Recipe preparation:

Cream puffs, eclairs and cannoncini are my favorite pastries. The cream puff in particular has that encounter between its crunchy but at the same time soft dough with the melt-in-your-mouth cream that makes me happy as soon as I bite into one.

For the choux pastry:

Put on the stove a saucepan with a high bottom where you have added the diced butter with the water, sugar and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring with a whisk. Pour in the sifted flour and mix quickly with a wooden ladle. When a ball forms that comes off the pot, remove from the heat and put the mixture in the mixer. Operate the leaf so that it warms up. When there is no more smoke, start adding one egg at a time, so that the previous one is absorbed into the dough before adding the next. You will get a smooth and homogeneous mixture.

Transfer the mixture into a bag with a large and smooth nozzle. Form piles of dough on the baking sheet covered with baking paper.

Bake the puffs in a static oven for 15 minutes at 220 °. After 15 minutes lower the temperature to 190 ° and cook for another 10 minutes. After the time has passed, turn off the oven and leave the puffs in the oven with the door slightly open (I will fit the kitchen glove in it) for another 10 minutes. This way the puffs will dry well.

For the custard:

heat the milk (it should not boil) with the vanilla pod and leave to infuse for 10 minutes. In the meantime, beat the egg yolks with the sugar and when the mixture is light and soft, add the flour. Add the milk removed from the pod, stirring constantly so that no lumps form. Put back on the fire and bring to solidification. Then remove from the heat and lean on the film so that the crust does not form. Let it cool down.

For the chocolate cream:

it is the same procedure, only the cream is added to the milk and when the cream thickens it is poured on the dark chocolate, stir until the chocolate has melted. If you want a softer and shinier cream, add the butter.

For the whipped cream:

just whip the fresh cream in the glass of the blender with icing sugar (according to your taste).