Cream Puff Murder (Hannah Swensen, #11)(31)

Yield: 12 large cream puffs or 30 mini cream puffs.





EMMY’S VANILLA CUSTARD

1/2 cup white (granulated) sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

1/3 cup flour (not sifted)

1 cup whole milk

1 cup heavy cream

2 beaten eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 ounce (1/4 stick) butter



Combine the sugar, salt, nutmeg, and flour in a saucepan off the heat. Stir well.



Gradually stir in the milk and the cream. Blend everything together off the heat.



Turn the burner on medium high heat and cook, stirring constantly, until thickened. (This takes about 10 minutes on my stove.)



Remove the saucepan from the heat, but LEAVE THE BURNER ON.



Break the eggs into a small bowl and quickly beat them with a whisk until they’re well mixed.



Stir several Tablespoons of the hot mixture into the bowl with the eggs. Whisk until it’s incorporated.



Slowly pour the eggs into the saucepan with the hot mixture, whisking it all the while.



Return the saucepan to the heat and stir for 2 to 3 minutes, until the mixture is very thick.



Remove the saucepan from the heat (you can turn off the burner this time). Add the vanilla, stirring it in quickly. Add the ounce of butter and stir it in until it’s melted.



Let the mixture cool and use it to fill your cream puffs, or pour it into bowls while it’s hot, chill it in the refrigerator, and serve it with a little sweetened whipped cream for a lovely dessert.



Yield: 4 servings of pudding, or filling for 6 to 8 cream puffs.

GREAT-GRANDMA’S CHOCOLATE PUDDING

2 cups whole milk

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup white (granulated) sugar

4 squares unsweetened chocolate (I used Baker’s)

9 egg yolks, beaten

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 ounces butter



Separate 9 eggs into whites and yolks. If you plan to make Angel Kisses Cookies or Angel Pillows Cookies with the whites, save them in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator. (Each recipe calls for 3 egg whites so you can make a triple batch of either one.) Beat the yolks and set them aside.



Combine the milk, cream, and sugar in a heavy saucepan off the heat. Unwrap 4 squares of unsweetened chocolate, break them into two parts at the indentation, and add them to your saucepan. (Breaking them up causes them to melt faster.)



Heat the mixture over medium high heat on the stove, stirring constantly until little whiffs of steam start to escape and you think it’s about to boil.



Pull the saucepan from the heat, but don’t turn off the burner. This next step will take only a moment or two.



Give the beaten egg yolks a final stir, and add approximately 2 Tablespoons of the chocolate mixture to the egg yolks, stirring it in quickly. (This is called tempering, and it’s important—without it you could have pudding with scrambled eggs inside.)



Off the heat, slowly pour the egg mixture into the chocolate mixture in the saucepan, stirring all the while. When it’s incorporated, put the saucepan back on the heat.



Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes to a full boil. (This took about 3 minutes for me on my stove.) Pull the saucepan off the heat, and this time you can turn off the burner.



Quickly stir in the vanilla. Then stir in the butter and continue to stir until the butter is melted.



Let the pudding cool and use it to fill cream puffs, or…



Pour the pudding into 8 bowls and cool in the refrigerator. Top with sweetened whipped cream and serve it for a delicious dessert, or…



Pour the pudding into a cookie crumb, shortbread crumb, or graham cracker crumb pie shell. (You can buy them already prepared at the store if you don’t want to make your own.) Chill and top with sweetened whipped cream for dessert.



Yield: enough filling for 12 to 18 cream puffs, 8 servings of dessert pudding, or a chocolate pie.





Chapter Ten




Never had a cat looked so innocent. Hannah stood next to the Kitty Valet and met Moishe’s guileless gaze. “I know your new feeder is lots of fun, but please don’t eat all your kitty crunchies while I’m at work today. Save some for tonight, and maybe even tomorrow. The instructions say that it stores enough food for three days. And that’s for a family with two cats! I know you love to eat, Moishe, but you’re going to get sick if you keep on emptying the whole thing every time I leave.”

He was purring! Her cat was purring! Hannah sighed deeply and gave up lecturing. Chances were that Moishe didn’t understand a word she was saying. And even if he did, he’d ignore her advice the second the door closed behind her.

“Okay, I’m gone,” she said to the cat, who probably wasn’t listening anyway. “I’ll be home around six, and I want to see some food left in that bowl.”

As she walked down the covered staircase to the parking garage, Hannah was frowning. She was worried about Moishe. He’d always been a big eater, but last night when she’d come home from work, she’d found the Kitty Valet that contained his food completely empty.