Filhós do Forno for Carnaval

It's Carnaval time, here on the island, and that means four fun-filled days of eating ,drinking and living it up before, Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent. There are several, traditional desserts made at this time of the year, all of which, are very rich,in eggs and sugar. One of these desserts, is the "Filhós do Forno", a pastry baked in the oven, and then filled with a rich lemony pastry filling. I have for some reason avoided making these, because I had convinced myself they where difficult to make. This year I decided to give them a try....I was pleasantly surprised, when I realized, they are in fact like cream puffs. The dough is made in the exact same manner, the only thing that changes, is they are not baked free form, but instead in little muffin tins. These were wonderful, I only regret not taking, the usually step by step photos, but you see, I really was trying them for the first time, and was convinced they would "flop". My family loved them, and I have to say, they are much tastier, then the store bought kind, we get on the island. With that said, I want to wish you a wonderful Carnaval, I hope you go ahead and give them a try.

Dough

1  cup water

1/2  cup butter or margarine

1 cup  all-purpose flour

4  eggs

Heat oven to 200/ 400ºF.
In 2 1/2-quart saucepan, heat water and butter to rolling boil.
Stir in flour; reduce heat to low. Stir vigorously over low heat about 1 minute or until mixture forms a ball; remove from heat. Cool till warm to the touch.
Beat in eggs, one at a time, continue beating until  dough is smooth and no longer shiny.



FOR TRADITIONAL FILHOSES:   

Double the recipe! 
Grease 12 portuguese baking tins (picture below) Fill the tins nice and full. place on a baking/ pizza tray. Place in the oven, bake 10 minutes at 200/400 F. Then lower oven temp. to 180/350F and bake for 45 minutes. Cool away from draft, you can remove them from the tins, and lay them on their sides. When they are cool, fill them with the pastry cream. Either using a spoon or a piping bag. You can cut a slit in them, or poke a whole in them.

FOR CREAM PUFFS :

On ungreased cookie sheet, drop dough by the tablespoon/ or use a piping bag, about 3 inches apart. Bake 10 minutes, then lower the oven temp. to  180/350, and bake another 25 minutes, removing from the oven, when they are golden,and dry to the touch. Cool away from draft, about 30 minutes.

Cut off top third of each puff and pull out any strands of soft dough. Fill puffs with filling; replace tops.  Sprinklw with icing sugar, or dip in chocolate. Cover; refrigerate until serving.



 Pastry Cream Filling

2 cups milk

1/4 cup white sugar

2 egg yolks

1 egg

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/3 cup white sugar

2 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (add grated peel of 1 lemon instead of vanilla if making FILHÓS)

1. In a heavy saucepan, stir together the milk and 1/4 cup of sugar. Bring to a boil over medium heat.               
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and egg. Stir together the remaining sugar and cornstarch; then stir them into the egg until smooth. When the milk comes to a boil, drizzle it into the bowl in a thin stream while mixing so that you do not cook the eggs. Return the mixture to the saucepan, and slowly bring to a boil, stirring constantly so the eggs don' t curdle or scorch on the bottom.               
3. When the mixture comes to a boil and thickens, remove from the heat. Stir in the butter and vanilla, mixing until the butter is completely blended in. Pour into a heat-proof container and place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until chilled before using.

**You can use your stand mixer, with the paddle attachment for the dough.

** You can use a regular muffin tin also,

traditional portuguese baking tin

xo,Diana