Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Profiteroles

Profiteroles! Doesn't that sound fancy??? It's French so it has to sound fancy! These little "puffs" or profiteroles if you prefer are a yummy dessert. What I like best about these cute little puffs is that there is room to play with as far as fillings go. Actual profiteroles are small, crisp, hollow rounds of choux pastry that are split in half and filled with sweet whipped cream, ice cream, or pastry cream. The choice is yours. You can also freeze them and then have them ready for when you have unexpected guests. The traditional profiteroles are filled and then warm chocolate sauce is poured on them. If you fill them with ice cold ice cream and then pour warm ganache sauce on top, the combination of flavors, textures and temperatures are out of this world. As you will see I decided to freeze this batch that I made but because I got 13 profiteroles, I obviously felt obligated to eat one and freeze the dozen. In these pictures since I was only having one, I just filled them with vanilla ice cream (Häagen-Dazs) and then took out my bottle of Chocolate Sauce and poured it over the top. You can certainly do this too, but if you are entertaining or serving them as a special dessert I would highly recommend making the ganache sauce and pouring it on warm.

Also, speaking of ganache sauce, did you know that if you made too much (Oh my, can you ever have too much ganache?) you can always let the sauce cool and slightly harden and then just take about a teaspoon of it, roll it into a little ball, then roll it in some cocoa powder and VIOLA, chocolate truffles!!! I didn't know this until I read it on the Joy of Baking website. Thanks Stephanie for great advice!!!

Profiteroles

You will need:
*1 cup milk (you can also use water if you don't have any milk)
  • *1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter
  • *Pinch kosher salt
  • *1 cup all-purpose flour
  • *4 large eggs
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

2.In a medium bowl, slightly beat your eggs with a hand held whisk.

3.. Heat the milk, butter, and salt over medium heat until scalded.


4. When the butter is melted, add the flour all at once and beat it with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes together and forms a dough.

5. Cook, stirring constantly, over low heat for 2 minutes. The flour will begin to coat the bottom of the pan.

6. Transfer the dough to your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, and beat on low speed a minute or two to release the steam from the dough.

7. Once the dough is lukewarm start adding the lightly beaten eggs and continue to mix until you have a smooth thick sticky paste.

8. At this point you have two options:
a. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a large plain round tip. Pipe in mounds 1 1/2 inches wide and 1-inch high onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or baking mat.
b. Or,my preferred method, is just to use an ice cream scoop to out the pastry dough. If you use this method, you ABSOLUTELY need to have a bowl of water ready and dip the spoon in the water between each scooping, This will prevent the dough from sticking to the scoop.

You should be able to get either 12 large or 18 small profiteroles.
By the way, I recently spend about $15 and bought this silicone baking mat and I am sooo happy with it. It is so convenient and nothing sticks to it. In other words it's like reusable parchment paper that I can just wipe clean with a damp cloth. If you bake a lot of cookies, individual pastries you should definitely invest in one. It goes a long way and you can save money by not having to buy parchment paper. I love it.

9. Bake for 20 minutes T 425F, or until lightly browned, then turn off the oven and allow them to sit for another 10 minutes, until they sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.
11. Make a small slit in the side of each puff to allow the steam to escape. Set aside to cool.
You can also either freeze them or serve them when they cooled. If freezing them, before serving, defrost the puffs and then reheat in a 350F oven for 5 to 10 minutes, or until crisp. Cool before filling with ice cream.

Or you can fill them with your favorite ice cream, whipped cream or pastry cream and drizzle with ganache sauce. The first time I made them I filled them with Ina Garten's pastry cream and stored them in the fridge.
Whatever you decide to do..... Enjoy!!!

3 comments :

  1. Ahhh I <3 Profiteroles!
    These look soo good...

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  2. thanks for checking out my blog today! Your profiteroles look amazing, my son saw the 1st pic and said OOOOOH! Come back and visit me soon, I have more giveaways coming up! SMILE

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  3. wow i love that recipe, making it right now and planning to freeze them for easter dessert!

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