Profiteroles

I first had a profiterole at a local steak house. I had never heard of them until then, and I was smitten. These cute little puffs were nice and delicate and contained one of my favorite things - vanilla pastry cream! And then they were topped with a glaze and sprinkled with powdered sugar. Even though I was full of steak, I of course made plenty of room to eat a few one of these.

Although it has been years since I have eaten a profiterole, I am ecstatic that I have successfully made them! I have been intimidated by French baking and decided to just bite the bullet. What's the worst that could happen?

As I mentioned before, I wanted to make both chocolate éclairs and profiteroles, so I made both of these in one day.  I made the éclairs first and kept the oven on at 375 and then piped the profiteroles and baked those.

This recipe was remarkably easier than I thought. Had I known that pastry cream was so easy to put together, I would have been making Boston Cream Pie and other desserts a long time ago. Now I just need to find something to do with the leftover egg whites... Stay tuned to see what I came up with!

Ingredients

• 1 recipe cream puff dough, which can be found here
• 1 recipe vanilla pastry cream, which can be found here
• 1 recipe chocolate glaze, which can be found here

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.

Mix the cream puff dough as instructed.

Using about 1 tablespoon dough for each puff, drop the dough from a spoon onto the lined baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches of puff space between the mounds of dough. (The puffs can be frozen for up to 2 months.) I decided to cut a hole in a pastry bag, filled it with the dough and swirled 1 1/2 inch circles.

Slide the baking sheets into the oven and immediately turn the oven temperature down to 375 degrees F. Bake for 12 minutes, then rotate the pans. Continue baking until the puffs are golden, firm and puffed, another 12-15 minutes or so (mine baked for 12). Allow the puffs to cool on the baking sheet.

Using a serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion, you can simply cut off the top quarter or third of each puff, fill them with the pastry cream and top with the little caps. I drizzled mine in the chocolate glaze at this point.

Chill for at least an hour (up to 8 hours) before serving.

Yield: I used a full recipe for cream puff dough and split it in half - half for éclairs and half for profiteroles. I got about 9 éclairs and 9 profiteroles.

Source: Around My French Table, by Dorie Greenspan

I first had a profiterole at a local steak house. I had never heard of them until then, and I was smitten. These cute little puffs were nice and delicate and contained one of my favorite things - vanilla pastry cream! And then they were topped with a glaze and sprinkled with powdered sugar. Even though I was full of steak, I of course made plenty of room to eat a few one of these.

Although it has been years since I have eaten a profiterole, I am ecstatic that I have successfully made them! I have been intimidated by French baking and decided to just bite the bullet. What's the worst that could happen?

As I mentioned before, I wanted to make both chocolate éclairs and profiteroles, so I made both of these in one day.  I made the éclairs first and kept the oven on at 375 and then piped the profiteroles and baked those.

This recipe was remarkably easier than I thought. Had I known that pastry cream was so easy to put together, I would have been making Boston Cream Pie and other desserts a long time ago. Now I just need to find something to do with the leftover egg whites... Stay tuned to see what I came up with!

Ingredients

• 1 recipe cream puff dough, which can be found here
• 1 recipe vanilla pastry cream, which can be found here
• 1 recipe chocolate glaze, which can be found here

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.

Mix the cream puff dough as instructed.

Using about 1 tablespoon dough for each puff, drop the dough from a spoon onto the lined baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches of puff space between the mounds of dough. (The puffs can be frozen for up to 2 months.) I decided to cut a hole in a pastry bag, filled it with the dough and swirled 1 1/2 inch circles.

Slide the baking sheets into the oven and immediately turn the oven temperature down to 375 degrees F. Bake for 12 minutes, then rotate the pans. Continue baking until the puffs are golden, firm and puffed, another 12-15 minutes or so (mine baked for 12). Allow the puffs to cool on the baking sheet.

Using a serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion, you can simply cut off the top quarter or third of each puff, fill them with the pastry cream and top with the little caps. I drizzled mine in the chocolate glaze at this point.

Chill for at least an hour (up to 8 hours) before serving.

Yield: I used a full recipe for cream puff dough and split it in half - half for éclairs and half for profiteroles. I got about 9 éclairs and 9 profiteroles.

Source: Around My French Table, by Dorie Greenspan