Cream Puffs

1/2 cup water
1/2 cup whole milk

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

1-1/2 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup flour

3 eggs
1 egg yolk

Preheat oven to 425 F. Line cookie sheets with parchment. Mix 1st 5 ingredients together in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir in flour. Cook over medium heat until dough is smooth and pulls away from side of the pan. Transfer to a mixer. Beat for 3 minutes, until dough starts to cool. Add eggs and egg yolk, one at a time.

Spoon 16 mounds of batter onto prepared sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake 15 minutes (do not open oven). Re- duce heat to 375 F and bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes. May be baked ahead and frozen for later use.

PumPkin Custard

3 cups heavy cream
2 1/4 cups canned pumpkin puree 1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
9 egg yolks

Preheat oven to 325 F. Whisk cream, pumpkin, spices, and salt together in a heavy large saucepan. Bring to
a simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Whisk together sugar and egg yolks. Gradually stir hot pumpkin mixture into egg yolk mixture. Pour mixture into a 8 x 8” baking dish. Cover with foil. Place dish in a larger baking pan, fill with hot water halfway up the side of the 8 x 8” pan. Bake until cus- tard is set in the center, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Cool completly. Chill until cold, at least 4 hours.

Salted Maple Caramel

2/3 cup sugar
1/4 maple syrup
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

3/4 heavy cream
1/4 Dolce dessert wine

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp coarse salt

Stir sugar, maple syrup, and butter together in a heavy small saucepan over medium heat until blended and smooth. Whisk in cream. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in Dolce, vanill, and salt. Simmer 1 minute.

Lightly sweetened whipped cream 1 cup pecans, toasted and chopped

Spoon a small amount of the caramel sauce on the serving plate. Cut the cream puff in half and fill with pump- kin custard, or pipe the custard into the cream puff using a pastry bag. Place on the caramel. Top with a gener- ous spoonful of whipped cream and a small spoonful of pecans. Serve immediately with a small glass of Dolce dessert wine.

Serves 16.