Wow your friends and family with impressive but easy-to-make profiteroles filled with a not-too-sweet pumpkin pastry cream lightened with a bit of whipped cream. Yummy.
In a medium saucepan, bring water, butter, salt and sugar just to a full boil.
Reduce heat to medium-low and dump flour in all at once.
Stir vigorously until incorporated. The dough will be the consistency of mashed potatoes.
Cook, stirring, for a minute or two to dry the dough just a bit.
Remove from heat and stir to cool down a bit. You may also transfer the dough to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. If using a mixer, turn it on medium-low to allow the dough to cool.
Either by hand with a wooden spoon or in a mixer, mix in the first egg. Stir and stir, because it will take a bit to force the egg to mix with the heavy dough.
When the egg is completely incorporated, add the second egg and mix in. Check the dough--it should just barely flow. Refer to the video for the proper consistency. If the dough is a little dry still, break the third egg into a bowl and beat it well. Stir in 1 Tablespoon of beaten egg at a time until the dough is Just Right.
Fill a pastry bag fitted with a round tip (or a zip top bag) with the dough. Squeeze out small mounds of dough on a Silpat or parchment-lined baking sheet.
Bake at 425F for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat and bake at 300F for another 10-15 minutes, or until the sides of the puffs are firm. Only check them after 15 minutes total baking time to keep them from falling.
When done, remove and let cool on racks. Fill with pastry cream and refrigerate until serving time, no more than 4 hours.
To Make the Pastry Cream
In a medium saucepan, whisk together all ingredients except for vanilla and whipping cream.
Bring to a boil over medium to medium-high heat, whisking constantly. Mixture will be extremely thick. Once it boils, continue to cook and whisk for another minute.
Immediately pour mixture into a fine mesh strainer and push through into a bowl. Stir in vanilla.
Place a piece of plastic wrap on the surface of the pastry cream and refrigerate until cold. To speed things up, you can also stir the pastry cream over an ice bath.
Whip the cream to medium peaks. Stir in a portion of the pastry cream, and then whisk all the whipped cream into the pumpkin mixture.
Fit a pastry bag with a star tip (the sharp points of a star tip will help to cut a hole in the bottom of the profiterole to fill it).
Pipe each puff full of pumpkin pastry cream. Serve as is or dust with powdered sugar. You can also make a cream cheese drizzle if you want, but these puffs are pretty rich and yummy on their own. You won't even miss the glaze. Promise.
Notes
If you're feeling kicky, pipe the pate a choux into either full-sized or mini eclairs instead of profiteroles. An espresso and/or chocolate glaze would be perfect on pumpkin eclairs. You can make the shells a day or two in advance. If you do, cool them completely and store them in a zipper bag at room temperature. Before filling, recrisp them in a 325F oven for ten minutes, cool and then fill.