Say it with me: pro-feeeeet-er-rolls. Very good!
We’re going to make profiteroles (AKA cream puffs) for Valentine’s Day, ok? They’re French, so you know this recipe will impress your Valentine. If there’s one thing men like it is delicious things stuffed inside other delicious things with delicious sauce on top. You can trust a woman who is getting married in 16 days. Six.teen!
Profiteroles are made with the French dough, pate a choux. It’s the same dough used for eclairs, because as it bakes, the water in the dough evaporates and leaves a hollow center inside the pastry. You can stuff them with custards, whipped cream, or fruit sorbets. If you have leftover sorbet from my Champagne Sundaes, use it for this recipe. I also think chocolate whipped cream would be great with a fresh raspberry sauce. Or, this vanilla custard with Frangelico. Or whiskey-ed cherries. Or this butter whiskey sauce. Or anything else your little heart desires.
Cream puffs are a romantic dessert for Valentine’s Day because you can feed each other these little bites between sips of bubbly. (Did you see my post on champagne tips)?
The process of making the dough feels odd. It goes against everything you would think about a light and fluffy pastry. The first step is melting the butter in water over low heat. It’s important to prevent the water from boiling because then it will evaporate and alter the liquid ratio in the dough. Next, flour is added directly to the butter and water mixture. Weird, right? Finally, you whip the dough to cool it off before adding the egg, pipe it onto a baking sheet, and bake. You’ll squeal with delight when you cut them open and find a hollow shell.
Now, go on! Bake delicious things to stuff inside other delicious things with delicious sauce on top. Your Valentine will thank you for it.
Profiteroles with Raspberry Sorbet and Chocolate Sauce
Homemade profiteroles filled with a raspberry sorbet.
Ingredients
- For the profiterole dough:
- 1/3 cup water
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter (at room temperature)
- 1/3 cup flour
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg, beaten
- For the rest:
- 1/2 cup fruit sorbet of your choice (I used raspberry)
- 2 ounces dark chocolate
- 1 teaspoon coconut oil or shortening
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- In a small saucepan, stir together the water and butter over low heat. Let the butter gently melt without bringing the water to a boil.
- Remove the water-butter mixture from heat, and add the flour, sugar and salt mixture all at once. Stir, stir stir. Put it back on the burner that's been turned off and stir until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the pan. In other words, the dough will stick together in one big clump around the spoon and not the edges of the pan. It happens in about 1 minute.
- Scrape the dough into a mixing bowl, and beat on low speed with an electric mixture until the mixture is only warm to the touch (about 1-2 minutes). Add the egg and continue beating. Beat for a few minutes, until the dough falls off the beaters in sheets and is pale yellow.
- Scrape the mixture into a piping bags (or use two spoons) do pipe 6 or 7 little mounds of dough. To get the most rise out of your dough, layer it: make a flat disk, then top it with another disk of dough.
- Bake for 15 minutes, then open the oven to rotate the sheet pan. Turn the oven down to 350 and bake for 30-33 minutes. Don't be afraid of a little color on your cream puffs. If you under bake, the insides won't be as hollow.
- When the time is up, turn off the oven and leave the door cracked open. Let the shells cool slowly in the oven. If you cut into them while they're still warm, they won't be as hollow. They should almost dry out.
- Meanwhile, make the chocolate sauce: melt the chocolate with the coconut oil or shortening in the microwave in 20-second pulses. Stir between each pulse until chocolate is smooth and shiny. Let cool slightly.
- Before serving, slice each puff in half. Fill with a tiny scoop of fruit sorbet. Drizzle chocolate on top and serve.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 221Total Fat: 13gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 50mgSodium: 67mgCarbohydrates: 25gFiber: 1gSugar: 16gProtein: 3g
These are adorable! I love making profiteroles but always fill them with cream – sorbet filling sounds fabulous.
And as for your wedding – sixteen days?! That’s SO exciting :-)
There’s something about the cream puff that is so romantic and elegant. My mom used to make cream puffs when I was a kid, which was always something to look forward to and I’ve never made them myself. I love that you use raspberry sorbet and chocolate to incorporate all sorts of flavors! This is definitely a something-for-everyone cream puff and looks just delicious!
Oh yes! Perfect for Valentine’s day! I love the raspberry sorbet!
These are just gorgeous. I LOVE cream puffs and these look even better!!
I canNOT believe it’s only 16 days from now!!! WHAT?!
Profiteroles have actually been on my “bake this” list for months! Seeing how lovely yours turned out (and reading your straightforward description of how they are made) just moved them right to the top of the list.
