Profiteroles
- Laura
- Jul 2, 2020
- 4 min read
Updated: Sep 24, 2020
Delicate choux pastry filled with yummy cream and covered in decadent chocolate sauce!
Profiteroles are a fantastic dessert recipe and are actually a lot easier than you may think! Profiteroles use choux pastry, a lightweight dough made with butter, water, flour and eggs that uses steam from its high moisture content to help it rise. It's then filled with delicious whipped cream and topped with a simple chocolate sauce. Perfect for a dinner party or just as a weekend treat, this homemade profiterole recipe is a must-try!
My Notes:
I was a bit worried before trying this as I love profiteroles (they're one of my favourite desserts), but I wasn't sure if they would be hard to make! Well, thankfully, I was wrong! The choux pastry is actually really straightforward and as long as you are precise with your measuring (no guessing!) then you can easily get the right consistency. Then, all you have to do is bake and fill with sweetened cream (the best part in my opinion!). The chocolate sauce is also really great as it's just cocoa powder, sugar and water - no expensive ingredients or long-winded methods here!
Serves: 20 Profiteroles
Prep Time: 30 Minutes
Cooking Time: 18 - 20 Minutes
Allergies: Contains Dairy & Egg
Please note these are only rough nutritional facts and will depend on the specific ingredients used.
Ingredients:
Choux Pastry:
50g Butter/Stork
2 tsp Caster Sugar
150ml Water
75g Strong White Flour
2 Eggs, Beaten
Sweetened Cream:
300ml Double Cream
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
2-4 tsp Caster Sugar
Chocolate Sauce:
100ml Water
175g Caster Sugar
50g Cocoa Powder
Method:
Preheat the oven to 220°C/200°C fan and line a baking tray with baking paper.
To make the choux pastry, begin by placing the butter, 150ml water and 2 tsp caster sugar in a pan on a low heat.
Stir until the butter and sugar have melted and then bring it to the boil.
Take it off the heat and quickly sift in the flour and fold it in. Mix well until the dough comes away from the side of the pan.
Leave the pastry to cool for around 5 minutes then add the beaten egg bit by bit, stirring well.
Slightly dampen the baking tray (to add moisture), then you can spoon or pipe your pastry into small blobs (around 1 inch) onto the baking paper. Make sure to leave a bit of room for them to spread slightly.
Bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes, or until they have fully risen and are just brown on top.
Remove from the oven and place on a wire cooling rack. Cut a small slit in the bottom of each profiterole so they don't collapse and so you can add the cream later.
To make the cream filling, whip the cream until it holds its shape and sweeten to taste with the rest of the sugar and the vanilla extract.
Once the profiteroles are fully cooled, pipe the sweetened cream directly into the hollow centre through the slit you made earlier until you feel they are full. Refrigerate until you are ready to serve with the sauce.
To make the chocolate sauce, place 100ml water and the sugar into a pan on a low heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil for 1 minute, then sift in the cocoa powder and stir well until the sauce is smooth and combined.
Remove from the heat and leave to cool and thicken for around 15 minutes before pouring over the profiteroles.
Enjoy!
My Tips:
Make sure you are exact with the ingredient measurements for the choux pastry, if you add too much flour it will become too dry and too much butter makes it too greasy and wet so won't rise well.
It is really important that you leave the choux pastry to sit for around 5 minutes to cool a little before adding the eggs! If you add them straight away, it could be too hot and rather than mixing nicely you'll just end up with scrambled eggs on top!
Choux pastry relies on moisture to rise instead of a baking agent like traditional pastries, so it is an important step to slightly damped your baking tray before putting it in the oven. This doesn't mean it should be dripping wet though so try rinsing it with cold water and shaking off the excess.
Depending on your oven, you may need to alter the baking time slightly, so just keep an eye on them to make sure they have fully risen and are just brown on top. They should also be hollow inside so try giving them a tap to see if they sound ready or cut one open to check.
You can add as much or as little cream as you like for this profiterole recipe! I like to really fill them so sometimes have to make a little extra! You'll know your profiteroles are full when you can't pipe in any more cream (it starts spilling out the hole) and it feels slightly heavier.
Make sure you sift the cocoa powder when making the sauce! If you don't it can end up lumpy and won't be as enjoyable!
Due to the nature of profiteroles, they are best enjoyed on the same day as you make them, ideally within a few hours. You can refrigerate them for longer and enjoy them the next day, but they might be a bit more soggy - but still just as delicious!
If you do decide to try out my profiterole recipe, I'd love to see some pictures! Tag me on instagram @lauras.bakery_ so I can have a look!
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