I wish I had more photos of these cream puffs, but when you bake something and people are at the door, its too late for that. You are happy with the one that you have. These are Pierre Herme's cream puffs. It was my birthday in December, and I received two of his cookbooks as a gift. To be honest with you, I religiously looked at page after page wondering how his recipes really are. Are they that good? Are his cream puffs better then ones I make using my mom's recipe? They are good, but they are different from what I am used to. My cream is firmer. This one is really soft, but that has its own advantages. It very light and creamy. I wish it was just a little bit ticker, but that could be easily done. So if you decide to make them, here is the recipe. For Pate a Choux: 125 ml cup still mineral water ( I used tap water) 125 ml whole milk 1 teaspoon sugar 1 teaspoon salt (I used one pinch) 110 gr butter 140 gr flour 250 gr eggs (5 eggs) Preheat oven to 400F/200C In a saucepan bring water, milk, sugar, salt and butter to a boil. Add the flour all at once. Beat hard until the paste is smooth and shiny. Transfer the paste to a bowl and incorporate eggs one at the time, beating constantly. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with plain #14 pastry tip. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Pipe out balls of choux arranging them 5 cm apart. Place them in the oven and turn the oven off for 10 min. Turn the oven back to 350F/170C and continue baking. After 10 min slide a wooden spoon between the oven and its doors to keep it partly open. Bake for another 10 min, and transfer to a wire rack to cool. For pastry cream: 1 vanilla bean 500 ml whole milk 130 gr sugar 35 gr pastry cream powder (2 1/2 tbs) 15 gr flour (2 tbs) 6 egg yolks (120 gr) 50 gr softened butter Whipped cream 590 ml 2 tablespoons sugar Split the vanilla bean and scrape seeds into a saucepan. Add milk, sugar, vanilla pod and bring to a boil. In a mixing bowl, beat the pastry cream powder and flour with egg yolks. Add one third of the hot milk mixture, beating constantly to temper the eggs. Pour this mixture back into the saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat. Transfer the pastry cream to a metal bowl set in a larger bowl of ice water to cool. Remove and discard the vanilla pod. When the pastry cream has cooled to 140F/60C, cut the butter into pieces and beat it into the cream. Remove 460 gr of pastry cream and reserve the remainder for use in another recipe. (I used all of the pastry cream) Whip the cream and sugar. Remove 90 gr of whipped cream and carefully fold it into the chilled pastry cream. Pour this mixture into a piping bag fitted with a plain #14 pastry tip. Pour the remaining whipped cream into a piping bag fitted with a plain pastry tip. Split each choux crosswise three-quarters of the way up the side. Pipe the pastry cream mixture into the bottom half of each choux. Top it with a swirl of whipped cream. Cover with the top half and dust with confectioners sugar.