Morning Glory : Puff, the Magic Pastry

Cream puffs are a delicious mystery, starting as a paste of water, butter, flour and eggs, and finishing as crisp, airy shells. What is equally amazing is how simple and versatile the recipe is.

Unlike pie crusts or puff pastries, which can be tricky, cream puffs are practically fail-proof--and faster to make. Use them as an alternative to pastry for a filling of fruit, custard or cream. Or, if tuna salad on whole-wheat is too mundane, put it in a cream puff shell.

The basic recipe of water, butter, flour and eggs can be increased or decreased proportionately for any number of servings. To save time, cooks can make a large quantity of cream puffs and freeze or store the excess in airtight containers.

The virtues of making cream puffs should encourage even non-cooks to make a batch as the base for a luscious Mother’s Day or spring treat.

One idea: Fill a couple of cream puffs with strawberry cream. If you like, add a drizzle of hot fudge. To make the process easier, prepare the dessert in separate stages: First, make the cream puffs and set them aside. Then make the fudge sauce, if you’re using it. Both can be done a day in advance. Just before serving, whip the cream, fold in the strawberries and assemble the dish.

STRAWBERRY CREAM PUFFS WITH HOT FUDGE SAUCE

6 tablespoons water

3 tablespoons butter, cut into chunks

1/3 cup flour

Dash salt

1 egg, at room temperature

1 egg yolk, at room temperature

Hot Fudge Sauce

1 1/2 cups strawberries, hulled

1/2 cup whipping cream

1 teaspoon powdered sugar

Combine water and butter in small pan. Bring to boil over medium heat until butter is melted. Add flour and salt, then stir into butter mixture. Reduce heat to low and stir until dough comes together in smooth ball. Remove from heat. Cool 5 minutes. Stir in egg and egg yolk, beating vigorously to mix.

Drop half of batter onto greased and floured baking sheet, forming large, round ball. Repeat with remaining batter, spacing at least 3 inches apart. Bake at 375 degrees until golden brown, 30 to 35 minutes. Turn off heat. Remove puffs.

Gently slice each puff horizontally in half. Pull out and discard any wet dough inside puffs. Return puffs to still-warm oven to dry out, about 30 minutes longer.

Just before serving, prepare Hot Fudge Sauce. Then slice strawberries. Beat cream with powdered sugar until stiff. Fold strawberries into cream. Place bottoms of cream puffs on each of 2 dessert plates. Top each with half of strawberry-cream mixture, mounding top. Add top half of cream puffs. Ladle Hot Fudge Sauce over top and serve immediately. Makes 2 servings.

Hot Fudge Sauce

2 ounces bittersweet chocolate

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup whipping cream

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Melt together chocolate and butter in top of double boiler set over simmering water. Stir in brown sugar and cream and cook, stirring over low heat, until smooth and thick. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Makes 1/2 cup.

Note : If sauce is made in advance, spoon into top of double boiler, set over simmering water, and heat over low heat until warm-hot to touch, about 10 minutes.