Choux Pastry: Easy & Elegant

I decided that, since choux pastry looked like it would be much more difficult to make than it seemed, I would experiment with it last night and figure out where I went wrong, which steps I went through too quickly, etc.

The good news?

Choux pastry only looks like it requires an arsenal of pastry-making skills and a lot of free time.

I followed the Williams Sonoma recipe from yesterday and it worked out perfectly - even with a delay as I ran out of eggs and had to send John on a run to buy another carton.

Choux Pastry:

...and while I had no ice cream to make proper profiteroles, I did dunk those bad boys in chocolate (the same chocolate topping in the Williams Sonoma recipe from yesterday also):

Yum.

I made the smaller profiterole-sized pastries and also some eclair-sized pastries.

You can really play around with the size and shape you want by using different pipping bags and tips.

Hey so in other news, I am a struggling student with literally an empty bank account to my name.

Do any of you think there's a market for gift baskets?

A few of my friends have gotten into selling personalized cakes and cupcakes and so far they've gotten good feedback.

I'd like to think I can throw together a mean gift basket, with sweet and savory food items, homemade crafts like candles, bath stuff, and hey I can even knit scarves and blankets.

Ooooo I could sell blankets!

Sorry, back on track.

While I'm not quite sure if I want to set up my own little gift basket business, if you know anyone who is stuck for ideas for a birthday, Christmas (especially Christmas!), graduation, every other holiday, or anniversary gift - ask them if they'd consider a gift basket and send them my way!

I'm working on one now for John's sister and it's going to be good!