Pate a Choux

I was inspired by our visit to Beard Papa's. I decided to make cream puffs at home. Surprisingly these are not too difficult to make and it doesn't take too much time either. This recipe is from Cook's Illustrated and overall they were good. The outer shell called the "pate a choux" is a perfect recipe, but the pastry cream to me wasn't quite what I was looking for. It wasn't as creamy as I like, but nonetheless the flavor was really good. I like it to be super rich and milky, but this was more egg-y and custard-y.

Chocolate Cupcakes

They're called the "Ultimate Chocolate Cupcakes" from Cook's Illustrated. I was waiting to be blown away. I told my husband that they would be the best thing he ever had just because Cook's Illustrated doesnt mess around when they say it's "ultimate". Usually I'm pressed for time and I tend to rush through things, but I was determined to take my time with this one. The cupcakes were pretty good, but the ganache was totally unnecessary. It made the whole thing way too sweet in my opinion. And the biggest mistake was not making the frosting they recommended. I went with a different recipe just because the frosting in the Cooks illustrated edition wasn't quite what I was looking for. I wanted to pipe on the frosting, but all in all it was just too sweet. I'll definitely use the cake recipe, but I'll omit the ganache in the center and try their actual frosting recipe. I'll post the recipe a little later...