Just...puffs.

When I asked Matt what kind of dessert he wanted for his birthday, I think he just said, "Creampuffs!" so I would get off his back about it. He probably didn't expect me to actually make them.

Technically, I didn't, because heavy cream totally slipped my mind while at the store. I also didn't think about putting the chocolate ganache inside the puffs--I was cooking for 10 and had a lot on my mind. So I served pastry puffs drizzled with chocolate.

I have to say, I really surprised myself (not to mention Matt). Making choux pastry is so, so easy. I used Julia Child's recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking-- which is an absolutely fabulous, easy to read and follow cookbook. It is simply a cooked pastry with eggs whisked in at the end. The puffs were then piped directly onto parchment. I don't have a pastry bag and tip (even though they're relatively cheap), so I just cut the tip off a plastic baggie.

I was almost glad I didn't fill them--someone brought M&Ms and stuffed them inside.