I have to confess: the biggest obstacle I encountered writing this article wasn’t preparing the recipe, nor photographing the finished plate but … figuring out how on earth you spell profiterol or profiteroles or profiterol or profiterole … who knows, I still haven’t figured it out!!!! In any case you’ve surely understood what I’m talking about: a fantastic mountain of choux puffs filled with cream and covered with a chocolate glaze. The filling can vary—pastry cream, chantilly cream or simply whipped cream—the result is still spectacular!
And I, who had decided to eat a bit healthier after the holidays, abandoned all my good intentions and couldn’t resist making them. To tell the truth I thought they would be extremely difficult to make; I had read the recipe by the great Igino Massari who, as a master pastry chef, is extremely technical and I got a little discouraged. Then, browsing various cookbooks that now invade my house, I found a version more within my reach and told myself: a recipe must be tested before drawing conclusions and, let’s be honest, I couldn’t resist the temptation to prepare them!
The result was truly indulgent and it turned out to be a literally mind-blowing dessert!!!! Well, at this point I’d say the “diet” starts on Monday!!!!
PS I will call them Profiterol throughout the recipe… just so you know!
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Inexpensive
- Preparation time: 1 Hour
- Cooking time: 40 Minutes
- Portions: 6 servings
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
- 1 cup All-purpose flour (about 125 g)
- 1/2 cup Water (about 125 ml)
- 3 1/2 tbsp Unsalted butter, cut into pieces (about 50 g)
- 3 Eggs (medium, at room temperature)
- 1 pinch Salt
- 1 cup Heavy cream (liquid) for filling (about 250 ml)
- 1/2 cup Powdered sugar (about 50 g)
- 1 packet Vanillin (vanilla powder)
- 9 oz Dark chocolate (about 250 g)
- 3/4 cup Heavy cream (liquid) for the chocolate sauce (about 200 ml)
Preparation
To make the choux pastry for the puffs, use a saucepan with high sides: put the water, the salt and the butter cut into pieces in it, place on the heat and let the mixture come to a boil, then turn off immediately.
At this point incorporate the sifted flour all at once and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon to prevent lumps; you need to obtain a smooth, homogeneous dough.
Put the saucepan back on very low heat and stir for another couple of minutes so the dough dries out a bit. Continue stirring until the dough forms a ball and starts to pull away from the sides. Then turn off the heat and let it cool.Now transfer everything to a stand mixer and incorporate the eggs one at a time into the dough. If you don’t have a stand mixer you can use a bowl and electric or manual beaters. The important thing is to work the dough vigorously and always add one egg at a time. Make sure not to proceed with the next egg until the previous one has been completely incorporated into the dough. You will obtain a smooth, homogeneous mixture, which you will fill into a piping bag fitted with a plain round tip about 4 in (10 cm).
Prepare a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and pipe small mounds of dough, spaced apart to prevent them from joining together as they puff up during baking. Bake the choux puffs in a preheated conventional oven for 15 minutes at 392°F (200°C), then crack the oven door slightly (prop it open with a wooden spoon) so the temperature drops a little and continue baking for another 10 minutes. Remove your choux puffs from the oven and let them cool completely.
Take a bowl (preferably cold) and pour in the cold heavy cream straight from the fridge. Begin whipping the cream with an electric beater. As soon as it starts to thicken, add half of the powdered sugar and the vanillin and continue beating for another minute. Then add the remaining powdered sugar and finish whipping the cream completely with the electric mixer.
Finely chop the chocolate and pour the hot cream over it at about 194°F (90°C). If you don’t have a kitchen thermometer (which I recommend buying; there are good ones from about €7), consider that the cream should be hot but not boiling. Gently mix with a spatula, starting from the center and moving outward to the edges, until you obtain a true emulsion. Mix for one minute. The ganache will be ready when it becomes shiny and homogeneous.
Now you are ready to assemble your profiteroles. First, fill the choux puffs. Prepare the chantilly cream by putting it into a piping bag fitted with a plain tip. Take the cooled choux puffs and, using the plain tip, pierce the base and fill each one with cream. Place them on a plate and let them rest covered with plastic wrap for 10 minutes in the refrigerator. Now you’re ready to glaze your puffs. Set up a wire rack and a bowl with the chocolate sauce. Using two forks, dip each puff one at a time into the chocolate sauce and move it so it gets completely coated. Then remove it and place it on the rack to drain so the excess coating can drip off. Once all the puffs are coated and have dried, arrange them on a plate forming a pyramid. Decorate as you like with a few dollops of chantilly cream and keep refrigerated until serving.
Notes
If any profiteroles are left over, store them in the refrigerator and consume within a couple of days at most. Making the choux pastry is really simple, but if you don’t feel like it you can buy ready-made choux puffs to fill. Of course they won’t taste the same as homemade ones. If you decide to make them yourself, know that raw choux dough is not suitable for storage either in the refrigerator or the freezer and must be prepared to be baked immediately, not in advance. The baked puffs, however, if not filled, can be stored for about 1 week in a tin box or frozen for about 1 month.
