I’ve wanted to develop some recipes that allow my family (and diabetic friends) to indulge a little without really cheating. I come from an Italian family, so I’ve always made this recipe with ricotta cheese. I’ve swapped out the powdered sugar for stevia. There is still a small amount of sugar in the mini chocolate chips, but this recipe is far healthier than cream puffs filled with a sugary filling.
Cream puffs are fairly simple to make – the only tricky part is adding the eggs to the puff mixture. The pan must still be warm, but cool enough that the eggs don’t scramble as soon as you add them. You will want to assemble the cream puffs right before you serve them because they can get soggy very quickly.
Cream Puffs
1 cup water
½ cup butter (no substitutes)
1 cup unbleached flour
4 eggs, slightly beaten
In a 2-quart saucepan, bring water and butter to a rolling boil. Add flour and reduce heat. Continue to stir over low heat until the mixture becomes a ball; this should take about a minute. Remove the pan from the heat and add the eggs all at once. Beat mixture until it is smooth. Drop ¼ cup of mixture about 3-4 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Puffs will be golden brown. Remove from oven and cool completely.
Filling
1 15-ounce container ricotta cheese
4 packets powdered stevia
½ cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
Combine all three ingredients in a bowl. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
To assemble cream puffs, cut puffs in half. Pull out any soft dough. Fill with ricotta filling. Melt about two ounces (¼ cup) to drizzle over assembled puffs. Replace the tops and drizzle with melted semi-sweet chocolate.
