Nun's Puffs

Ingredients

• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 3/4 cup flour
• 4 large eggs
• 12 pinches sugar, for dusting

Directions

1. 1

   Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium-high.

2. 2

   Add the milk and salt to the butter and stir to combine, then allow the mixture to come to a boil (it should develop a frothy head).

3. 3

   Add the flour to the butter mixture and stir with a fork until a loose ball is formed. Continue stirring for 1 or 2 more minutes.

4. 4

   Scrape dough ball into a bowl and allow to sit at room temperature for about 5 minutes.

5. 5

   Add the eggs 1 at a time, stirring each into the mixture until it's smooth.

6. 6

   Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

7. 7

   Coat 12 muffin cups with butter liberally, including the area around the mouth of each cup. Do the same to a #9 disher (one of those ice cream scoops with the thumb lever that helps push out the scoop). Drop about half a scoop of the mixture into each muffin cup. Dust the top of each puff with a pinch of sugar (turbinado sugar works well for this).

8. 8

   Slide pan into the oven and allow to bake for 30 minutes, until puffs have more than doubled in size and are golden brown.

9. 9

   Poke each puff with a fork to let out its steam (so the insides don't get soggy) and remove from the pan. Allow each puff to cool slightly before eating, then dig in!