Profiteroles Recipe (Choux Pastries with Vanilla Cream and Chocolate Icing)

Profiteroles Recipe (Choux Pastries with Vanilla Cream and Chocolate Icing)

This profiteroles recipe fills deliciously crisp French choux pastry shells with homemade vanilla cream and tops them with chocolate ganache for a bakery-quality treat. You can also fill the pâte à choux with sweetened whipped cream and dust them with powdered sugar to make classic cream puffs!

Course Brunch, Dessert

Cuisine French

Keyword Choux Pastry Recipe, Cream Puffs, Cream Puffs Recipe, Profiteroles, Profiteroles Recipe

Prep Time 40

Cook Time 40

Custard Chill Time 2

Servings servings

Calories 209kcal

Author Faith Gorsky

Ingredients

Vanilla Cream Filling (aka Diplomat Cream)

1 large egg
4 large egg yolks
3 cups milk preferably whole milk
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup heavy whipping cream

Choux Pastries

1 cup water
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
5 large eggs
1 large egg lightly beaten with 1 tablespoon water (for eggwash)

Chocolate Icing

4 ounces chopped good-quality semisweet chocolate (or 2/3 cup good-quality semisweet chocolate chips)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons milk preferably whole milk

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

For the Diplomat Cream Filling:

Whisk together the egg and egg yolks in a medium bowl and set aside. Whisk together the milk, sugar, flour, and salt in a medium saucepan; bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Turn off the heat and very slowly ladle the hot milk mixture into the egg mixture while whisking, adding just a drop at a time at first. Transfer the custard back to the saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat; boil 2 minutes, whisking constantly. Turn heat off and whisk in the butter and vanilla. Strain the custard through a fine mesh sieve to remove any lumps. Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate to chill, at least 2 hours (or up to 3 days).
Before filling the pastries, beat the custard until smooth with a handheld electric mixer. In a separate bowl, whip the cream to stiff peaks. Gently fold the whipped cream into the custard, adding 1/3 of the cream at a time. Pipe this mixture (called Diplomat Cream) into the center of each pastry (see below for more detailed instructions on filling the pastries).

For the Choux Pastries:

Preheat oven to 400F and line 3 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
Bring the water, butter, sugar, and salt up to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Remove from heat, pour in all the flour, and beat vigorously with a wooden spoon to blend thoroughly. Put the saucepan back on the heat and continue to stir until the mixture thickens and forms a ball, and starts to film on the bottom of the pan, about 1 to 2 minutes. Make a well in the center of the dough, break an egg into the well, and beat vigorously until the egg is absorbed; continue this way until all 5 eggs are incorporated.
While the dough is still warm, use a 1 1/2 tablespoon ice cream scoop to scoop out it out onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between each pastry. Lightly dip a pastry brush into the eggwash and very gently flatten each puff, being careful not to let the eggwash drip down the puff onto the baking sheet (this will prevent the puffs from rising).
Bake for 20 minutes (rotating the pans once halfway through), then turn heat down to 350F and bake until the puffs are golden brown and firm to the touch, about 5 to 15 minutes more, checking them every few minutes.
Remove the puffs from the oven and immediately pierce the side of each with a sharp paring knife (so the steam can escape). Turn off the oven, put the pastries back into the turned-off oven, and let them sit in there for 10 minutes with the door ajar. After this, transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling.

To Fill the Pastries:

Fit a pastry bag with a basic small-medium tip (I like to use a 3/16-inch tip); fill the bag with the Diplomat Cream. Once the puffs are completely cooled, insert the tip of the pastry bag into the puff through the slit that you cut to let the steam vent; gently squeeze the filling into the pastry and continue this way until all the pastries are filled.

For the Chocolate Icing:

Melt the chocolate and butter together in a microwave or double boiler; add the milk and stir until smooth. Spoon over the filled pastries and let the chocolate set before serving.

Notes

Recipe Yield and Serving Size: This recipe makes about 25 to 30 filled and iced profiteroles. For the nutritional information, each serving is 1 filled and iced profiterole.
Scooping/Piping/Spooning the Choux Batter: I used a 1 1/2 tablespoon scoop to measure out the batter, but you can just as easily use a pastry bag to pipe it into small circles (about the size of a half-dollar), or use two spoons to spoon it onto the baking sheets.
To Make the Filling Ahead: You can make the custard filling up to 3 days ahead. Store it covered in the fridge, and wait to whip the cream and fold it into the custard until right before you want to fill the pastries
To Make the Choux Pastries Ahead: You can make the choux pastries ahead as well! Once they cool to room temperature, store them in a covered container at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months. If you make the pastries ahead, you will need to re-crisp them before filling. To do so, thaw them if they were frozen and put them on a baking tray in a preheated 350F oven until warm and crisp, about 3 to 5 minutes, and then let them cool before filling.
Choux Recipe Adaptation: This choux batter recipe was adapted slightly from Julia Child’s recipe for Puff Shells (Choux) in Mastering the Art of French Cooking; published by Alfred A. Knopf.

To Make Classic Cream Puffs

You can fill profiteroles with a thick sweet cream for classic cream puffs! You can make sweetened whipped cream (aka Chantilly cream) or use Cool Whip if you're pressed for time.

To make sweetened whipped cream, you'll need:

1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

To make cream puffs:

Add all ingredients for the sweetened whipped cream to a large bowl. Use a hand-held electric mixer to beat until the cream forms stiff peaks.
Pipe the cream into the cooled choux pastry shells.
Dust the pastry tops with a generous sprinkle of powdered sugar if desired.

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