Profiteroles

Profiteroles, those elegant small bite-sized golden buns of choux pastry that nestle sweet savory scoops of crème pâtissière or vanilla ice cream, topped with a warm chocolate glaze, are definitely my all time favorite dessert.

As you may know, profiteroles are made from “pâte à choux” a dough created from few simple pantry staples. Choux is French for cabbage; when you bake the dough in little mounds with rounded tops they do puff up to look like tiny cabbages.



The choux paste is piped through a pastry bag or dropped with a pair of spoons into small balls and baked to form largely hollow puffs. The puffs tend to deflate if left out to cool immediately after baking. To reduce the likelihood of the puffs deflating, I keep them still-warm, in a turned off oven. The heat in the oven makes most of the wet dough inside the cream puff dry out and helps keep the shape of the puff.

I was delighted to discover how easily those puffs came together. It took no longer than 2 hours from start to finish, including the time needed for baking. Once you know how to make the Pâte à Choux dough, you can use it in surprising new ways.

Ingredients (makes 35 puffs): by Conticini

16 cl (5.4 fl.oz) water

16 cl (5.4 fl. oz) whole milk

145 g (10 tbsp) butter

5 g sugar

4 g salt

190 g (1¾ cup) flour

5 to 6 eggs (335 g)

Bring milk, water, butter, sugar, and salt to boil in small saucepan over medium heat, stirring once or twice. When mixture reaches full boil (butter should be fully melted), immediately remove saucepan from heat and stir in the sieved flour with a wooden spoon until combined and mixture clears sides of pan. Return saucepan to low heat and cook, stirring constantly, using smearing motion, for 3 minutes, until mixture is slightly shiny.

Remove the dough and place it either in the bowl of a stand mixer or the bowl of a food processor and let the dough cool off for a few minutes.

With the mixer running, using the beater blade, add the eggs one at a time.  It's important that you let each egg incorporate fully into the dough before adding the next one.  The dough will look curdled and weird - don't worry about it.  After all eggs are added, mix until the dough forms a nice paste consistency. (If you do not have either a mixer or a food processor, you can beat in the eggs one at a time using a spoon).

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC).

Pipe the dough into a piping bag fitted with a large tip. If you don't have a piping bag, you can use 2 teaspoons to place the dough onto the baking sheet. Pipe the dough into mounds about 2 to 2-1/2 inches wide, spacing them apart.

Bake at 350ºF (180ºC) for 30 minutes, or until the puffs are a nice golden brown. Turn off the heat and open the oven door a few inches with a wooden spoon and let the puffs sit in the turned off oven to dry out for about 10 minutes.

Crème Patissière

1 cup (225 ml) whole milk
2 tbsp cornstarch
6 tbsp (100 g) sugar
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
2 tbsp (30 g) unsalted butter
1 tsp natural vanilla extract

Dissolve cornstarch in 1/4 cup of milk. Combine the remaining milk with the sugar in a saucepan; bring to boil; remove from heat.

Beat the whole egg, then the yolks into the cornstarch mixture.

Pour 1/3 of boiling milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly so that the eggs do not begin to cook.

Return the remaining milk to boil. Pour in the hot egg mixture in a stream, continuing whisking. Continue whisking (this is important – you do not want the eggs to solidify/cook) until the cream thickens and comes to a boil.

Remove from heat and beat in the butter and vanilla. Pour cream into a ceramic bowl. Press plastic wrap firmly against the surface.

Chill immediately and until ready to use.

Chocolate sauce

1 cup cream
7 oz (200 g) semi-sweet chocolate, broken into pieces

Heat the cream and chocolate just until it scalds (bubbles will form on the outside perimeter of the pot).  Turn off heat, whisk until smooth.

This sauce can be kept in the refrigerator a few days - just bring to room temperature to serve because it firms up when it is cold.

Ingrédients (environ 35 pâtes à choux): Selon Conticini

16 cl d'eau

16 cl de lait entier

145 g de beurre

5 g de sucre

4 g de sel

190 g de farin

5 à 6 œufs (335 g)

Dans une casserole, versez le lait, l'eau, le sucre et le sel puis le beurre coupé en morceaux.

Portez à ébullition. Hors feu, versez, en une seule fois, la farine tamisée.

Mélangez bien, à feu moyen environ 5 min pour assécher la pâte.

Versez cette dernière dans le robot, puis pétrissez avec le batteur plat du robot (ou à l'aide d'une spatule si vous n'avez pas de robot), en y incorporant un à un les oeufs.

Vous devez obtenir une pâte à chou souple et luisante.

A l'aide d'une poche à douille (12 mm) ou de 2 cuillerées, pochez des boules de pâte (de la taille d'une boule de glace environ), sur une plaque recouverte de papier sulfurisé. Espacez-les car ils gonflent à la cuisson. Préchauffez le four à 180ºC.

Enfournez pour 30 mn, ou jusqu'à ce qu'ils soient dorés. Éteignez le four et laissez la porte entrouverte avec une cuillère en bois, et laissez les choux se dessécher environ 10 mn. 

Entaillez les choux et remplissez-les chacun de la crème patissière (recette ci-dessous)

Crème Patissière

225 ml de lait entier
2 càs de fécule de mais
100 g de sucre
1 œuf
2 jaunes d'œuf
30 g de beurre doux
1 càc d'extrait de vanille

Dans un grand bol, faites dissoudre la fécule de mais dans 60 ml de lait.
Mélangez le reste du lait (165 ml) avec le sucre dans une casserole. Portez à ébullition. Retirez du feu.

Ajoutez les œufs (entier et jaunes) au mélange fécule-lait.

Versez 1/3 du lait bouillant dans la préparation aux œufs, tout en remuant constamment avec le fouet.

Remettez la casserole de lait au feu. Versez la préparation aux œufs doucement, tout en remuant (il faut remuer constamment) jusqu'à ce que le mélange s'épaississe et commence à bouillir.

Retirez du feu et ajoutez le beurre et la vanille. Versez dans un bol. Couvrez de film alimentaire et mettez au frigo jusqu'à utilisation.

Sauce chocolat

20 cl crème

200g de chocolat à 60%

Chauffez la crème liquide, versez le chocolat en morceaux dessus. Mélangez bien.

Maintenez la sauce chaude et servez les choux accompagnez de cette sauce.