Profiteroles or cream puffs as they’re fondly known are a favourite of my hubster’s. I made them once before but it was not the most successful thing ever. I did everything wrong and my profiteroles…well, they ended up looking like spiraled crap. But now I am motivated to try again after seeing Wendy post about making good, basic choux pastry.
When I served this to hubster, he polished off the plate in seconds, popping one entire profiterole into his mouth each time. I was so happy at the result, I shared this good news with my friend and she also wanted to come and learn how to make for HER husband. Needless to say, the profiteroles were polished off on the same day we baked it. One of the other reason why I put off making these for so long was because I wanted to look for a cream filling that is easy, simple and does not require egg yolks. I think this recipe really works a treat because it is not on direct heat so you won’t suffer the bane of milk or cream burning in the pot, which was what happened to me the last time. I have made this cream filling several times and glad to say so far it has excellent success rate.
Now this is purely optional because I know a lot of people prefer their profiteroles plain, but I wanted to make it a little more special by dipping them into luscious chocolate sauce. Don’t they look like delectable gems with their decadent chocolate wrap slowly enveloping on top? (top)
These recipes are definitely keepers and if I have to go to a party of gathering next time, I know what to bring!
Vanilla Custard Filling
A filling that is great for cream puffs.
- 1 1/4 cups milk
- 1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream (I used the whole packet of Pauls’s Thickened Cream, 250gms)
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- Fill a pot with about 3 inches water and bring it to a simmering boil.
- In another heatproof bowl, whisk together the milk, cream, eggs, sugar, cornstarch and vanilla extract.
- Place the bowl with the whisked ingredients over the pot.
- Continue whisking the custard till it thickens, this might take between 20 mins to 30 mins. Whisk constantly.
- The desired texture should be when you are able to scoop the custard up with the whisk and it drops back slowly and heavily.
- This was just off the heat, it will continue to thicken as it cools.
- Let it cool, whisk occasionally and cover the top with cling film before storing in the fridge to cool completely. The cling film prevents a hard crust forming on top.
- Note: You can substitute thick cream for ordinary cream, you’ll still get the same result except the whisking process might take longer.
Chocolate Sauce
Dip into this delicious liquid gold.
- 200 gms semi sweet chocolate
- 1/2 cup milk
- Break the chocolate into pieces.
- Put in a heatproof bowl. Place the bowl over a pot of simmering water, still on the stove with low heat.
- Pour in the milk. Stir till everything has melted together.
- While the profiteroles are baking, you can scoop your thick and cold custard cream into a piping bag while letting the chocolate sauce cool.
Choux Pastry
- 150 gms all-purpose flour
- 90 gms salted butter
- 250 ml water
- 10 gms fine sugar
- 4 eggs
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Before you get started, I suggest you head over to the original creators page and read up on her tips and notes because I found it helped me a lot to make successfully looking and tasting profiteroles this time. I will also highlight some points as I go along but do take note of what the original chef has to say. 🙂
- Sift the flour to remove any clumps and mix with the sugar.
- Bring a pot with the 250 ml water to simmer. Add the butter and stir with a wooden spoon until it has melted. The water does not have to come to a rolling boil.
- In one go, add the flour mixture and stir with the spoon till a clump of dough has formed and it peels away from the sides of the pot.
- Let the dough cool slightly, just enough so the eggs won’t cook. I transferred the dough into another bowl, stabbed it with my spoon and let it cool down.
- When the dough is cool enough, it’ time to add the eggs one-by-one. I used an electric hand-whisk for this job.
- Make sure each egg is thoroughly mixed into the dough before adding the next one.
- You should have a smooth dough after that. Place the dough into a piping bag with a star-shaped tip.
- Have a tray ready with baking paper. As you pipe out the dough, do not move in a swirling motion, just keep it at one spot. Try not to pipe in layers too because when you bake, you will have these obvious layers instead of one nice puff.
- Leave some space in between each profiterole. If you prefer, wet your finger in some water and dab down the pointy tops.
- Bake in a pre-heated 180C oven for about 30 mins or so, till the tops are browned and slightly crisp.
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When it's done, poke or slit a hole on the vulnerable sides of each profiteroles to let out steam. This step is IMPORTANT. Because I didn't do this last time and I think the steam build up moisture inside and led my profiteroles to fall flat. This also makes the job of filling much easier later.
- Let it cool on a wire rack before piping the vanilla custard filling into the puffs. To ensure that you don’t overfill your profiterole, gently squeeze the profiterole in between your fingers while you squeeze the filling in. As soon as you can feel some resistance, it should just have a nice amount of custard cream. If you overfill your profiterole, they leak out on the sides once you bite down on them.
- You can also dip the tops with the melted chocolate or just eat them plain with a little dusting of icing sugar.
Enjoy!
TO ALL MY READERS WHO ARE CELEBRATING,
HAVE AN AWESOME HALLOWEEN!
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