Happy St. Paddy’s Day all!
I’m sure you’ve heard that the North East has been experiencing one of the worst winters ever and the yoyo temperatures Toronto has been experiencing for example, last Thursday it was -15°C (5°F) with a wind chill that made it feel more like -27°C (-16.6°F) and to make matters worse, last Wednesday we received about 20 cm (8 inches) of snow; you know the really heavy, wet kind? Made it really fun to shovel…NOT!
One of our elite political comedy hosts Rick Mercer had this skit on his show last Monday, I found it very funny so I thought I’d share it with you.
You could say I’m really late for Valentine’s day, or really early. I prefer the later. And as I said before, don’t limit yourself to one day to serve heart-shaped foods!
I’ve posted about these delightful cheese puffs previously (please click here and here) but when I saw Lorraine’s (Not Quite Nigella) heart shaped Pâte à Choux post here I knew I had to try to make them as small bite-sized hors d’œuvres! They were rather easy to make and even though they were a very tiny bit fussy to shape, it wasn’t as bad as I had thought it might be. Of course, you get fewer from one batch of pastry but it’s absolutely worth the extra effort with the ooooh’s and ahhhh’s! I took these to a lovely girls night in but you can make them in advance and freeze them in an air tight container and then pull them out one at a time as needed! I stuffed mine with a slightly modified version of this Hungarian Korozot recipe, but you needn’t stuff them at all because they are rather tasty on their own too!
Heart Shaped Cheese Choux Pastry
Makes about 18 heart shaped puffs about 4 cm or 1.5 inches in diameter.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup water
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 200° C 400° F. Take a piece of parchment the size of your baking pan and saturate it with water, wring out so it’s still wet but not dripping wet. Flatten on the baking sheet. Set aside until you are ready to pipe the pastry.
- Place water, butter and salt in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat.
- Remove from heat and add flour, and stir until combined.
- Return to heat and stir cooking the flour mixture until it comes away from the sides of the pan and is a shiny ball. I find the heat of the pan is enough, I generally don’t put the flame back on.
- Place in a food processor with plastic blades and process for 15 seconds (give or take).
- Add eggs and process for 40 seconds (err on the longer side of give or take).
- Add cheese and process for another 5-10 seconds until smooth.
- Take a piece of parchment the size of the baking pan and wet it thoroughly under the running tap. Scrunch it up and wring out the excess water. Flatten it out onto your ready baking sheet.
- Transfer the pastry to a pastry bag fitted with a thick nozzle about 1 cm or 0.5 inches in diameter. Begin on the left bump of the heart and pipe one side, then without lifting the tip, pipe the right side of the heart. You may wish to smooth out the top with a slightly wet knife. To get the heart shapes defined enough, exaggerate the top bumps of the heart, other wise it will fill in as it bakes. Or you could use a heart shaped mould sprayed a bit with non-stick spray like Brooks did in this post on his lovely blog Cakewalkr. I just came across Brooks’ blog quite by accident but I am so glad I did, can’t wait to try this method!
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.
- Serve warm or room temperature. Fill with your choice of delicious fillings!
Oh my goodness these look amazing! I can just picture myself biting into one of these delights.
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Thank you kindly Bam.
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Meanwhile, Scandinavia is having the mildest winter in… years. Sorry Eva… you’re getting your normal snow, and ours too!
Aren’t you feeling sweet and loving… what’s with all the lovely little heart-shaped treats? Did I miss an important event? They look really nice Eva… a good pairing to serve up with the heart-shaped smoked salmon bites from earlier!
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I had a good chuckle when I read your comment Charles, thanks. Yes, indeed lovey dovey for sure! I actually made both for Valentine’s day but missed posting them. I’ll have to think ahead next year and post the week before the event to give folks enough time to make it if they wish.
Yes our weather is certainly wacked, not normal at all. In fact I just saw that our cottage temperatures were at -24°C this morning and that they were expecting 25 cm of snow! The ice is almost a metre thick on the lake! I’m not sure when it will melt at this rate. It’s a bit scary for sure.
