Profiteroles (Cream Puffs)

I recently made these scrumptious beauties for a family gathering. When they were gobbled up by one and all, young and old, finicky and foodie, I just knew I had to share them with my Essex Fells dessert connoisseurs

Profiteroles (known to us as cream puffs) are a French dessert made from the classic French pastry ”pate a choux” which literally means cabbage pastry. These little gems of pastry actually look like mini cabbages when they first come out of the oven.

To make the profiteroles, the little pastries are filled with whipped cream, pastry cream, custard, or ice cream. The profiteroles or cream puffs may be left plain, or garnished with powdered sugar, chocolate, or caramel sauces.

Since we are a nation of ice cream and chocolate lovers, here in the U.S. profiteroles often appear with a filling of ice cream, and a luxurious warm chocolate sauce ladled over the puffs.

The commingling of the cold, refreshing ice cream, the warm chocolate sauce, and the crispy, light and airy cream puff is simply divine.

Enjoy!

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Line two 10” by 15” cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Place the butter, boiling water, and salt into a medium saucepan and stir until mixture reaches a rolling boil. Remove from heat and add the flour all at once, mixing all together vigorously with a wooden spoon until the batter leaves the sides of the saucepan and starts to form a ball.

Remove the batter from the saucepan and place it into the medium bowl of a mixer.

Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat on medium speed making sure that each egg is incorporated into the batter before adding the next one.  Beat for about a minute after all the eggs are added.

Prepare a pastry bag fitted with a ½-inch round tip.  Place some of the batter into the pastry bag and pipe 1inch to 1 and ½ inch balls onto the prepared baking sheets, making sure to leave at least one inch between the puffs, as they will expand. If you don’t have a pastry bag, you can use a well-rounded teaspoon for each puff, and slide it off the teaspoon neatly with your finger or another spoon.

Place into the preheated 425 degree oven for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 and bake for another 30 minutes.

Allow the puffs to cool for a few minutes, then remove gently from the parchment paper.

To make the profiteroles: Use a small sharp knife to remove the top one third of each puff.  Fill the bottom of each puff with enough ice cream to top it by about an inch or more.  Place the top of the cream puff on the mounded ice cream.  Repeat with remaining puffs.  At this point you can freeze the puffs for at least a couple of weeks.

When ready to serve, bring several inches of water to a simmer in a small or medium saucepan.  Place chocolate sauce ingredients into a heatproof bowl.  Place the bowl on top of the saucepan with the simmering water.  Whisk chocolate sauce ingredients until well combined, smooth and shiny and warm to the touch.

To serve the profiteroles: place two to three of them onto a small dessert plate.  Pour two spoonfuls of the chocolate sauce over each profiterole.  If desired, garnish with sprinkles.

You can make this dessert parve by using margarine and a parve frozen dessert such as Tofutti.

Makes 18 to 24 Profiteroles

August 2015