At first, I was too intimidated to try this classic French pastry, as they have a reputation of being finicky to work with. In the end, I decided that this would function as a test to decide whether I was ready to tackle French macarons once again, after a horrible failure more than a year ago. I convinced myself that if I could master Profiteroles, I would also be able to successfully bake macarons... So I guess, stay tuned for my second take on macarons in the near-ish future.
Ingredients:
Choux pastry:
1 cup sifted all purpose flour
1 cup water
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
~4 medium eggs
Filling:
75g nougat
1 1/4 cups whipping cream (35% fat)
Icing sugar
Yields ~30 profiteroles
30 min prep
30 min of baking
Preheat the oven to 425 °F.
Melt the butter with the water and salt in a sauce pan until it is boiling. Then add sifted flour and keep mixing until the dough is well-combined and it is no longer sticking to the sides of the pan (for around 3 minutes). This continued cooking of the dough should remove a large part of the water.
Let the dough cool down for 5-10 minutes and then start beating in the eggs one-by-one while mixing at low speed with a dough hook. Leave some time for the dough to become homogeneous between each egg. For the last egg, I like to put it into a mug and add the egg spoon-wise as the exact amount of egg to be added will vary from batch to batch, largely depending on the size of your eggs. Ideally, the dough should be slightly shiny and soft enough to pipe, put not too runny.
Pipe little mounds of dough onto parchment paper, leaving at least a few centimetres of space in between to allow for the dough to expand. Try not to introduce any bubbles.
Bake at 425 °F for 10 min. Then lower the temperature to 375 °F for 10-15 minutes. Open the oven and prick each pastry with a toothpick, then bake for 5 more minutes at 375 °F. Do not open the oven any earlier than this as it might cause the pastry to collapse.
Take the pastry out of the oven and allow it to cool down completely before filling it or the cream will melt. Ideally, the pastry should be hollow as shown below.
Feel free to fill the choux pastry with the cream of your choosing. I decided to go with a nougat whipped cream filling as I bought some nougat at a German grocery store that day. Alternative fillings include various kinds of ice creams and whipped creams, but feel free to try whatever you'd like. Some people like to cut the pastry in half horizontally and then fill it with cream (I'm assuming because this photographs pretty well), but I decided to go with the traditional approach of filling the pastry through a small hole at the bottom of the pastry.
To make the filling, I melted 75g of nougat with 1/4 cup of whipping cream and let it cool back down to room temperature after.
Beat the remaining whipping cream until it forms a stiff peak, then add the nougat mix by the tablespoon and mix with a spatula until it is well combined.
Use a piping bag (or a ziplock bag with one edge cut off) and a tip with a small round opening. Fill the piping bag with the nougat
cream and pierce a small hole into the bottom of the profiteroles with your tip. Slowly and evenly inject the cream until the pastry starts to feel heavy in your hand. I like to store the profiteroles in the fridge for an hour prior to serving to allow the cream to solidify a bit more.
And that's it, I hope this recipe helps you make beautiful profiteroles! :) Feel free to tag me in your creations and don't hesitate to send me a message if you have any questions!
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