Profiterole - Simple French Dessert

Profiteroles are French pastry shells that are quiet easy to make and can be served with many variations. In France they are often filled with whipped cream or ice cream or even served plain sprinkled with powdered sugar or a drizzle of chocolate sauce. These are popularly known as cream puffs in the US. The dough that's used for this dish forms the base for the other most famous dessert Eclairs. These yummy little puffs are made from Choux pastry (warm pastry). Profiteroles first appeared in France in the 16th century and are thought to have been created for Catherine De Medici's.

I made these profiteroles for 13th Mediterranean cooking event-France and they turned out great. They were soft, light, fluffy with rich buttery flavors and I served them with ready made chocolate sauce.


Things needed
All purpose flour - 1/4 Cup
Milk - 1/4 Cup
Butter - 1/8 Cup
Salt - a pinch
Egg - 1 large

Pre-heat the oven to 400F. Heat milk, butter, salt in a pan until the butter melts. To this mixture add the flour and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon until it all comes together as a dough. Cook the dough for 2 minutes on a low heat . Turn off the heat and move the pan to the counter top. Now add the beaten egg to the hot dough and mix well until it forms a smooth batter with no lumps.

Drop spoonfuls of  batter on to the cookie sheet  spaced well apart and bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Once done remove the puffs from cookies sheet and make a small slit on its sides, so as to release in the steam built inside the puff during baking. Cool them for about 15 minutes and serve with chocolate sauce or any ice cream.  This recipe yielded about 8 small profiteroles. The recipe can be easily doubled or even tripled as needed.