon until light colored and creamy. Add 1/4 cup flour, mixing enough to blend, and add the scalded milk gradually. Turn this back into saucepan and cook, stirring until it reaches the boiling point, but do not let it boil. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla when creme is done.
 |
| French cream puffs - how pretty! |