Cream Puff Dough (Choux pastry)
Jane's recipe

Choux pastry comes together in about 10–15 minutes with just 7 ingredients. Most of the ingredients are cooked together on the stove; this initial cooking causes the starch in the flour to gelatinize, which will help the pastry hold onto steam and puff up.

Master this easy recipe and you can make many pastries most bakers are scared to try. Pipe logs and fill with pastry cream for eclairs, pipe dollops and sandwich with whipped cream or ice cream for cream puffs (profiteroles), mix it with cheese and herbs for savory gougères, deep fry it for Mexican churros, French cruller donuts, choux beignets, the list goes on.

This is a good cream puff dough (called pâte à choux or choux pastry) recipe. An interesting read is Cream Puff Science, which explains what takes place during each step of making them and how each ingredient effects the end result. This article should help you make better cream puffs.

1/2 cup shortening (1 stick)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup boiling water
1 cup sifted flour
3 eggs, unbeaten (Faith's recipe, from Betty Crocker Cookbook, 1950 edition, calls for 4 eggs)

Add shortening and salt to boiling water and stir over medium heat until mixture boils. Lower heat, add flour all at once and stir vigorously until mixture leaves the sides of the pan. Remove from heat, cool for 2 minutes, and add one egg at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition.

Shape on a lightly greased cookie sheet using a spoon or a pastry bag. For cream puffs and profiteroles, drop or pipe 2-inch mounds about 3 inches apart. If making chocolate eclairs, create 8 fingers 4 inches long and 1 inch wide. You can make smaller cream puffs for appetizers or smaller portions. The shape and size are detemined by what you are making.

Bake in hot oven (425° F.) 20 minutes; reduce temperature to 350° F. and bake about 20 minutes longer. They should bake until dry and sound hollow when tapped. Remove from oven and place on rack to cool. Do not place in a draft or in front of a fan while they are cooling, or they will fall. You can also leave them in the oven once they are done for another 10 minutes so that they cool slowly. Turn off the oven and crack the door. Alton Brown makes a small slit in the side of each to help let steam out.

When cold, make slit on one side of each puff and fill.

Makes 8 large puffs.

Savory:

Cream Puff appetizers:

Tiny Salad Filled Hors d'Ouerves - make tiny puffs about an inch across and fill with different salads. Note: reduce the baking times above for these smaller puffs.
      Tuna Salad
      Chicken Salad
      Egg Salad
      Ham Salad
      Lobster or Crab Salad

Susan's Crab Puffs (crabmeat mixture mixed into cream puff dough)
Gougères (Choux Pastry Cheese Puffs)
Gnocchi Parisienne (Jacques Pépin, choux pastry boiled, then topped with butter and Parmesan cheese and baked until puffed and golden brown)
Egg & Cheese Breakfast Sandwich on a Cream Puff?

Desserts:
      Chocolate Eclairs
      Cream Puffs (Profiteroles, filled with sweetened whipped cream)
      Cream Puffs with Ice Cream
      Cream Puffs w/ Lemon Mousse & Blueberry sauce
      French Crullers (deep fried donuts)
      French Beignets (see this recipe for New Orleans beignets, which are made with a yeast dough, not choux pastry)
      Mexican Churros (deep fried donut-type pastry)