How to make Profiteroles
Profiteroles, or cream puffs, are often filled with pastry cream or whipping cream. Serve them plain, dipped in chocolate, or towered into a croquembouche.
Profiteroles are made from a light and airy dough, classically piped full of sweet filling for a delicious dessert. They are not hard to make and are always worth the effort!
At our house we make them every year for New Year’s Eve and tower them into an epic croquembouche. I fill half with pastry cream and half with whipping cream. One I fill with something special. Whoever gets that one has luck for the New Year!
What are profiteroles?
Profiteroles are made from pâte à choux, or choux pastry. The word choux translated to English, means cabbage. So the pastries resemble little cabbages. Choux pastry is cooked on the stove before it is baked in the oven. It is a very light and airy pastry when cooked. This makes it the perfect vessel for filling with things like cream and custard. This is the same type of pastry that you would use for eclairs.
Bite-sized profiteroles are easy to pickup and eat with your fingers. A perfect party food, with appetizers and finger foods. Profiteroles would be a great choice for a Christmas get together or a dinner party.
Filling Profiteroles
Profiteroles, or cream puffs, are classically filled with pastry cream or whipped cream. However, since profiteroles are light-as-air pastries that have a lot of hollow space inside, you could really fill them with anything, like chocolate mousse, ice cream, or lemon curd. Even savoury fillings are delicious in profiteroles like garlic and herb cheese, bruschetta, or spicy chicken.
To fill profiteroles with a soft creamy mixture, like the classic pastry cream or whipped cream, it is best to use an piping bag. If you do not have one, make a simple homemade piping bag with a plastic sandwich bag. Cut a small hole at the corner, to extrude the filling.
If you are filling your profiterole with a chunky mixture like bruschetta or chicken, cut the top third of the pastry off and fill the inside with the mixture. Then, reapply the top.
Storing Profiteroles
Refrigerator
Profiteroles are at their best when served fresh. Store leftover profiteroles in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Profiteroles are filled with pastry cream or other perishable fillings. Consume within 2-3 days. The filling can become watery and the pastry will become soggy, if stored longer.
Freezer
Freeze profiteroles in a single layer, on a baking sheet, for 1-2 hours. Then, transfer to an airtight container. This will allow the filling to harden. This way, when you are stacking them to place in the freezer, the soft filling will not ooze out. Store them in the freezer for 1-2 months. When you are ready to use them, remove them the day before, to the refrigerator, to let them defrost before serving.
Making Profiteroles in advance
To make profiteroles in advance, it is best to store the filling and the profiteroles separately. When you are ready to use the profiteroles, fill them. Storing prefilled profiteroles in the refrigerator will result in a cold, soft pastry. Instead of the light crisp crust from a fresh profiterole, or one stored unfilled at room temperature.
Store unfilled profiteroles in an airtight container, at room temperature, for 2 days.
The pastry cream can also be made 1-2 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator. Make sure to place a piece of cling-film right on top of the cream. This will prevent a skin from forming.
Croquembouche
A croquembouche is a tall cone-shaped tower of profiteroles. They stick onto the cone, and each other, with a sticky caramel that dries hard.
This recipe makes enough profiteroles for 1 medium croquembouche. I use a cone form on the inside to shape the croquembouche, which also takes up space. If you are making a larger tower or if you are not using a cone to form the croquembouche, you can double the recipe.
Ingredients for Profiteroles
¾ cup milk
¾ cup water
2/3 cup softened butter
1 Tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
5 eggs
Method
- In a medium sauce pot, over medium-high heat, add the milk, water, butter, sugar, and salt.
- Bring the mixture to a simmer. Then reduce the heat to medium-low and add in the flour.
- Stir it with a strong spoon, or spatula, until the flour is incorporated and cleans the sides of the pot. It resembles a smooth, moist, dough ball.
- Using a stand mixer, with the paddle attachment, or a large bowl with beaters, tip the dough into the bowl and begin to mix on medium for about a minutes to cool down the dough enough to add in the eggs.
- With the mixer still going, add in the eggs, one at a time. Or with beaters, add in the eggs, one at a time, and beat well after each addition to incorporate the eggs.
- Transfer this mixture to a very large piping bag with a large circular tip. Or you can use a large freezer bag and cut a small hole in one corner to make a piping bag.
- Pipe about a Tablespoon worth of dough onto a lined baking sheet, about 1 ½ inches apart.
- Dip your finger into a small glass of water and smooth down any points at the top of the dough that were left from the piping bag.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
- Bake the profiteroles for 10 minutes at the high temperature to give them a big burst of heat, which will help them puff up.
