Profiteroles
Profiteroles are éclairs that decided to be a dessert on a plate rather than a pastry in the hand. The base is identical, but a sphere rises more evenly, and instead of thick pastry cream they take whipped cream: lighter, which matters under hot chocolate sauce.
- Prep
- 35 min
- Cook
- 30 min
- Rest
- 1 h
- Total
- 2 h 5 min
- Servings
- 10
- Level
- Medium
- Per serving
- 230 kcal
Ingredients
Choux pastry
Filling and sauce
Makes: about 30 buns, 10 portions
Shopping list
The ingredients for the servings you chose — copy them or send them to a messenger. Tick what you already have at home: only the rest goes on the list.
Method
-
Step 1: Cook the paste
Bring the liquids, butter, sugar and salt to the boil, take the pan off the heat and tip in all the flour. Beat to a smooth ball that leaves the sides.
-
Step 2: Dry it
Back on the heat for 2 minutes, stirring, until a thin film forms on the base. This step decides whether the buns come out hollow.
-
Step 3: Add the eggs
Cool 5 minutes and beat in the eggs one at a time. The last goes in gradually: the paste should fall from the spatula as a triangle, not a lump.
-
Step 4: Pipe the spheres
Pipe walnut-sized mounds with a plain nozzle, 4 cm apart, and smooth the peaks with a wet finger or they scorch.
-
Step 5: Bake
Twelve minutes at 200 °C, then 18 at 170 °C, without opening the door. Done, they feel light, dry and sound hollow when tapped.
-
Step 6: Dry them inside
Pierce each one in the side and leave them in the switched-off oven for 10 minutes so the steam escapes and the walls stay crisp.
-
Step 7: Whip the cream
Whip the cold cream with icing sugar to firm peaks. Warm cream will not whip — chill the bowl and beaters too.
-
Step 8: Fill and sauce
Fill the cold buns through the hole underneath. Melt the chocolate with 100 ml of cream and pour it over hot, at the table.
Tips & variations
-
Tip
The buns must be completely cold before filling: in a warm shell whipped cream melts and runs out within five minutes.
-
Tip
Even sizing is not about looks: different sizes bake at different rates, and the small ones dry out while the large ones finish.
-
Variation
Croquembouche is the same buns glued into a cone with caramel. Savoury version: fill with herbed cream cheese instead.
-
Storage
Empty buns keep two days in a paper bag or a month in the freezer. Filled, serve at once: cream softens the pastry within the hour.
Nutrition
| 1 serving | Whole dish 10 servings | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 230 kcal | 2,300 kcal |
| Protein | 5 g | 50 g |
| Fat | 15 g | 150 g |
| Carbohydrates | 19 g | 190 g |
Approximate values calculated from standard ingredient data.
Cooked it? Rate the recipe
No ratings yet — yours will be the first.
