Cocktail hour

I think the person who invented the apéro should be awarded a prize. Nothing beats having a drink and a little snack before sitting down for a meal. Even on an ordinary weekday, try to see if you can just steal ten minutes and sit down with a drink and something to nibble on - it's so relaxing, whether you chat to your family and just leaf through a magazine. Seeing I have a holiday and can just idly spend my days in the kitchen, I thought I'd make something a little different and more sophisticated to go with pre-dinner drinks than the usual olives and bread sticks. I settled on cream puffs that I'd fill with cream cheese with herbs. I remember making this special kind of pastry in the cookery classes we had at school: we stirred in the eggs too quickly, before the dough had cooled enough and ended up with scrambled eggs in our cream puffs. I learnt my lesson then and I was more careful this time.

Cream Puffs (makes about twenty)

• 2.5dl water
• 50g butter
• 1 pinch of salt
• 150g flour, sifted
• 4 eggs

Bring the water, butter and salt to a boil. Add the flour all in on go, remove the pan from the heat and stir vigouroursly until the mixture comes together. Let cool for a bit, then stir in one egg after the other. Preheat the oven to 200°. Using two teaspoons, place little heaps on a lined baking tray. Bake for about 30 minutes, covering the cream puffs with aluminum foil if you think they darken too quickly. Place on a wire rack to cool completely before filling them.