Profiteroles
Did you know you can freeze cream puff dough (choux paste) and bake cream puffs from the frozen dough any time you want? It's true. Bake them up and fill those crispy, brown, mostly-hollow poufs with your favourite ice cream then drizzle with warmed hot fudge sauce as the ultimate reward for having a well-stocked freezer. Happiness is a Profiterole: a warm cream puff with cold ice cream!
Equipment
- 1 stand mixer
- 1 sheet of parchment paper
- 1 sturdy spoon
- 1 2 quart saucepan
- 1 half sheet pan
Ingredients
For the Cream Puffs:
- 1 stick 4 ounces by weight butter
- 1 cup 8 ounces by weight water
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 1/4 cups 5 1/4 ounces by weight all purpose flour
- 4 large eggs preferably at room temperature
For the Profiteroles:
- Ice cream
- Hot Fudge Sauce
Instructions
To Make the Cream Puff Frozen Dough:
- Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a large baking sheet (or two) with silpats or parchment paper.
- Bring the water, butter and salt to a rapid boil in a heavy-bottomed, 2 quart capacity saucepan over high heat. Remove the pan from the burner and add all the flour at once. Stir strongly until the flour is completely wet.
- Return the pan to medium high heat and continue stirring strongly until a light film forms over the bottom of the pan and the dough is smooth and soft and forms a ball when stirred. Remove the pan from the heat.
- Transfer the dough to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (or to a large, heat-proof mixing bowl if a stand mixer is unavailable.) Let the dough rest for 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes, add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. After the final egg is added, beat on high for at least 2 minutes, but not more than 4. (If beating by hand, you can count this as a large part of your daily workout. Beat it into submission!)
- You must pipe or scoop out your cream puff dough immediately, but there are two options for after you portion them out.
- Either way, begin by using a pastry bag with a large plain tip or spoons to portion the dough into 16 equally sized rounds on the prepared pan(s). I use a pastry bag to pipe circles, piping in smaller toward the top.
- Traditionally, you tap down the little peaks that form, but my kids like to bite those off, so I leave them. Alternatively, you could use two large tablespoons portion it out, using one spoon to scrape the dough from the other over the pan.
- At this point you can put the pan directly into the freezer, transferring the cream puffs to a resealable zipper top bag or freezer safe container with a tight fitting lid for up to 3 months.
- ~or~
To Bake the Cream Puffs:
- (If preparing from frozen, simply add 5 minutes to the baking time at the end.) Place pan in the oven, bake for 15 minutes. Do not open that door! After 15 minutes, lower the heat to 375°F and cook for an additional 15 minutes.
- When the time is up, turn off the oven and stick the handle of a wooden spoon in between the body of the stove and the door to hold it open just a little and let the cream puffs cool in the oven like that for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the pan from the oven.
- You can serve them immediately or cool to room temperature.
To Make Profiteroles:
- Break open a cream puff at the midline (much like a muffin). Place the bottom on a plate, put a good sized scoop of ice cream on the base, add the top part of the cream puff and drizzle with warmed hot fudge sauce.
Nutrition
Calories: 52kcalCarbohydrates: 8gProtein: 2gFat: 1gSaturated Fat: 0.4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.3gMonounsaturated Fat: 0.4gTrans Fat: 0.004gCholesterol: 41mgSodium: 53mgPotassium: 26mgFiber: 0.3gSugar: 0.1gVitamin A: 60IUCalcium: 8mgIron: 1mg
Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.
did you make this recipe?
Make sure to tag @foodiewithfam on Instagram and #hashtag it #foodiewithfamily so I can check it out!