Harlow historian Darrell Rooney joined me once again for another look at our favorite blonde bombshell.
We've made several Jean Harlow dishes before including her Hot Rolls, Orange and Tomato Salad and her Stuffed Celery A La Shrimp. We did a viewer's choice poll for this episode and Cream Puffs won by a wide margin! If that wasn't your choice for us, don't worry! I'm sure eventually we will cook them ALL. Harlow is fascinating and there is alway so much to talk about.
Recipe
This recipe is from the book "Famous Recipes by Famous People" from 1933. This book proved incredibly hard to find, but my friend Christina Rice located it at a library in Austin, Texas. My friend Anna Roland went to the library and sent me scans. It was a team effort!
Ingredients
1 cup water
1/3 cup liquid fat (We are assuming this mean vegetable or canola oil.)
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
1 cup bread flour
Directions
Bring water and liquid fat to a boil. Add flour and salt, and cook until mixture leaves sides of pan, stirring constantly. Remove from fire; cool and add unbeaten eggs, 1 at a time, beating thoroughly after each egg is added. Drop from tablespoon onto cookie sheet in round balls 2 inches apart. Bake 15 minutes in a hot oven; reduce heat to moderate and continue baking 20 to 25 minutes longer. Fill with sweetened whip cream or custard. (I used pre-made pudding, but you can also make your own filling as well. Click HERE to see a recipe.)
We paired the cream puffs with Officially Licensed Signature Coffee Blend of Jean Harlow™
from Breakfast at Dominique's.
Special Guest
My guest for this episode was Darrell Rooney. He is a one of the foremost Harlow collectors in the world and curated a Harlow exhibit at The Hollywood Museum. He co-authored the book "Harlow in Hollywood: The Bombshell in the Glamour Capital 1928 - 1937" with Mark A. Vieira, which is now out in a new expanded edition. You can get signed copies at Larry Edmunds Bookshop in Hollywood. It you love Harlow, you will want to get your hands on a copy of this book asap. I also suggest reading "Bombshell: The Life and Death of Jean Harlow" by David Stenn.
The Final Product
I read some modern recipes that suggested baking these at 425 degrees for 25 minutes. Mistakes were made, but it is NOT Jean's fault! I think the cream puffs needed more time in the oven. I also should have poked a hole in the top of these to let out some steam and made them a bit smaller. The original test batch I made turned out a bit better than my final batch, which ultimately collapsed. I learned a lot from this and I will try these again. I recommend dusting these with powdered sugar and serving with fresh fruit.
Jean Harlow remains one of the most popular stars of Hollywood's Golden Age and most of her films can easily be found on DVD, Blu-ray and on Turner Classic Movies.
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We just can't get enough of Jean Harlow, so naturally we'll do more episodes in the future.