Inspired by Chef John of Food Wishes, and his recipe and video for Bacon & Egg Doughnuts, found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yikqwU8IlDs

Bakers among Vrghr's followers will quickly recognize that the ingredients and technique for these WONDERFUL breakfast goodies is very close to a classic French dough called "Pâte à choux", pronounced "Pat-a-choe". (Sort of like a Picacho with less electricity.)

A true French Chef would probably challenge Vrghr to some sort of kitchen duel for even suggesting that these were the same thing, as they differ rather significantly from the "real" baked versions in both technique and measurements of the ingredients. That might be why Chef John didn't make any reference to that delightful precursor to cream puffs and eclairs, which is where you normally find this dough.

But let wuffy tell you, "true" French pâte à choux or not, these created some FANTASTIC breakfast 'nom noms', and wuff's version lets you get them out of the kitchen and onto the breakfast table in under an hour (most of which is just waiting for the oil to heat up!). Granted, you need to do some prep the night before. But you can put on a surprising, high-class, and elegant breakfast for special friends and still have time to sit and eat with them. And that's definitely a win in Vrghr's book!

These puffs are wonderfully crisp and light on the outside. Richly eggy and tender inside, and have a "surprise" floating in the middle! Somehow, in the middle of an unbroken sphere, is a lovely lump of bacon or sausage waiting to be discovered! *grin* How about that! The pastry shell is gently sweet, with a lovely touch of vanilla and cinnamon to heighten their "breakfast persona".

Note: This might be considered a bit of an "intermediate level" recipe, because of the hazard of hot oil frying plus a rather sticky dough, and the need to use a bit of "cook's judgement" on the constituency of the dough.

Here's the thing: The dough needs to be a bit stiffer than that recommended for normal pâte à choux. But there are a LOT of variables in how it gets to that state: The length of time you cook the flour before adding the eggs. The size of your eggs themselves. The humidity in your kitchen. And your skill in precisely measuring the water in the sauce pan with the flour.

Bottom line, while you're adding the eggs at the end, you need to judge on just how many to add. The recipe calls for 4 large eggs. But you may find you need 4 + the yolk of a 5th. Or perhaps you only need 3, or a full 5.

Thankfully, since we're deep frying these, the consistency isn't as critical as that of the true baked Pâte à choux version. So you can get away with a bit of error and still create lovely results. Just watch how they're frying, and pull them out when they're golden and puffed, regardless of HOW puffed they become.

Don't let wuffy scare you off though. The results are worth every bit of time and potential trepidation you might have. These were SO GOOD, that wuff's office workers held a vote at the table, and demanded that Vrghr create them again for the next party!

That's never happened before! Even with all the yummy things you've seen wuffy cooking for his co-workers! So you KNOW these had to be something special!

Special Tips:
- Cook that dough! The flour, water, and butter get cooked in the sauce pan prior to adding the eggs. Make sure you really stir things about and mash the dough around with that spoon, and let it get hot enough to put a little thin 'skin' on the bottom of the pot. You're creating Gluten to make the dough elastic, so it will hold together and stretch when it puffs

- Cool it! It's the Eggs! If you start whisking your eggs right into the cooked dough off the stove, you're going to have scrambled chunky eggs in dough, instead of a batter. Let the dough cool enough you can lay the back of your paw on it and keep it there without discomfort. Watch Chef John's video for some ideas on how to make that happen faster.

- Spray your Scoop! Did wuffy mention this was sticky stuff? This is STICKY stuff! It will stick to spoons, fingers, scoop, bowl... everything! So, how do you get it into your frying oil? Either use a pair of table spoons, or one of those little "dashers" with the moving bit inside that releases the scooped stuff. And then Spray with Cooking Spray! You'll have to repeat that application several times as it wears off while dishing these up.

- Hot, but not TOO Hot! If your oil is too cold, you'll have greasy puffs. But if its too hot, they will over-cook on the outside while the innards stay raw. 350-375 (176-190C) is the "sweet spot".

- Get 'em while they're hot! These don't re-heat very well in the microwave. That nice, crisp shell gets all flaccid and soggy. If you need to re-warm them, use a toaster oven or regular oven @ around 225, and warm them gently for 5-10 minutes.

Ingredients:
For The Puffs
1C + 1T cold water
8 T (one stick) Unsalted Butter
2 T Sugar
1/4 tsp Salt
1 C All Purpose Flour
1/8 tsp Ceylon Cinnamon
Pinch Nutmeg
4 large Eggs

For The Filling
3 pre-cooked Jimmy Dean (or similar) Breakfast Sausages, cut into thirds
3 rashes extra-extra thick American (streaky) Bacon, cut into 1" segments

Powdered Sugar, Maple Syrup, Blueberry Syrup, Strawberry Syrup (for garnish and dips)

Directions:
Make The Batter
Add the water, salt, butter, and sugar to a large, heavy-bottomed sauce pan. Cook over medium-high heat until it comes to a simmer.
Reduce heat to medium and pour in all the flour (can sift it in too). Stir vigorously with a spoon until all the flour is incorporated.
Keep stirring vigorously until the dough pulls into a ball and leaves a thin skin on the bottom of the pan (about 6-8 minutes). This is where you're not only cooking out the raw flour, but creating nice elastic gluten to let your puffs stretch and puff up later

Remove pot from heat. Stir in the nutmeg, Ceylon cinnamon, and vanilla until fully incorporated.

Transfer to a (preferably) steel bowl. Break up the dough or mash it up against the sides to get maximum air or thermal contact. Allow to cool for at least 5 minutes (you can refrigerate it too) until it is just warm to the touch.

Add the eggs one at a time. Whisk or use a mixer with a dough hook. Work the egg in until totally incorporated and there are NO shiny patches in the dough before adding the next egg.

Keep adding and incorporating eggs until a relatively stiff batter that can be mounded up in a ball in the middle of the bowl, but still thin enough to dish up and pour out of a scoop/dasher.

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about an hour (or over night).

Fry The Puffs
Pour at least a couple inches of oil into a fryer, electric skillet, or pan. Heat to 375

While the oil is heating, fry up the bacon until tender, but not crisp. Remove to paper towel to drain.
Slice the pre-cooked sausages into thirds and heat in microwave until hot

Spray your scoop/dasher/tablespoons with cooking spray

Remove dough from the refrigerator and remove the plastic

Scoop up some dough. Stick a segment of sausage or 2-3 segments of bacon deep into the dough. Using the back of the spoon, smooth the dough over the meat to fully enclose it. Carefully dish the dough into the hot oil

Fry for 7 minutes, until nicely golden and crisp. If your scoop was pretty round, the puffs will turn themselves over. If they're a bit lopsided, you may have to "encourage" them.

Watch the puffs and roll them over as needed to get all the sides to mostly the same shade.

Remove to a plate covered with paper towels to drain.

Dust with powdered sugar
Offer the puffs with a selection of dipping sauces

!DEVOUR!

Variation:
Omit the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla. Don't dust with powdered sugar.
Add a teaspoon of granulated onion, TBS of chopped chives, and 2-3 TBS finely grated sharp cheddar cheese instead of the above items.
Stuff the batter with a chunk of ham steak instead of the bacon or sausage
After removing from fryer and when cool enough to handle, squirt a bit of canned cheese into the inside of the puff.
Enjoy "ham and cheese sandwich" puffs!