Profiteroles and Cream Puffs - two elegant little desserts made with Pâte à Choux baked in rounded balls, split in half, filled cream. The only difference between the two is that Profiteroles are traditionally frozen and have ice cream inside and cream puffs do not. Sounds complicated? It's not as hard as it looks (and it tastes even better). Let.s do this.
Course Dessert
Cuisine French
Keyword Culinary 3, Pastry
Ingredients
1/2cupunsalted buttercut into 8 pieces,
1/2cupwater
1/2cup2% or whole milk
1/4teaspoonsalt
2teaspoonsgranulated sugar
1cupall-purpose flourspooned & leveled
4large eggsbeaten
For Egg wash
1eggbeaten
1Tablespoonmilk or water
Instructions
Cook the Pate a Choux
Combine the butter, water, milk, salt, and granulated sugar together in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the butter has melted. Bring mixture to a simmer. Once simmering, reduce heat to low and add the flour all at once. Stir until the flour is completely incorporated and a thick dough clumps into a ball. Mash the dough ball against the bottom and sides of the pan for 1 minute, which gently cooks the flour. Remove from heat and transfer to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Allow to cool down for a few minutes before adding the eggs in the next step.
Add Eggs to the Pate a Choux
With the mixer running on low speed, slowly add the eggs in 3-4 separate additions mixing for 30 seconds between each. The mixture will look curdled at first, but will begin to come together as the mixer runs. Pour in the final addition of beaten eggs very slowly. Stop adding when the choux pastry has reached the desired texture: shiny, thick, and smooth with a pipeable consistency. It is normal to have a few teaspoons of beaten egg behind, which can be used with the egg wash.
Bake the Pate a choux
For cream puff and profiterole shells: Preheat oven to 400°F. Line two half sheet panswith parchment paper. Lightly brush the parchment with water, which creates a humid environment for the pastry shells allowing them to puff up without drying out or burning.
Transfer choux pastry dough to a piping bag fitted with a round tip. Pipe 2-inch mounds about 3 inches apart. Using a water moistened finger, smooth down the peaks and lightly brush each with egg wash.
Bake for 20 minutes then, without opening, reduce oven to 350°F (177°C) and continue to bake for 10-15 more minutes until golden brown. Do not open the oven as the pastries cook, as cool air will prevent them from properly puffing up. Remove from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely before filling.
Split open pastries and fill with pastry cream, jam, a combination of these, or your favorite filling. You can also poke a hole in the pastries and pipe the filling inside. Drizzle with a thin chocolate ganache if desired
Cover and store leftover filled pastries in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Cover and store unfilled pastries at room temperature for 1 day, in the refrigerator for 5 days, or freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator before filling and serving.