CHANTILLY SWANS (MAKES 10 SWANS)

Choux Pastry
2/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon sugar
2/3 cup water
1/3 cup butter
3-4 eggs
1 egg, mixed with ½ teaspoon salt (for glaze)

Chantilly cream made with 1 ½ cups heavy cream, 1-1 ½ tablespoons confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla or 1 tablespoon of brandy (for filling). Chill bowl and whisk or beaters for at least 20 minutes. Beat cream until stiff. Add sugar and flavoring and stir. Confectioner's sugar (for sprinkling)
Sift the flour with the salt onto a piece of waxed paper. In a saucepan, heat the water and butter until the butter is melted, then bring to a boil and take from the heat. NOTE: prolonged boiling evaporates the water and changes the proportions of the dough. At once, add all the flour and beat vigorously with a whisk for a few seconds until the mixture is smooth and pulls away from the sides of the pan to form a ball. Beat ½-1 minute over low heat to dry the mixture.
Beat in the eggs, one by one, beating thoroughly after each addition. Reserving the last egg, whisk this egg in a bowl and beat enough of it into the dough to make a mixture that is very shiny and just falls from the spoon. NOTE: all of the last egg may not be needed and, if too much is added, the dough cannot be shaped. Beat the dough 1 minute to help it to rise. Set the oven at hot (400*F). Lightly butter and flour two baking sheets, knocking off excess flour.
Put the dough into a pastry bag fitted with a ¼ inch plain tube and pipe at least 10 S-shaped lines, about 4-5 inches in length to form the swans' necks on one of the prepared baking sheets. With the rest of the dough, pipe out an equal number of ovals, one by three inches in diameter, well apart on the baking sheet to form the swans' bodies. Brush the ovals and S's with egg glaze, smoothing the tops lightly. Bake the pastry in the heated oven for ten minutes. After five to ten minutes of baking, check to see if the necks are done as they will bake more quickly than the bodies. Remove them and cool on rack. Raise the temperature to very hot (425) and then after five minutes, reduce to 350 and continue baking ten to fifteen minutes and the bodies will be firm and golden. Remove from oven and immediately with a serrated knife slice the ovals in half horizontally and then cut each top piece in half lengthwise to form wings.
To assemble: Not more than 2 hours before serving make the Chantilly cream and put it into a pastry bag fitted with a ¼ inch star tube. Fill the open bottom half of the pastry with Chantilly cream, insert the neck in one end of the shell and angle the two halves of the top piece of pastry to form wings spreading up and out from the neck. Sprinkle the swans with powdered sugar. Just before serving, ladle raspberry sauce onto each dessert plate and place a swan in the center.

RASPBERRY SAUCE (SAUCE FRAMBOISE)

1 10 ounce package frozen raspberries, thawed
1 tablespoon Kirsch
1-3 tablespoons water for thinning sauce

Puree the berries in a blender or processor. Strain through a fine sieve to remove seeds. Stir in the Kirsch and then the water 1 tablespoon at a time. Set aside.