Pate au Choux Finger Sandwiches

These little breads are a staple at our church's annual Mother/Daughter Tea (and the exhausted organizers seem to have established the tradition of eating the leftovers for dinner when they get home later that evening)

1/2 c water

1/2 c flour

dash of salt

4 tbls. margarine

2 eggs

1/2 cup shredded cheese (swiss or cheddar)

In a saucepan -Melt margarine in water. Add flour and stir vigorously with a whisk until ball forms or pulls away from sides of pan. Remove from heat.

With an electric mixer, beat in eggs and add cheese.

Beat for about a minute until it looks glossy but no longer wet.

Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls on parchment paper on a cookie sheet.

I used a #60 food scoop, capacity- 1 tablespoon.

You can reuse the same sheet of parchment several times.

Bake at 400 º for 20 minutes.

Cool. Split in half and fill with your favorite filling (ham salad, tuna salad, etc.)

Makes approximately 20.

Notes—bake until thoroughly browned and they will not flatten when cool. They keep their nice texture and height even when made a day ahead of time. I made 7 double batches for the Mother Daughter Tea and the Cashew Chicken Salad recipe. I kept 4 baking sheets going at a time so I always had a cool one to put the next batch of batter onto. These can be made ahead of time and frozen.

To watch Alton Brown's take on a similar recipe go here and here.