These decadent balls of choux pastry, filled with vanilla
cream and drizzled with chocolate ganache are so much easier than many think.
Choux pastry is one of the easiest pastries to make. There
is very little skill and no pastry knowledge required. My sort of pastry!
The
kids at my cooking and baking class made these recently and I had to wrestle
with them to ensure Mums & Dads got some brought home.
Ingredients – Makes 18 large or 36 small
120g strong plain flour – sieve this onto a piece of
greaseproof paper
2 teaspoons castor sugar – add this to the flour mound
300ml cold water
100g butter – cut into small cubes
4 eggs – use a fork to mix them together in a bowl
(See below for filling and ganache ingredients)
Method:
Melt the butter with the water over a medium heat
As soon as the butter is melted and the liquid starts to bubble turn off the
heat
Add all the flour & sugar and beat it together until it forms a thick dough
Add the egg in 3 stages, mixing into dough completely before adding the next
bit
Dough is now ready
Prepare 2 baking sheets (for large ones) by greasing them and then run under
the cold water tap
Remove excess water (the water droplets will help to make pastry crisp as it
cooks)
Using 2 teaspoons, one to gather the dough the other to push it off onto the
baking sheet, drop teaspoons of the mixture onto the baking sheets, leaving at
least 1” space between each one, they will rise
Cook at 200⁰C/Gas Mark 6 for 10 minutes and 220⁰C/Gas Mark 7 for a further 17-
20 minutes until pastry deep golden brown.
Remove from oven and let sit for 5 mins on trays before using a palette knife
to slide the profiteroles off and onto a wire rack.
Filling:
Whip some fresh cream and add a little vanilla essence to
taste for the filling. Slice the profiteroles lenthways and add a teaspoon of
cream to each one.
For the ganache, heat 240ml of cream and pour over 225g of milk chocolate. Mix
this together until chocolate has melted, and then dip the top of each profiterole
into the ganache, let it set a little before adding another coat if you like.
