One October a few years ago, when Vesper was just 6 weeks old, we arranged the motliest of crews to spend a week in a big house in Bordeaux. We planned to spend the week going to vineyards and village markets, roaming the countryside and being mostly tipsy as we went. We planned on steak tartare, stinky cheeses, croissants and baguettes and lots of wine.

What we didn’t plan on was the chateau we found on Airbnb — heavily discounted, as we were the first guests — being an absolute dream. We still talk about it, four years later: the winding cantilevered stone stair, the turret bedroom, the his-and-her bathrooms, the tennis court, the fog rolling in each morning, the dream castle surrounded by vineyards, our magical home for a week. And what we didn’t plan on was the most memorable thing we’d eat during a week in France were good old American cream puffs.

When I say our group was motley, I mean most of us didn’t know each other. We had put feelers out for a week in Bordeaux and the first people who answered got spots. We were nine adults, three kids and one very grouchy newborn. My dad had come from America to be with us and act as our resident French food expert, but newborns with colic aren’t exactly his speciality. Enter: Patti, the mother of Eric’s old friend and colleague, Jenna. Patti saved my sanity by expertly and unrelentingly rocking my gassy infant, genuinely listening to Stella’s stories, and being a general joy to be with. One evening she casually whipped up a batch of her family’s cream puffs, and we were in love.

According to Jenna, the cream puffs are technically Patti’s mother’s recipe — she was one of 21 kids in a farming family in which everyone had a role. Hers was to make dessert. (For me, this story is especially poignant as it more or less is the exact context, 21 babies and all, for one of my family’s favorite children’s books, The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes.) Maple fudge, pies and cream puffs were her signature dishes.

We ate a lot during our week in Bordeaux, but nothing sticks in the mind like these cream puffs. Essentially profiteroles, they are light as air pastry puffs made of just water, eggs and flour, filled with lightly whipped cream and topped with melted chocolate. They are deceptively easy to make, and, piled high on a plate, make a stunning presentation. Stella has requested them for every birthday since.

Thank you to Jenna, to Patti, and to Patti’s mother, for sharing this recipe with me and letting me share it here (to all three of you reading). It’s a keeper, worthy of being passed down generation to generation, from one family to another, from America to France to you.

PATTI’S CREAM PUFFS

Makes 24 cream puffs, serving 8, depending on eyes:stomach ratio.

PUFFS

1/2 cup (114 grams) butter

1 cup (250 ml) water

4 eggs

1 heaping cup (about 100 grams) flour

TO SERVE

1 cup (250 ml) heavy or whipping or double cream

1/4 cup powdered sugar (or less, to taste)

dark chocolate for melting

Make puffs by heating the butter and water in a pot on the stove until they are completely melted. Add in one heaping cup of flour and stir over low heat for 1 minute. Turn off the heat and beat in the 4 eggs for a couple of minutes. It’s ok if it’s a bit lumpy.

Spoon dollops of dough onto two parchment paper-lined baking trays. Bake at 350F/180C for 45 minutes, until golden brown.

Turn oven off and remove the trays from the oven. Slit each puff nearly in half, they’ll be really easy to slice and most of them will be pretty hollow. Close them back up and stick them back in the hot (but turned off) oven for 5 - 10 minutes more to set, while you make your whipped cream and melted chocolate.

Make whipped cream by beating cream with a little powdered sugar to taste until peaks form.

Melt the chocolate in the microwave or very gently on the stove. If you want a fudge-like topping, it’s easy to make ganache instead: just bring 1/2 cup cream to the boil then turn off heat and add in 1/2 cup chocolate chunks, stirring until smooth.

To serve, fill each puff with a spoonful of sweetened whipped cream. Top or drizzle with the melted chocolate or ganache while it’s still hot. They can be made a few hours ahead. Once the chocolate topping has dried, you can stack them into a tower.