To Make The Craquelin Ahead Of Time:

1. Combine the softened butter, salt, brown sugar, flour, and vanilla in your mixer until well combined. It will form a solid ball of dough that resembles play dough consistency. If you want to color it pink, add your food coloring now. Otherwise, it will be a brown color and still be just as good.
2. Roll out your dough in between 2 sheets or parchment paper or saran wrap just to prevent sticking anywhere and easier handling. Roll out to about 1/4 in thick or slightly thinner and then place in the freezer.

To Make The Cream Puffs:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line sheet pans with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
2. In a medium saucepan combine the milk, water, butter, sugar, and salt. Cook on medium heat while stirring together with whisk until fully combined. Bring to a full boil. Turn off the heat.
3. Add the sifted flour to your pan quickly and whisk until thoroughly combined and the mixture comes together to form a dough. There should be no lumps here but you must work kind of quickly to avoid it. Remove the whisk and switch to a wooden spoon (or rubber spatula). Turn the heat back on to medium-low. Cook and stir the dough for about 1 minute to cook the flour some. You will know when it's ready because the dough will start to stick to the bottom of the pan a little and it will make a hissing sound as your stir.
4. Remove from the heat and right away transfer the dough to your mixing bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Do not use a whisk attachment. Turn the mixer on low and start adding your eggs one by one, allowing each one to fully incorporate before adding the next. I usually stop after 4, crack open the 5th egg in a cup and scramble and then add about half of it to get my perfect consistency. But check yours! You might be good after the 4 eggs or you may need the whole extra 5th. You will know when the dough is the right consistency when you lift the paddle attachment and the dough forms a pretty "V" shape (see images in this post). It can't be too loose or too thick.
5. When ready, you'll transfer your dough to a piping bag. You can use a tip if you want in your bag but I don't. I just snip the tip of my bag until I have about 1/4 inch circle opening at the bottom.
6. Pipe out your puffs on your lined baking sheets about 1.5 inch circles. There will be a little peak at the top where you lift your bag from.
7. Now remove your sheet of frozen craquelin from your freezer. Use a small circle cookie cutter (or anything else that works) to cut out disks. Place the disks on top of each piped cream puff (as shown above in post). They will just sit on top like a little hat.
8. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes until your puffs have risen nice and tall. Now, lower your oven temperature to 325 degrees and continue baking for another 20-30 minutes. Keep checking on them and they should be a golden brown color when done. The craquelin top will have spread out and formed cracks throughout.
9. As your pastries are baking, make your cheesecake filling. Mix your softened cream cheese and vanilla on medium until creamed. Start to add your powdered sugar about 1/2 cup at a time. After you get to 2 cups I recommend start tasting it until you get desired, sweetness. Add sugar until you have something you like. It's nice to know that the cream puffs themselves are not sweet at all and the craquelin top adds a little bit of sweetness but not very much. Slice up your strawberries and set aside.
10. After your puffs are baked and cooled, use a bread knife to slice the top off. Fill with your cheesecake filling and some strawberries and then place the top back on. They're now ready to eat, devour, hoard, have a binge day...whatever you want to call it.