- Reduce the temperature to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) and continue to bake for 15 minutes, or until the profiteroles are golden brown and feel very light and airy. (If profiteroles are not baked long enough, they will collapse as they cool.)
- Let them cool completely before filling.
Filling and assembly
- Prepare your filling of choice.
- If the filling is smooth and creamy like pastry cream, place it in a pastry bag with a small tip (or a sandwich bag with a small hole cut in the corner).
- Poke the tip into the profiterole, (you should be able to see a weak spot in the pastry). Pipe in the filling until the pastry feels noticeably heavier in your hand.
- Continue in this way with the rest of your profiteroles.
- If you are using a chunkier filling like a chicken or cheese mixture, cut of the top 1/3 of the profiterole and fill it with the filling using two spoons.
- Once full, replace the top. Set aside and continue filling the rest.
- For an added flourish, sweet profiteroles can be drizzled with melted chocolate, dipped in caramel, or dusted with icing sugar.
Profiteroles
Equipment
- piping bag optional
Ingredients
- ¾ cup milk
- ¾ cup water
- ⅔ cup softened butter
- 1 Tablespoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ⅔ cup all-purpose flour
- 5 eggs
Instructions
- In a medium sauce pot over medium-high heat, add the milk, water, butter, sugar, and salt.
- Bring the mixture to a simmer. Then reduce the heat to medium-low and add in the flour.
- Stir it with a strong spoon, or spatula, until the flour is incorporated and cleans the sides of the pot. Stir until it resembles a smooth dough ball.
- Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, or a large bowl with beaters, tip the dough into the bowl and begin to mix on medium for about a minute to cool down the dough enough to add in the eggs.
- With the mixer still going, add in the eggs, one at a time. Or with beaters, add in the eggs, one at a time, and beat well after each addition to incorporate the eggs.
- Transfer this mixture to a very large piping bag with a large circular tip. Or you can use a large freezer bag and cut a small hole in one corner to make a piping bag.
- Pipe about a Tablespoon worth of dough onto a lined baking sheet about 1 ½ inches apart.
- Dip your finger into a small glass of water and smooth down any points at the top of the dough that were left from piping the dough.
- Preheat the oven to 400 ℉ (200 ℃).
- Bake the profiteroles for 10 minutes at the high temperature, to give them a big burst of heat and help them puff up.
- Reduce the temperature to 375 ℉ (190 ℃) and continue to bake for 15 minutes, or until the profiteroles are golden brown and feel very light and hollow.
- Let them cool completely before filling. They cool very quickly since they are hollow inside.
Filling and assembly
- Prepare your filling of choice.
- If the filling is smooth and creamy, like pastry cream, place it in a pastry bag with a small tip (or a sandwich bag with a small hole cut in the corner).
- Poke the tip into the profiterole, (you should be able to see a weak spot in the pastry). Pipe in the filling until the pastry feels noticeably heavier in your hand. (The weight tells you the pastry is filled.)
- Continue in this way, with the rest of your profiteroles.
- If you are using a chunkier filling like a chicken or cheese mixture, cut of the top ⅓ of the profiterole and fill it with the filling using two spoons.
- Once full, replace the top. Set aside and continue filling the rest.
Vanilla Pastry Cream
Equipment
- 1 strainer
Ingredients
- 4 cups milk
- seeds from one vanilla bean
- ¾ cup sugar
- 12 egg yolks
- ½ cup cornstarch
- ½ cup cold butter cut into cubes
Instructions
- To a large sauce pot over medium heat, add the milk
- Scrape the seeds from one vanilla bean and add to the milk.
- Heat until it starts to steam but before it starts to simmer and form bubbles.
- Remove from heat and set aside to steep.
- Meanwhile, in a large bowl combine the sugar, cornstarch and egg yolks.
- Whisk until it is light and creamy.
- In a new large bowl, add the cubes of butter. Place a strainer overtop of this bowl, set aside.
- Now the milk should be ready. Gently, and gradually, pour a little bit of the hot milk into the egg and sugar mixture, whisking constantly.
- Pour the egg and milk mixture back into the sauce pot and return it to medium heat. Stirring until it is glossy and thickened.
- As soon as you see a few bubbles form, from it beginning to simmer, remove it from the heat and pour it through the strainer, onto the cold butter.
- Remove the strainer, and stir everything together.
- Place a piece of cling-film on top of the pastry cream. Allow to cool completely before using. The cling-film will stop it from forming a skin.
Looking for more vintage party or finger foods? These are some of my favourites! How to make puff pastry appetizers, How to make a Cheese Fondue, How To Make Simple Chocolate Fondue, How to make Baked Brie
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