And yes: guys do seem to have a soft spot for delicious things inside other delicious things, topped with delicious sauce. Home run Christina!
PS. 16 days. EEEEK!
I LOVE profiteroles but I’ve been afraid to try making them. I’ll try to work up the courage for these :)
Good luck on the last weeks of wedding planning!!
I want these for breakfast. Is that wrong?
If it is, I don’t want to be right ;)
I love profiteroles and pate a choux. So fun to make!
I once made cream puffs. I then ate, not lying here, 8 of them in a sitting and vowed to never make them again. how dare you tempt me! (I say as I’m already halfway to the kitchen attempting to make these)
Well, Claire, you see, the recipe only makes 6. So you’re coming out ahead already…. ;)
I make cream puffs often as my son loves it. This is one of the easiest dessert to fix and guests get really excited to know the technique :-) You have tempted me to make it again.
Oooooooh these are lovely!
I’m so glad you shared the pronunciation, because seriously. That word is hard.
Loved this recipe idea. I love anything filled with cream. this certainly will make my valentines dance with joy :) thanks a lot.
Man I love profiteroles! They are so incredibly good! They are really weird to make though haha. I love the sorbet filling though! I never thought of filling them with that :) too fun! Oh my goodness! 16 days! Whoa!!! YAAAAY!!! So exciting! :D
I love a good cream puff! will you be my valentine and make these for me pleasee???
I’d love to be your Valentine. I’d trade you a basket of home-grown beets for unlimited cream puffs :)
This is on my baking bucket list. I feel like if I can handle baking bread maybe I can do this. My mom used to bake these cream puffs with a pineapple filling when I was little. Maybe I can surprise her with some of these!
Perfectly proportioned profiteroles! I have never made these, it’s just me & hubs, buying the frozen ones are easy-just thaw a few at a time. But now, I can make just enough to stay out of my elastic-waisted pants. Thanks!
Oh these look so good! I had profiteroles in France last Fall and I’ve been wanting to make them ever since :)
Yes, let’s shout pro-feeeeet-er-rolls! This is one of my very first recipes that I bake, and first love never dies. I miss having them and I’m glad you share the recipe here. So, are you ready? It’s less than 16 days. Dum-dum-dum.
How wonderful that you stuffed the cream puffs with raspberry sorbet! Looks delicious.
Pretty, pretty, pretty.
I’ve never made cream puffs/pate a choux, although I’ve watched Julia Child and Alton Brown do it lots of times! (So that’s basically the same thing as doing it myself…right?) ;-) I haven’t ever really entertained the idea of profiteroles before since you know I don’t do chocolate, but the idea of a raspberry sauce instead of the chocolate sauce has my wheels turning…
These look perfect for Valentine’s Day, so pretty and cheery! And so exciting about your wedding, wow time is flying!
OHHHH yum. Profiterols in any incarnation are where it’s at for me.
Ohhh yes! These sound so amazing…and of course, as always I love the serving size. You are the best!
I tried to make profiteroles a few weeks ago and it was a complete disaster but I feel more confident armed with your recipe. They look lovely!
Love your idea to stuff them with sorbet! Happy Valentine’s Day and happy count down… :)
How very fancy! Love that you used the sorbet with them!
I love your fillings! they look so tempting! 16 days!!! that’s so exciting
These are so pretty! Good luck with the final days until the wedding! :)
Wow, you’re right the process of making that dough does feel weird!
My mom is a master of pate a choux. I have lots of memories of her making eclairs and profiterols for us. I’ve never attempted to make some since I’m pretty sure they’ll all be gone before I have a change to snap some photos
Yours look so good, I just want a couple right now!
Thanks for sharing Christina, congratulations on your upcoming wedding and thank you for the lovely comment you left on my guest post on Aimee’s blog
I love pate a choux!!
These look great I never thought to make my own profiteroles!
Cream puffs for Valentine’s Day are a marvelous idea, and my experience with pate a choux was also completely unintuitive…but also so easy!
I hope you’ll consider adding this recipe to this month’s Shine Supper Club. This would be a perfect addition!
I just learned how to make puffs this last week – so much fun and SO impressive! These are perfect, I love the sorbet in them too. Never would have thought of that!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE cream puffs. My southern grandmother made them for every party, bridge club, etc that she had (and she had a lot). She would fill them with either custard or chicken salad. We got the rejects (read–not pretty ones). We also had them for our wedding reception. Dang it. I need to make some for us.
The recipe is for chai cupcakes, not cream puffs.