Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Cream Puffs with Lemon Mousse and Blueberry Sauce

Last week we spent the week in Portland Oregon, visiting Rosalie & Tom. It was great. We had a lot of fun. It was record breaking hot while we were there (106 in Portland). The beach was much cooler so we went to the ocean and played. We saw some tide pools with starfish and anemones.
One of my favorite things to do in Oregon is to go berry picking. Last year while we were there, we discovered a "you pick" blueberry farm just outside of Sandy, Oregon. It is owned by a cute old man. It is very overgrown so it kind of feels like you are picking blueberries in the wild. He only charges $1.00/pound. We picked 16 pounds in about an hour this year.
Watching little Owen reminded me of the book, "Blueberries for Sal". He loved the blueberries and would eat them by the handful.
The first year we went to Rosalie's we found a commercial farm and picked several different kinds of berries. when we returned to her house we spent the afternoon making all kinds of Jam. Last year when we returned we made a Blueberry pie. This year, we waited until the last day we were there to pick the berries so I just brought a lot of them home and am trying to find different things to make with them.
I found this idea at Martha Stewarts website. This is my version of her recipe. Allan loves cream puffs, lemon pie and blueberries. So this seemed like the perfect first choice. I was right. Allan loved these.

Cream Puffs with Lemon Mousse and Blueberry Sauce

For the Cream Puffs:
1/2 c. butter
1 c. boiling water
1 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
4 eggs
Put butter, water, salt and sugar in small saucepan; stir over high heat until melted and liquid is boiling rapidly. Add flour at once; raise saucepan a few inches above heat. Stir briskly. Mixture will come away from sides of pan and form a ball in center.
Cook and stir 30 seconds more. Remove from heat. Break 1 egg into the paste; beat fast until smooth and fluffy. Repeat until all the eggs are used.
Drop by whatever size you want (1/4 cup) onto ungreased cookie sheet 3 inches apart. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and bake until puffed and golden about 35 more minutes. Turn of oven and open the door slightly. Leave in oven until oven is cool. Cool away from drafts.

For the Blueberry Sauce:
2 cups (1 pint) blueberries
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt

Bring 1 cup blueberries, the water, granulated sugar, lemon zest, and salt to a boil in a small saucepan. Reduce heat, and simmer until most of the berries have burst, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Add remaining cup blueberries, and crush lightly.

For the Lemon Mousse:
1 large egg, plus 3 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from 2 lemons)
Pinch of salt
2 ounces (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 cup heavy cream

Whisk together egg, yolks, sugar, lemon zest and juice, and salt. Bring to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium heat, whisking constantly. Cook until mixture is thickened, 4 to 5 minutes. Strain through a fine sieve into a bowl. Whisk in butter. Press plastic wrap directly onto surface of lemon curd, and refrigerate until cold, at least 1 hour or up to overnight.
Just before serving, Whip cream and fold into lemon mixture.

Cut tops of cream puffs, spoon Lemon Mousse into bottom half, top with Blueberries. Replace cream puff top. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

1 comment:

  1. mmm. sounds delicious. was it hard to make? I quite like your format of your blog, story, recipe. . . ingenious. perfect.

    ReplyDelete