Panisse Puffs | Cook-the-Book-Fridays

This slack batter of flours (chickpea and all-purpose), eggs and milk goes into a little mold into a brazing hot oven and half an hour later, poof!, a dramatic rise and transformation that’s so cool to see. Most of the liquid has vaporized leaving behind a crispy doughy shell. These puffs don’t hang on to their tall and crispy shells for too long. Eat them while they’re still warm.

The batter is similar to that of a popover using approximately: 2 parts liquid to 1 part egg and 1 part flour. I made half of the recipe: chickpea flour (37 g), all-purpose flour (23 g), whole milk (125 ml), one egg plus a little more egg white, and seasoning. I don’t have the right equipment (a popover pan with 2 1/2-inch deep wells) to do justice to these amazing puffs. So I just did a small-batch trial run. Deployed a regular muffin pan fitted with tulip-shape paper liners. The extra height of the paper liners has done a good job in cradling the high-rising batter as it bakes.

Some tips:

• Lavishly grease the preheated molds to avert any potential sticking issues.
• Follow the sage advice: “Do not open the oven door while they are cooking.”
• Err on the side of overbaking the puffs to completely dry out the interior.

Panisse puffs are easy to do and quick to bake. I’ll make these again. Perhaps with sprinklings of savory garnish of grated cheese to get these puffs really over the top.

Please visit Cook-the-book-fridays to see the comments and discussions on the puffs from the online group, whose members are working through each and every recipe in David Lebovitz’s My Paris Kitchen. You are welcome to join the group and cook along with us.