Woohhhooo it is December 1st!! I have been working on this 12 days of Giveaways for quite sometime and am so excited to finally launch it! We have some great prizes including a KitchenAid 4.5 qt mixer, a 7 cup Cuisinart food processor, Lágrima Pure Vanilla Extract, of course my favorite butter Plugrá European-Style Butter, and much more!
The way it will work is that I will post a new giveaway every 2 days from now until December 24th. They will be overlapping each other as each giveaway will run for about a week. I will be using rafflecop for the giveaways. If you already follow me on the social media outlets, fret not you can still enter by saying you already follow when prompted by rafflecop. Let's get this party started!!!!! Enter to win at the bottom of the post!
Photo credit-Sharffen Berger Website
For the first giveaway we are giving away 8 bars of our favorite Scharffen Berger Chocolate. We use it whenever a recipe calls for chocolate, and the result is always silky and smooth. This chocolate makes the most amazing ganache!
We used this chocolate to create the chocolate cream and ganache for these cream puffs. It is pretty simple to make but tastes like it is from a five star restaurant. Don't be afraid to try homemade cream puffs, they aren't as difficult as they sound. If you have a couple of minutes, I would suggest watching this video from Joy of Baking for visual instructions.
- Pate a Choux
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon granulated white sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter , room temperature
- 1 cup water
- 4 large eggs , lightly beaten
- 2 cups milk
- 3 ounces semi sweet chocolate , chopped
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- ½ cup white sugar
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
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Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
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In a heavy bottomed saucepan, combine butter and water. Bring to a boil on medium heat.
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In a separate bowl, combine flour, sugar and salt. Whisk together.
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When butter water is boiling, remove from heat and add flour mixture using a wooden spoon.
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Continue to combine until a smooth ball forms that is no longer sticking to the sides.
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Return pan to medium heat and continue to mix constantly for 2 minutes.
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Remove from heat and place dough into a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or your hand mixer.
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Mix for 2 minutes on low to cool down.
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In a small bowl combine 4 eggs and whisk together.
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Slowly add ⅔ of egg mixture to your dough and mix on low.
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Increase you mixer to medium high and continue to mix until dough becomes thick again.
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Add the rest of the egg and mix again for about 2 minutes.
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Scoop out tablespoon rounds 2 inches apart on your baking sheets.
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Bake for 15 minutes at 400 degrees then reduce temperature to 350 degrees and bake for another 15-30 minutes, depending on your oven.
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Keep an eye on them, if they begin to brown too quickly turn your oven off.
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Once done, remove from oven and make a small whole using a toothpick into the puffs.
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Return baking sheets to a hot (but turned off oven) and allow to cool with the oven door cracked open slightly (I folded a oven glove to keep door open slightly).
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Allow puffs to cool completely in oven (about an hour).
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In a heavy bottomed sauce pan, bring milk to a boil on medium low heat.
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In a separate bowl, whisk egg, egg yolks and sugar together until pale yellow. Whisk in cornstarch until smooth.
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When milk has come to a boil, remove from heat and slowly add ¼ a cup or hot milk to the egg mixture, stirring constantly.
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Repeat with another ¼ cup of hot milk (so that the eggs don't cook due to the hot milk)
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Next add the entire egg/milk mixture to the pan with the remaining milk.
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Add the chocolate.
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Mixing constantly, return the pan to medium low heat until it coats the back of the spoon.
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Once mixture has thickened, remove from heat and add butter and vanilla.
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Pour into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until cold.
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Once cold, either cut puff in half and fill or pipe into puff rounds.
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If desired drizzle with chocolate ganache or simply sift with powdered sugar.
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Can be filled and served immediately or filled and refrigerated for later in the day.
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These also freeze really well!
Pate a Choux recipe adapted from Joy of Baking
A&M's Mama
OMG!! CHOCOLATE!!
These have got to be some of your best pictures yet. I probably put on a couple pounds just looking at them.
Margot C
I do the very dorky thing with sugar cookies cut out in shapes painted with royal icing (which is btw incredibly hard for me to make right).
Peggy Grasso
I love making pumpkin cupcakes with spiced creamcheese frosting. Made 10 dozen in November.
Yvette N.
Although I love to bake at any time of the year, I absolutely go nuts at Christmas. I enjoy giving friends and family cookies for Christmas. I usually make about 10-12 different kinds!
Merlot
I love to make christmas cookies. I always make sugar cookies, gingerbread cookies, and dark chocolate peppermint cookies! This chocolate would be perfect for cooookie making!
Maria in NJ
I love to bake too, especially at CHRISTmas time!!
Debbie D
I make anything from traditional Italian foods for this time of year to traditional US foods. Depends on my mood at the moment.
Margot C
I also feel compelled to make many pies (though in truth my mother did not do this); somehow they disappear.
Clare F.
Holiday baking is the BEST! I usually make gumdrop cookies (actually very tasty and a family recipe) and this year I'm trying my hand at my grandma's gingerbread cookies!
Wehaf
I like the bake chrusciki from an old family recipe.
Wehaf
I mean I like *to* bake chrusciki.
Alexis K.
I bake spritz cookies with my grandma every year, using her antique cookie press!
Kim C
I bake my grandfather's famous christmas cookies every year with my sister.
Reuben's Granny
Baking sweets of all kind, any time, is the best, but there is something special about Christmas baking. Sharing with family and friends make the chocolate even sweeter.
Gina Guthrie
I bake many different types of cookies to pass out as gifts. It's cheap and people often love them more than store bought gifts.
Elizabeth @ SugarHero.com
So fun! Obviously I will be stalking your blog during the month of December...can't wait to see what you have up your sleeve! Also these cream puffs are gorgeous!
Terry
Always have to bake sour cream sugar cookies and frost them. This year I'm going to bring out the old baklava recipe, too! I think I have a recipe for chocolate baklava---hmmm. That's a definite possibility!
Colleen Lanin
My family likes to bake lots of cookies together during the holidays.
Shannon
Lots of ginger snaps for us!
Elena
I like to bake different cookies
L
Having a cookie baking party and making all different types of cookies!
D SCHMIDT
My tradition is to bake cookies for Santa with my children.
Madeline
We make grasshopper cookie bars every year--delicious!