Cream Cheese Eclairs

Although these are normally only made for very, very special occasions--like tea parties with the queen, today the urge for cream puffs hit me and I made them just for the fun of it! We took them to our prayer group at church tonight and everyone enjoyed them.

So easy to make, and light and delicious to eat, these could quickly become addicting. Not a good thing in my case, but today I was very good and only ate 2 and 1/2 of them. I especially like how the filling contains cream cheese. Very yummy.


Cream Cheese Eclairs

Ingredients:
1 cup water
1/2 cup butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 eggs
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 cups milk
1 (5 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
1 (1 ounce) square unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons boiling water

Directions:
1 Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

2 For shells: In medium saucepan bring 1 cup water to a boil, stir in 1/2 cup butter and salt. Stir until melted. Add flour all at once and stir vigorously until mixture forms a ball. Remove from heat and beat in eggs, one at a time, until smooth. Drop by tablespoons onto baking sheet.

3 Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven, then reduce heat to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) and bake until golden, 10 to 15 minutes. Cool completely.

4 For filling: In large bowl, beat 1/2 cup of milk, a little at a time, into softened cream cheese, until creamy. Beat in remaining 1-1/2 cups milk and pudding mix. Stir until thick, 1 to 2 minutes. Cut tops off cooled pastry shells and fill. Replace tops.

5 For icing: In small saucepan, melt chocolate and 1 tablespoon butter over low heat. Remove from heat and, with electric mixer, beat in confectioners' sugar and 2 tablespoons hot water. Beat until smooth. Drizzle over filled eclairs.

Makes 20-24 pieces