Chocolate Cream Puffs

Again, I turned to all recipes and picked one that looked particularly easy and yummy. I opted to follow this one, which turned out really easy and delicious. They were a lot bigger than I expected though (the batter expands a lot), so it didn't really fit my image of a mini sampler plate, but oh well. I don't think my grandpa will mind too much. :) I love the pastries and could easily see them being used for other things, sweet or savory.

Time: 1:00
Serves: 15

Choux Pastry
Ingredients
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup milk
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
a dash of salt
2 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Our oven flipped out and went to 550F, which in turn made me flip out and I think collapsed the puffs, but oh well. Grease and flour baking sheet.
2. In a stainless steel skillet, boil water, milk and butter over medium heat. Stir in flour and salt until it pulls away from the skillet in a ball. Remove from heat and transfer to mixing bowl. Let cool a few minutes.
3. Beat in eggs one at a time until it becomes a smooth batter.
4. I used a tablespoon again, but the batter really expands. If you want to make small puffs, don't use anything larger than half a tablespoon. Drop even amounts onto baking sheet. Don't worry if it spreads a little - it'll form up.
5. Bake at 400F for 15 min, then bake at 350 for 30 min.
6. Cool, then with a sharp knife, cut halfway across the center.

Chocolate cream filling
Ingredients
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup sugar (or to taste)
1 Tbsp cocoa powder (or to taste)

1. Using a mixer, beat cream until satiny and soft peaks form when you pull out the mixer. I overmixed it and it started forming lumps not unlike cottage cheese, but it still tasted great (I mean, you really can't go wrong with cream, sugar and cocoa).
2. Slowly add the sugar and cocoa powder until it tastes nomlicious.
3. Chill in fridge until it hardens a bit.

Scoop desired amounts of the cream into the pastry and serve immediately, or the pastry will get soggy. If you like, you can drizzle some chocolate over the pastry and let it harden in the fridge. I used a chopstick to get pretty, random looking lines without having to use a pastry bag.