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Hi, Eva. I really cross my fingers for the weather to get better in Canada… The cheese puffs look both cute and delicious.
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Thank you Sissi, it means a lot to me to have your support over the pond, I just hope Mother Nature goes along with it!
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Both of your heart posts are clever and so cute…they would be perfect for a bridal shower.
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That’s a great idea Karen, thanks so much.
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Eva, I’m enamored by the savory aspect of theses lovely puffs. I would find it hard to resist more than a modest portion. May spring wrap you in a blanket of warmth soon, and may thanks for the nod!
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Thank you so much for your lovely words Brooks.
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I’ve been saying for ages that weatherman always throw a beautiful day at the end of their long range forecasts. In Summer, it’s a cool day, while in Winter, it’s a thaw. This comic, though, said it far better than I ever could.
Who doesn’t love a cheese puff, Eva? You just made them even more irresistible. I would never attempt them on my own but I can dream that I would. 🙂
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Hi John, it was a very poignant skit and rather believable these days!
Thank you for your very flattering words, as I responded to Kristy, these were a lot easier to make than I estimated so I think you could easily create them too.
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I don’t think there could be a more perfect snack…pastry and cheese. I have a feeling my hearts wouldn’t turn out as well, but I would eat them before anyone noticed!
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Thank you so much Kristy, actually I don’t think it would be difficult to do, other than exaggerating the top parts I didn’t have too much experimentation on these.
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Aww these are adorable, I would never have the skill to make such cute puffs 😀
They are awesome!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
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Thanks CCU, they are much easier to make than you think!
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These darling pastry hearts look so perfect Eva! Just love them and have to try them soon with our Hungarian Korozott recipe 🙂
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Thank you for your lovely compliment and welcome to my blog. I’m going to check out your korozott recipe now.
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oh how cute! I love cheese puffs but never thought to make them into a heart shape! Beautful
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Hi Jessica, thank you so much.
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What beautiful looking pastry hearts. I’m sorry to hear it’s been such a shocking winter for you. I can’t believe at this time of year you’re still having to shovel snow! You must be so over it by now xx
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Hi Charlie, you have no idea — they are predicting freezing rain tomorrow. Two days before the first day of spring. Yes indeed, we are SO OVER IT. Thank you for your kind words.
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I’m not sure mine would actually come out looking like hearts! You did a fabulous job…and I’m certain they tasted amazing!!!
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Thank you for your kind words Liz, but I’m certain a person with your baking aptitude they would be gorgeous!
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Oh Eva, these are just beautiful!
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Thank you so much Liz.
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I hope these cheese puffs end up in your next photo shoot. They look amazing.
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Thank you so much David, that is very kind of you to say.
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I laughed aloud at the clip, but that’s no joking matter. You guys must be so over cold and snow. I hope Spring will be upon you soon. Lovely cheese puffs and so pretty as heart shapes. What a great idea!
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Pretty, pretty cheese puffs. I can’t believe they kept their shape the way they did.
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Haha, love the Mercer clip!! Hang in there… spring is surely on the way… (+1 right around the corner 😉 ). You’re keeping things on the sunny side for us with your heart theme Eva… so much fun! These cheese puffs are adorable and they look so fluffy with wonderful bits of cheddar poking through here and there. I like that they can be frozen too. Bet the girls loved these! May the luck of the Irish find its way into the weather forecast ;-).
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Oh Eva you’re so sweet to mention me! Your recipes inspire me so too! And I love the look of these darling sweet hearts 🙂
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Cheese puffs has been on my list for eons Eva. These are lovely! I guess I don’t host parties often. The weather forecast video is both poignant and funny, I just sent the link to a friend in Ottawa – he has been moaning about the weather. I guess it would be cruel to mention that my walnut tree was covered with robins this morning. Spring will come to you too one of these days my friend.
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