State Fair Cream Puffs

This was my dessert for these 2 weeks. Not sure which state fair these are from, I've never seen them at the Bangor State Fai-yuh, so I don't know. These sounded really easy to make and the picture looked so yummy, so I decided to try it. It's also from the Taste of Home book (p. 530). Even though it sounds easy, it was a bit tricky...but they were pretty good.

State Fair Cream Puffs
1 cup water
1/2 cup butter
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup flour
4 eggs
2 tbsp milk
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
additonal confectioners' sugar

In a large saucepan, bring the water, butter, and salt to a boil over medium heat. Add flour all at once and stir until a smooth ball forms. Remove from the heat; let stand for 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Continue beating until mixture is smooth and shiny. Drop by 1/4 cupfuls 3 inches apart onto greased baking sheets. Combine milk and egg yolk; brush over puffs. Bake @ 400 for 30-35 minutes (mine only took like 28) or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks, immediately cut a slit in each for the steam to escape (I think you should cut a slit and then move to the racks, because by the time I had them all on the cooling rack and started cutting slits, the first few had collapsed); cool. In a large chilled mixing bowl, beat cream until it begins to thicken. Add sugar and vanilla; beat until almost stiff. Split cream puffs; discard soft dough from inside. Fill the cream puffs just before serving. Dust with confectioners' sugar. Refrigerate leftovers.

So, due to the collapse of several puffs, I only actually got a yield of 8 instead of 12. And some of those 8 were pretty flat. I would say I got 3 that were actually puffed like the picture. But I'm still excited because that shows potential! I am going to try these again at some point, because they were easy and tasty. And they looked cool, like something you would buy at a bakery. You know those cruellers they have at Tim Horton's (I certainly don't because I do not spend our family's limited resources on coffee and pastries. hee hee)...well they taste like those cruellers, without the glaze, though, filled with whipped cream...next time I might add more sugar to the whipped cream because it didn't taste quite sweet enough...but I will be saving this one.