Cream Puff Hands 6.18 The Real Paul Anka

“Weird, weird dream.” “Weirder than the one where you step into a boxing ring and your hands are suddenly giant cream puffs?” “Weirder!"

Ingredients:

For the choux pastry:

• 7 tbsp unsalted butter

• 1 cup water

• 1 cup all-purpose flour

• 4 eggs at room temperature

• ⅛ tsp salt

For the whipped cream:

• 2 cups heavy cream

• ½ cup powdered sugar

• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Place a medium saucepan over medium heat and add the butter. When the butter has just melted, add the water and allow to reach a simmer (small bubbles but not boiling).

2. Once the mixture has reached a simmer, add the flour and stir vigorously until a smooth ball of dough has formed.

3. Remove from heat and allow the dough to cool for about 10 minutes. Do not remove the dough from the warm skillet. Simply take the skillet off the heat.

4. While the dough cools, preheat the oven to 420 degrees F.

5. Place a sheet of parchment paper on a cookie tray. Place your non-dominant hand onto the parchment tray, spreading your fingers wide. Using a pencil, lightly trace your hand. Do this 3 more times for a total of 4.

6. Flip the parchment paper so the pencil markings are facing down on the cookie tray.

7. One at a time, carefully add the eggs to the dough, stirring after adding each egg to fully incorporate into the dough.

8. Transfer the dough to a piping bag. Carefully pipe the dough onto the parchment paper, following the pencil tracings. Fill in the entire hands with dough.

9. Wet your finger and lightly pat down any peaks.

10. Bake at 420 F for about 17 minutes or until golden brown.

11. While the hands bake, make the whipped cream by combining the cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer, whip the cream until soft peaks form.

12. Remove the tray from the oven, then carefully turn the hands over. Gently score a knife across the palm and some of the fingers. Be careful not to slice too deep.

13. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees F. Flip the hands back over and cook for an additional 5-8 minutes.

14. Remove the hands from the oven and allow to cool.

15. Transfer the whipped cream to a clean piping bag then pipe the cream onto the bottom of one of the hands. Place another hand on top of the whipped cream, making sure to line it up with the bottom hand.

16. Repeat this process with the other two hands.

This was a fun one to make! Choux pastry is usually for small bakes, not giant hand cream puffs, but I wanted to make these as close to Lorelai’s weird dream as possible. I struggled a bit with the hands deflating during the cooling process because they are so massive, but I found that scoring the bottom does help. You can fill these with a custard, but I liked them with a homemade whipped cream (plus, that was faster and easier to make than a traditional creme patisserie.

Happy cooking from the Hollow!

If you missed what I made last episode, catch up here!

Eating Gilmore- where your weird dreams come true.