Strawberry Filled Cream Puffs

Preheat the oven to 425° F. Cover baking sheets with parchment paper.

Add butter, salt, sugar, and 1 cup of water to a medium saucepan. Turn the heat to medium-high.

Let come to a boil and quickly add in the flour, stirring with a wooden spoon. Stir continuously until a film appears on the bottom of the pan.

Remove from the heat and pour into a bowl. Allow to cool for approx. 4 min.

After cooled, stir in 4 eggs, one at a time, incorporating each completely.

Fill a pastry bag with the dough, attaching a 5/8- inch plain icing tip.

Pipe 2-inch rounds onto the baking sheet. If there are peaks on the tops of the rounds, gently smooth them down with a moistened finger.

Whisk the remaining egg together with the teaspoon of water to make the wash. Brush gently over the tops of the pastry rounds.

Bake for 15 min. on the center rack of the oven then reduce oven to 375° F and continue baking for approx. 20 min. or until golden brown.

Turn the oven off and place the handle of a wooden spoon between the oven and the door to prop open.

Keep the cream puff shells in the oven until the oven has cooled to just warm.

Remove puffs to a wire rack to cool completely.

Beat the cream cheese, vanilla and powdered sugar with an electric mixer until creamy and smooth.

Slowly add in the cream with the mixer on medium-high using the whisk attachment until stiff peaks form.

Gently fold in the diced strawberries.

Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave in short increments (15 seconds) until melted. Allow to cool a bit if too hot and thin.

Using a bread knife, cut off tops of each cream puff shell.

Pipe each shell very full of cream, using a 4-B open star tip, taking it out to the edges.

Place the tops back on and dust with powdered sugar.

Drizzle the melted chocolate over the tops.

Allow the chocolate to set a bit before serving. You can place it in the refrigerator to hurry up this process.

Store any leftovers covered in the refrigerator.