Profiteroles

Profiterole Story 1: At my parents wedding one of the puddings served up was profiteroles. However, as my Dad was busy greeting guests/celebrating/thinking about his speech/generally chatting away he never got one. All the guests were happily enjoying their “little bites of deliciousness”, filled with cream and covered in chocolate, but not one got to my Dad. And ever since then he has been making up for it by grabbing the profiterole chance whenever possible.Profiterole Story 2: I went on a week long cookery course a couple of years ago now, and one afternoon we made profiteroles. The lesson over-ran a little, and profiteroles tend to go soggy and flat when filled with their cream and left ahead of time. Therefore on the way home my friend and I were carrying three boxes: one of the delicate choux buns, one of lightly whipped cream and one of silky chocolate ganache – all waiting to be put together once safely home (aka safely near my Dad). Getting the tube home at the height of rush hour, standing in a packed London tube with wobbly boxes of rapidly melting cream, squashed between stressed office workers – quite an experience. Happily – the profiteroles were worth it. Yum.SO with these two profiterole memories with me I felt it was high time they were welcomed back to my kitchen. Choux pastry is a slight conundrum of pastry really – different to everything else. A light bun mixture made in a saucepan that puffs up to be fairly hollow and airy with a crisp outside, just waiting to be filled with all kinds of delicious things. I stuck with whipped cream, but for even more decadence these can be filled with pastry cream or ice cream. Of course choux pastry is not only made for profiteroles – it makes long eclairs, choux “swans”, choux rings, and savoury cheese gougeres. At big events and parties, profiteroles are traditionally served in beautiful towering stacks…but by the time I came to photograph these there simply weren’t that many left!
These profiteroles are good. Extremely good. Considering they are cream+chocolate+pastry it is no surprise they are very addictive. The pastry has to be done carefully and exactly right (this is the kind of recipe where baking becomes a real science) but is fairly simple when you get the idea and is so quick to put together. What are you waiting for? My recipe was from the classic Delia, which you can find here. You can also find all her tips on choux pastry here. Make. Eat. (Eat Another). Enjoy. Smile :)