Choux-Pastry (Brandteig)

Hi Everyone, I attempted this for the first time. Always thought it is very hard to get it right, but I tell you what, it is so easy! Choux pastry can be transformed into eclairs, profiteroles or german Windbeutel, also croqueembouche (but I wouldn't make one of those....)
I chose to make a hybrid between profiterols and Windbeutel and I froze them straight away. They thaw without damage and that way I always have something for desert in case of surprise guests!

So here the ingredients for the Choux pastry:

• 100 g plain flour
• 75 g unsalted butter
• 175 mL water
• 1/4 tspn salt
• 3 eggs, beaten

Method:

• put salt, butter and water in a pan and warm gently until the butter is molten and then quickly bring to boil
• add all the flour in one go, remove from heat and beat until you have a smooth dough
• put back on heat and stirr for another 2-5 mins, it is supposed to transform into a glossy ball and come easily off the sides of the pan
• let cool completely
• add small portions of the egg and stirr vigorously after each addition
• the dough should be still firm enough to be piped out, so stop the egg addition, if the mixture becomes to liquid
• pipe onto a grease proof paper and follow the cooking instructions

Cooking instructions:

• for profiterols or croqueembouche pipe out small heaps of max 2cm diameter (they grow quite a bit)
• for eclairs pipe out ~8 cm lines
• bake in a preheated oven at 200 °C (no fan!!!) for 15 mins
• open the oven door to release steam and continue baking fo 5-10 mins at 180 °C
• take out of the oven and make a hole in each bun/eclair, so the steam can evaporate
• bake for another 10-15 mins
• make absolutely sure, they are cooked completely through, they will collapse otherwise! If you think they are ready, give them an extra 5 mins
• let cool completely on a wire rack before filling

For the fillings:

• custard for eclairs (thick, more pastelike custard)
• whipped cream for Windbeutel
• crème anglais for profiterols, plus molten chocolate on top
• a mixture of mascarpone cheese and whipped cream with vanilla for my "hybrid version" + molten chocolate mixture on top (50 g dark chocolate, 1 tbsp water and 25 g butter)
• or whatever you like! shouldn't be to liquidy though :-)

Enjoy!