This is a recipe I've always used & never had a flop yet. Got it from Craig Claiborne & posted it a while back for someone & they had good luck with it too. CREAM PUFF SHELLS (10 large puffs) 1 cup water 1/4 lb butter Pinch of salt 1 cup flour 4 eggs Preheat oven to 450°. Combine the water, butter & salt & bring to a boil. Remove from the heat & add the flour all at once. Stir vigorously until the mixture leaves the sides of the pan & forms a ball around the spoon. If a ball does not form almost immediately, hold the saucepan over low heat & beat briskly a few seconds. Cool slightly. Add the eggs, 1 at a time & beat until the mixture is smooth & glossy after each addition. Drop the mixture by rounded tablespoonfuls onto a greased baking sheet, leaving 2" between the puffs to permit spreading. Bake 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350° & bake until no bubbles of fat remain on the surface & the sides of the puffs feel rigid, about 30 minutes longer. Cool. Cut a cap off each puff & fill with pastry cream. (I use whipped cream.) Replace the cap.~~ PASTRY CREAM (about 3 cups) 1/3 cup sugar 3 1/2 TBL cornstarch or 6 TBL flour 6 lightly beaten egg yolks 2 cups milk 1 tsp vanilla Mix sugar, cornstarch & yolks in a saucepan. Scald the milk & pour it gradually over the egg yolk mixture, stirring rapidly with a wire whisk. Cook over low heat or in the top of a double boiler, stirring rapidly with the whisk, until the mixture is thickened & smooth. Do not allow to boil. Cool & stir in the vanilla.~~

Profiteroles Here's one that uses a food processor Copyright, 2004, Barefoot in Paris, Barefoot Contessa 1 cup milk 1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter Pinch kosher salt 1 cup all-purpose flour 4 extra-large eggs 1/2 cup heavy cream 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips 2 tablespoons honey 2 tablespoons prepared coffee Good vanilla ice cream (recommended: Haagen-Dazs), for serving Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Heat the milk, butter, and salt over medium heat until scalded. When the butter is melted, add the flour all at once and beat it with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes together and forms a dough. Cook, stirring constantly, over low heat for 2 minutes. The flour will begin to coat the bottom of the pan. Dump the hot mixture into the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Add the eggs and pulse until the eggs are incorporated into the dough and the mixture is thick. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a large plain round tip. Pipe in mounds 1 1/2 inches wide and 1-inch high onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. You should have about 18 puffs. With a wet finger, lightly press down the swirl at the top of each puff. (You can also use 2 spoons to scoop out the mixture and shape the puffs with damp fingers.) Bake for 20 minutes, or until lightly browned, then turn off the oven and allow them to sit for another 10 minutes, until they sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. Make a small slit in the side of each puff to allow the steam to escape. Set aside to cool. For the chocolate sauce, place the cream and chocolate chips in a bowl set over simmering water and stir just until the chocolate melts. Add the honey and coffee and stir until smooth. Set aside. For serving, cut each profiterole in half crosswise, fill with a small scoop of ice cream, replace the top, and drizzle with slightly warm chocolate sauce.

I make cream puffs A LOT, :) If they fall, you are not baking them long enough - or you live in an extremely humid area. Here is my method: Boil 1 cup water with 1 stick real butter. Add 1 cup all purpose unbleached flour and stir in until it forms a ball - I use a silicone heat safe spatula. I mash the ball around a bit to make sure all the flour is incorporated. Remove from heat for 10 minutes (set a timer!) I then toss the mixture into my KitchenAid with the paddle attached. I beat one egg in at a time, scrapping down the bowl if needed. Beat each egg in well - 4 eggs in all. I heat my oven to 400º and line my baking sheet with parchment paper. I use a large size cookie scoop (just a bit smaller than an Ice cream scoop) to portion out the dough. I usually get around 15 at that size. I also like to make them in a smaller size using a regular sized cookie scoop. I can get almost 40 at that size. I usually bake them at least 30 minutes. Maybe a bit longer for the large size. Every oven varies - you cannot bake them for an exact time - go off of color and feel. You want them a deep golden brown.

Jenn, since you indicated that you wanted to give a little drizzle of sauce just before serving, I assume that you were going to be the one doing the drizzling. Besides the obvious, you would probably need twice as much sauce if the guests were doing the squeezing. I've seen the containers of frozen puff pastries in a couple of our grocery stores. If you were in Canada I would tell you to check out the Superstore grocery store. ~Ann