If you make profiteroles regularly you know exactly how the dough
should look at every stage; otherwise you can’t always tell if you’ve
beaten the mixture too hard or added too much egg until it’s too
late.
But apart from that it’s all good news. Profiteroles are fantastic
value for money, take only minutes to make and are loved by
almost everyone. The only slightly fiddly thing is you will need a
piping bag to get the cream inside at the end, but the uncooked
profiteroles don’t have to be piped, they can be spooned onto the
baking sheets by hand.
Don’t worry if your profiteroles aren’t identical to the ones you
find in the supermarket either. We’re so used to synthetic, massproduced
desserts it’s easy not to realize that the home-made
version only looks slightly different because actually it’s even better.
As long as the profiteroles are cooked properly inside it doesn’t
matter if they’re not exactly a work of art, and piled into glass bowls
and covered in sauce it’s hard to tell anyway.
I always use one very large egg instead of two medium ones.
You have to add the egg gradually so the dough doesn’t become
too slack (see below) but I’ve found that if you just use one very
large egg instead of two smaller ones, you won’t even have to worry
about overdoing it.
Finally, although you can use plain flour to make profiteroles,
it’s a good idea to use strong bread flour, which is much more
robust and really helps the profiteroles to hold their shape.
You’ll get about 18 profiteroles from this mixture, which would
serve about four people.
2 oz (50 g) butter or margarine
1⁄4 pint (150 ml) water
3 oz (75 g) strong bread flour
2 eggs, beaten (or 1 very large, see above)
2⁄3 large carton of double cream, whipped
For the sauce
1 oz (25 g) butter or margarine
1 big tbsp golden syrup
1 tsp instant coffee dissolved in 2 tbsp boiling water
1 egg, beaten
6 oz (150 g) icing sugar
Method
1. Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 5 (190ºC) and lightly grease a
couple of large baking sheets with a few drops of oil and water.
2. Put the butter or margarine in a saucepan with 1⁄4 pint (150
ml) of water; heat fairly gently until the fat has melted then
bring to the boil.
3. Immediately the water is boiling take the pan off the heat, tip
the flour in all at once and start beating with a wooden spoon.
As soon as the dough starts coming together put the pan back
over the heat and continue beating until the dough forms a
rough ball in the middle of the pan. This will only take about
a minute, so don’t overdo it or the dough will become too fatty.
4. Now put the dough straight into a mixing bowl and allow it to
cool for a couple of minutes. At this stage you can either
continue beating the dough with a wooden spoon, which is very
hard work, or use an electric hand whisk. (Or even put the
dough into a food processor and add the eggs through the
funnel.)
5. Add the beaten egg a little at a time as you beat the dough
vigorously. At this stage you want to incorporate as much air as
you can, which is what gives the profiteroles their light texture.
When the dough is still firm with a sheen on the surface it’s
ready. If you add too much egg the dough becomes too slack
and the profiteroles won’t have such a good shape or
consistency.
6. Spoon the dough onto the baking sheets to make 18
profiteroles roughly the size of a peach stone and bake in the
oven for 25–30 minutes until well risen and golden.
7. Allow to cool completely, then fill the profiteroles with whipped
cream by making a small hole in the bottom or side of each one
with a very sharp knife, a skewer or the end of a corkscrew.
To make the sauce
(To make a chocolate sauce, replace the coffee with a 4 oz (100 g)
bar of plain chocolate).
Method
1. In a medium-sized bowl dissolve 1 heaped teaspoon of instant
coffee in a couple of tablespoons of boiling water, add the butter
or margarine and the golden syrup and melt the whole lot over
a saucepan of hot water.
2. Take the bowl off the heat, add the egg and sift in the icing
sugar, then beat at high speed with an electric hand whisk for
about 30 seconds until you’ve got a thick, smooth icing.
3. Arrange the profiteroles in one large bowl or several small ones
and put them in the fridge while you wait for the sauce to cool
for half an hour. (The sauce can also be put in the fridge.)
4. Spoon some of the sauce over the profiteroles and keep the rest
in a jug to serve hot or cold with the profiteroles at the end.
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