Baking with Betty

So I'm not letting the unusually warm/hot weather stop me from turning on the oven. Today I made two of my favorite recipes. Sugar cookies, and chocolate cream puffs. Both of them come from my very loved and worn Betty Crocker Cookbook. I know I have posted the sugar cookie recipe here several times, but it really is my favorite.
Sugar Cookies
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 egg
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Mix powdered sugar, butter, vanilla, almond extract and egg. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours.
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Divide dough into halves. Roll each half 3/16 inch thick on lightly floured cloth covered board. Cut into desired shapes with 2-to 2 1/2 inch cookie cutters. Place on silpat or parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake 7 to 8 minutes. I bake just until set.

Buttercream Frosting

16 oz powdered sugar, sifted
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
3 Tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Mix all ingredients together, may need to add more milk or powdered sugar to obtain desired frosting consistency.

Cream Puffs

1 cup water
1/2 cup margarine
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 eggs
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Heat water and margarine to rolling boil in 2 1/2 quart sausepan. Stir in flour. Stir vigorously over low heat until mixture forms a ball, about 1 minute; remove from heat. Beat in eggs, all at once; continue beating until smooth. Drop dough by scant 1/4 cupfuls about 3 inches apart ( I used a pastry bag and made much smaller, and baked for approx. 20 minutes) onto ungreased cookie sheet. ( I lined my cookie sheet with a silpat).
Bake until puffed and golden, 35 to 40 minutes. cool away from draft. Cut off tops; Pull out any filaments of soft dough. Fill puffs with chocolate pudding and whipped cream. Replace tops; sprinkle with powdered sugar. Refrigerate until serving time. Serves 12. I got 19 with the smaller portion.

Chocolate Pudding

2 1/2 cups milk
5 ounces semi sweet chocolate, chopped into slivers
4 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
3 Tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
In a heavy saucepan, over low heat, warm the milk and chocolate whisking until chocolate is melted.
In a bowl, whisk together egg yolks and sugar until mixture becomes pale yellow. Add cornstarch, salt, and then the vanilla. Whisk until well blended. Slowly pour some of the warm chocolate mixture into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly until well blended to temper the eggs. Return mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium heat until it thickens and begins to bubble slowly, about 6 minutes. Remove from heat and stir until smooth, about 1 minute. Pour into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto the surface, refrigerate about 2-3 hours.

Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy cream
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat all ingredients until stiff peaks form.