What is a profiterole made of?
A profiterole (French: [pʁɔfitʁɔl]), cream puff (US), or chou à la crème (French: [ʃu a la kʁɛm]) is a filled French choux pastry ball with a typically sweet and moist filling of whipped cream, custard, pastry cream, or ice cream.
What do you serve with profiteroles?
For sweet profiteroles, additional glazes or decorations may then be added. The most common presentations are pastry cream, whipped cream, or ice cream filling, topped with powdered sugar or chocolate ganache and possibly more whipped cream. They are also served plain, with a crisp caramel glaze, iced, or with fruit.
What is the difference between profiteroles and cream puffs?
Typically a profiterole always refers to a sweet pastry, and not to other choux pastries that might be filled with savory ingredients. Almost invariably, the cream puff is filled with ingredients like whipped cream, custard or ice cream.
Can profiteroles be made in advance?
There are few things in life as delightful as biting into homemade profiteroles! Crispy hollow pastry balls filled with custard or cream then drizzled with chocolate, these are a terrific small-bite dessert option for gatherings. The pastry shells can be made days, even months in advance.
What nationality are profiteroles?
ProfiteroleA plate of cream puffsAlternative namesCream puff (US)Place of originEuropeRegion or stateFrance and ItalyMain ingredientsChoux pastry Filling: whipped cream, custard, or ice cream2 more rows
Who invented the cream puff?
Cream puffs are quite unusual pastries and are made very differently than most other recipes in their category. They originated in the 1540's when Catherine de Medici's pastry chef created the baked puffed shells for Catherine's husband, Henry II of France.
Where did choux pastry develop and by whom?
Pantanelli, the head chef of Catherine de Medici of Florence, invented choux pastry after moving to France in 1540. That pastry named after him was, essentially, a hot dried paste with which he made gateaux and pastries which spread across France.
Who invented the choux pastry?
History. According to some cookbooks, a chef by the name of Pantarelli or Pantanelli, Catherine de' Medici's head chef, invented the dough in 1540, seven years after he left Florence with Medici and her court.
What is the difference between a cream puff and a profiterole?
Cream puffs are full of cream (whipped cream or pastry cream), whereas profiteroles can be stuffed with anything—savory filling, sweet filling, or, as you'll often find in the United States, ice cream. Ice cream-filled profiteroles are usually served with a generous drizzle of chocolate ganache.
What does Croquembouche mean in French?
crunches in the mouthName. The name comes from the French phrase croque en bouche, meaning "[something that] crunches in the mouth."
Where did flaky pastry originated?
FranceWell it comes from France, where it is called pâte feuilletée. It was invented in 1645 by Claudius Gele, a pastry cook apprentice. He wanted to bake an improved bread for his father who was sick and was on a diet of flour, butter and water.
What does choux mean in English?
noun, plural choux [shooz for 1; shoo for 2 ]. a cabbage-shaped decoration, as a rosette or knot on a woman's dress, hat, etc.
Who invented French pastry?
It is believed that the foliated pastry was invented in 1630 by a French painter. In 1638 France tasted tartelettes amandine for the first time. 1660 was the year whipped cream was invented by Vatel, the cook of the Prince of Condé. 1686 was the year that started the French café culture in France.
What is French pastry dough called?
Viennoiserie refers to a family of French pastries made from (1) a pâte viennoise (a leavened, sweetened dough so-named because of its origin in Vienna) or (2) a pâte feuilletée (puff pastry dough, which is not leavened but puffs during cooking because of its many layers of dough and the air that rests between them).
Which dessert originates from the Middle East?
19 Middle Eastern Desserts to Remember this RamadanUmm Ali. Umm Ali, Egyptian sweet pastry pudding. ... Basbousa. Basbousa topped with nuts. ... Kunafeh. Middle Eastern Kunafeh topped with pistachios. ... Baklava. Baklava filled with nuts. ... Aish El-Saraya. ... Zainab Fingers, Balah El Sham, Luqmat El Qadi. ... Rice pudding. ... Qatayef.More items...•
Where did the Danish pastry originated?
The origin of the Danish pastry is often ascribed to a strike amongst bakery workers in Denmark in 1850. The strike caused bakery owners to hire workers from abroad, among them several Austrian bakers, who brought along new baking traditions and pastry recipes.
