Savory Halloween pumpkin puffs

To make the savory Halloween pumpkin puffs, start by preparing the pastry puffs: Add ½ cup (100 ml) of water to a pot with the butter, chopped into pieces, and a pinch of salt. As soon as the water begins to boil, remove the pot from the heat and pour in the sifted flour 1, stirring well and quickly to keep lumps from forming 2. Then put the pot back over low heat and stir quickly, beating the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon: It will soon become even and soft and will pull away from the sides, forming a ball. Once a white coating has formed on the bottom of the pot 3,

remove it from the heat and allow the dough to cool completely, placing it on a plate 4. Next, place the dough in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a flat beater (if you don’t have a stand mixer, you can also do everything by hand using a wooden spoon) 5, and add the eggs a little at a time and very slowly to the cold dough 6, stirring vigorously to incorporate them into the mixture.

Finally, add the grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and the food coloring drops (4 yellow and 1 red) to get a nice bright orange color. At this point, put the dough in a pastry bag with a plain tip and place little round dollops of pastry dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper 7. Bake the puffs for 15 minutes at 430°F (220°C) in a conventional oven, avoiding opening the oven while they are baking. After the first 15 minutes, lower the temperature to 375°F (190°C) and bake the choux pastries for another 10 minutes, after which you can turn off the oven and leave the puffs inside for another 10-15 minutes with the door open slightly. While the puffs are cooking, you can turn to making the filling: In the bowl of a food processor, add the ham and fresh cheese 8, the grated Parmigiano Reggiano 9,

a pinch of salt, and 3 tbsp of milk; blitz everything until you get a smooth, but not liquid, mixture 10. Once the puffs have cooled, you can fill them. Put the filling in a pastry bag with a small plain piping tip, make a small hole in the lower part of each puff, and fill them with the ham and cheese cream 11. Lastly, make the pumpkin stem: Mix 4 tbsp of cream cheese with two drops of green food coloring (alternatively, blitz 4 tbsp of cream cheese with 1 tbsp of spinach that’s been boiled and wrung out well; once the ingredients are well combined, forming a thick green cream, strain it to get rid of any remaining spinach fibers). Put this mixture in a pastry bag with a small star piping tip and make small “stems” on the top of every Halloween pumpkin puff to give them a more authentic pumpkin look 12. Keep the savory Halloween pumpkin puffs in the fridge before eating them!