Profiteroles - Cooks Notes - Step by step

Cook's Notes

Profiteroles from Ideas
These delicate, chocolate-coated pastries are filled with creamy custard and are guaranteed to impress you guests. Getting the choux pastry right, however, is the trick to their success. They're great for teatime, and can be sweet or savoury. Let's take it one step at a time.

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Perfect choux pastry

Choux pastry is different to other pastries. Instead of the fat being rubbed or folded into the pastry, it is heated with water after which the flour and eggs are added to the mixture. It is quick and easy to prepare, despite the fact that it looks terribly fancy. Choux pastry can't be rolled out as it is extremely soft and is either spooned or piped into a baking tray. It can be used successfully in savoury dishes because it has a neutral flavour.

To ensure perfect results keep the following points in mind:

Measure carefully - it's most important that the ingredients are in the correct proportions.

Don't allow the water and butter mixture to boil for too long. As soon as the mixture begins to boil, remove it from the heat. If it's boiled for too long, too much water will evaporate, changing the proportions of the dough, which will lead to poorly risen pastries.

Leave sufficient space between the raw dough on the baking tray, because the pastry expands during baking.

Make sure the pastry is crisp before removing from the oven. Soft pastries that aren't fully cooked will shrink once they cool.

Cut slits or insert a skewer into each pastry after you have removed them from the oven. This allows the steam to escape and ensures that the pastry stays crisp.

Fill pastries shortly before serving, because the moisture in the filling will cause the pastry to soften.

Custard-cream filling

This custard-cream filling is also known as pastry cream and is a popular filling for pastries and cakes. It's made with flour, which helps thicken it and enables it to hold its shape. It also prevents the custard from making the pastry too soggy. When cooking your custard, don't cook over a high heat, as this will cause the eggs to curdle. Whisk continuously to prevent lumps. Whipped cream is folded into the custard to make it lighter. Make sure that the custard is completely cold before folding in the cream. If it's warm, the cream will melt and the filling will be too runny. This filling can be made ahead of time and refrigerated for two to three days. It can be flavouried with citrus zest, chocolate, coffee, brandy or liqueur.

Storage

Store cooked, unfilled pastries in an airtight container for up to three days. They can also be frozen for a month. Once the pastries have been filled, they should be eaten within a couple of hours. If you are filling your pastries with custard cream or whipped ream, keep them refrigerated until ready to serve. This is especially important in hot weather.

10 things to do with profiteroles

Golden profiteroles with gooey chocolate sauce,

Apricot cream choux with cracked caramel

Chocolate cream éclairs

Parmesan choux sticks

Spicy choux fritters

Aunt Jannietjie's cream puffs

Puffs with herbed cream cheese

Various fillings for choux puffs

Almond custard and berry ring

Gougere with chicken stir-fry

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	Cheesy choux ring A large, cheesy choux ring is known as gougere and can be filled with various fillings of your choice. Make a thick white sauce and add cooked, deboned chicken pieces and lightly fried mushrooms, or prepare stewed lamb or beef pieces and use as a filling. Vegetarians can enjoy a filling of stir-fried veggies and cashew nuts.