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Step by step
Bring to the boil. Once boiling, turn off the heat and quickly shoot in the flour. Beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until the mixture is well combined and comes away from the sides
PRESENTATION
Chocolate profiteroles are a pyramid of goodness! Chef Denny Imbroisi has made this dessert in our kitchens, placing the delicious cream puffs one by one with care and precision! This French dessert with Italian origins has spread all over the world thanks to its utter deliciousness! These morsels of choux pastry are usually filled with Chantilly cream or pastry cream but certainly what characterizes them the most is their chocolate coating! To ensure that it always remains creamy and that the profiteroles are completely coated, you need to pay close attention to the temperature of the icing, this is the only way you will properly coat the profiteroles! Hurry and make these little bites of goodness...
To prepare the choux pastry
To prepare the choux dough, first pour the water, milk, salt and sugar 2 into a saucepan. Add the diced butter 3
To prepare the coating
In the meantime, make the chocolate sauce for the coating. First chop the chocolate 1, then pour the water 2 and sugar 3 into a saucepan.
To prepare the Chantilly cream
While the sauce cools, prepare the Chantilly cream for the filling. Pour the cream into a very cold bowl. Start beating the cream with an electric beater 1, or with the electric whisk if you prefer; as soon as it starts to thicken, add half of the powdered sugar 2 and the vanilla bean seeds 3.
To assemble the profiteroles
At this point everything is ready to assemble the chocolate profiteroles. Take the choux and pierce the base using a smooth nozzle 1. Transfer the Chantilly cream into a pastry bag 2 fitted with a smooth nozzle. Stuff the choux 3
Storage
Chocolate profiteroles can be stored in the refrigerator for a couple of days.
Tips
If the coating is too runny and does not stay on the puffs, it is probably still too hot. If it is too thick, just heat it up for a few seconds in the microwave.
Profiteroles
Profiteroles are a hazard. It is way too easy to inhale an indecent amount in one sitting.
3 parts to profiteroles
1. The pastry balls (choux pastry) – crispy on the outside, hollow on the inside, ready to be filled with your Filling of choice!
What goes in Choux pastry – profiterole pastry balls
Here’s all you need to make Choux pastry – eggs, butter, water and flour.
How to make choux pastry – profiterole pastry
Choux pastry is really easy to make, it’s just a little different to the usual cake batters so there’s a couple of things to be aware of:
How to bake choux pastry for profiteroles
A key step in making profiteroles is the double bake of the pastry balls. The pastry balls cook through and puff up in the first bake. Then the balls are pierced and returned to the oven for a second bake to dry out the inside.
Tips to ensure profiterole success
Profiteroles might look tricky and fancy, but they are actually very straightforward to make if you follow just 3 key tips:
Profiterole troubleshooting
The most common problem that people run into with profiteroles is that they don’t rise, don’t rise enough, are soggy or they collapse – either during the 2nd bake (after puncturing a hole) or after taking them out of the oven.

Overview
A profiterole , cream puff (US), or chou à la crème (French: [ʃu a la kʁɛm]) is a filled French choux pastry ball with a typically sweet and moist filling of whipped cream, custard, pastry cream, or ice cream. The puffs may be decorated or left plain or garnished with chocolate sauce, caramel, or a dusting of powdered sugar. Savory profiterole are also made, filled with pureed meats, cheese, and so on…
Preparation
Choux pastry dough is piped through a pastry bag or dropped with a pair of spoons into small balls and baked to form largely hollow puffs. After cooling, the baked profiteroles are injected with filling using a pastry bag and narrow piping tip, or by slicing off the top, filling them, and reassembling. For sweet profiteroles, additional glazes or decorations may then be added.
Presentation
The most common presentations are pastry cream, whipped cream, or ice cream filling, topped with powdered sugar or chocolate ganache and possibly more whipped cream. They are also served plain, with a crisp caramel glaze, iced, or with fruit.
Filled and glazed with caramel, they are assembled into a type of pièce montée
History
Choux pastry, the key ingredient of profiteroles, is said to have been invented by the head chef to the court of Catherine de' Medici, who had come to France from her native Florence to marry Henry II.
The original recipe changed as the years passed, as pastry cook's art began to develop around the 17th century. A patissier by the name of Avice perfected the pastry in the middle of the eighteent…
Today
Cream puffs have appeared on U.S. restaurant menus since at least 1851.
The Wisconsin State Fair is known for its giant cream puffs.
In popular culture
Profiteroles are served in the banquet scene in the 2017 film Victoria and Abdul in which Queen Victoria is seen to be taking great pleasure in devouring her serving of them.
See also
• Food portal
• Bossche bol, a giant profiterole from the Dutch city of Den Bosch
• Éclair (pastry), a differently-shaped choux and cream pastry
• Gougère, an hors d'oeuvre made with choux pastry
External links
• Cream Puff at the Wikibooks Cookbook subproject