Greek-style profiteroles for Father’s Day
We all love profiteroles, right? Fluffy, crispy choux buns filled with cream or ice cream and drizzled with luscious chocolate sauce – what’s not to love?
We like to take this amazing dessert to the max here in Greece, so instead of pouring a sensible amount of chocolate sauce over the buns, we drown them in the stuff and serve them family-style, each portion scooped out of the big serving dish that’s filled to the brim with chocolatey goodness. That’s what we call profiteroles around here (the pastry cream-filled buns usually topped with caramel are what we call choux), and it’s freakin’ amazing. It also happens to be one of my dad’s favorite desserts, so I couldn’t think of a better dish to wish him a happy Father’s Day!
The recipe is simple but requires a few steps, so you can definitely split it into a couple of day’s work and just assemble when it’s time to serve. Both the pastry cream and chocolate sauce can be prepared in advance and stored in the refrigerator, and the choux pastry can be made a day ahead and stored in an air-tight container.
Because it’s such a rich dessert, I like preparing a slightly lighter version of the filling: I go for a Diplomat cream, which is a pastry cream with whipped cream folded into it. It has a much higher milk to cream ratio, so it’s not as sturdy as a standard pastry cream, but it won’t leak out of the bun. It is less dense, making for a much fluffier filling. I also use much less cream in the chocolate sauce and opt for milk instead, so it’s much lighter and slightly runnier than regular ganache, but still holds its shape in the refrigerator.
So without further ado, let’s get into this! This is what you’ll need:
Diplomat cream
- 1 batch pastry cream
- 3/4 cup heavy cream, whipped to medium peaks
For the pastry cream, you’ll need:
- 4 egg yolks
- 2 tbsp corn starch
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 1 tbsp butter
Chocolate sauce
- 200 gr dark chocolate
- 150 gr milk
- 50 gr cream
- 50 gr butter
Choux pastry
- 100 gr water
- 150 ml milk
- 80 gr butter
- 1/2 tbsp sugar
- pinch of salt
- 150 gr flour
- 250 gr eggs (about 5 medium or 4 large whole eggs plus 1 egg white)
Start by making your pastry cream: add the yolks, sugar, corn starch and vanilla in a bowl and whisk to combine. In a medium sized pot, bring the milk almost to a boil. As soon as it’s up to temperature, remove from the heat and start tempering your egg mixture by pouring the milk into your bowl in a thin drizzle, whisking continuously to prevent your eggs from curdling. Return everything back to medium heat and stir continuously until it starts to thicken up. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter until it’s completely incorporated.
Place your cream in a bowl or airtight container and press a piece of cling wrap over the top to prevent a skin from forming. Allow it to cool down to room temperature and then refrigerate for up to a week.
On to the chocolate sauce: chop the chocolate into chunks and place it in a bowl. Bring the milk and cream to a boil and pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for a minute and then stir until completely smooth. Add the butter and stir until everything is incorporated. Store the same way as you did your pastry cream until it’s time to assemble the dessert.
For the choux pastry, preheat your oven at 200 C / 425 F.
In a medium sized pan, bring the water, milk, sugar, salt and butter to a boil. Add the flour, remove from the heat and stir the mixture. Return the dough to the stove and work it until it forms a ball.
Place the dough in the bowl of your stand mixer and turn the mixer on at the lowest speed to allow your dought to cool before adding the eggs, 3-5′. Add the eggs, one at a time, making sure each addition is completely incorporated into the dough before adding the next. As soon as the dough becomes smooth, slightly loose and sticky, transfer into a piping bag and pipe your shapes on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. You can make any shape or size you want, but for this application I went with the standard walnut-sized balls – they puff up considerably, so try not to overdo it when piping your initial shapes. If your mixture forms a peak at the top as you pull the piping bag away, wet your finger and pat it down to prevent it from burning.
Bake your profiteroles for 10′, then lower the temperature down to 180 C/350 F and continue baking for another 10′, or until they’re golden brown. As soon as they’re done, remove from the oven and pierce the bottom with a sharp knife to release the steam and prevent them from going soggy. Allow your profiteroles to cool completely before filling. You can store them in an airtight container or ziploc bag for a couple of days; if they go soft, just re-heat for a few minutes in a low oven to crisp them up, then let them cool down before using.
When all your components are done, it’s time to turn your pastry cream into Diplomat cream: whisk the heavy cream to medium peaks and fold it into your pastry cream until smooth. Place it in a piping bag fitted with a star tip (or that special elongated tip used for filling donuts etc, if you have it).
Pipe the cream into the slit your made on the bottom of your buns and place the filled choux buns into the serving bowl. Pour the chocolate sauce over and voila, profiteroles! If you have any cream leftover, you can always pipe a few small rosettes around the top for decoration, or do what I did and plop generous dollops of cream all over the dessert.
It’s not the most attractive dessert, but boy does it pack a punch! Besides, it’s dad’s favorite, and that’s what matters.
Happy Father’s Day everyone!
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