How to make Profiteroles
Cool, then pipe in custard or cream, drizzle with chocolate and they’re ready for serving.
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:
1. Cool dough before adding eggs – this is key to ensure the heat from the dough doesn’t cook the eggs and so they incorporate properly when mixed together. The egg is the key to making the Choux pastry rise and become hollow;
2. Mix eggs in thoroughly – the dough will look like it splits when you start mixing the eggs in, but persist! The batter will come together – it needs to be smooth;
3. Don’t pierce until crispy – A key step is to remove the profiteroles partway through baking to pierce a hole in them, then return into the oven. This is to make them dry out and cook inside so they hold their shape (and so it’s not raw batter inside).
But you must ensure you DO NOT pierce them before the outside is crispy, otherwise the ball will collapse when you return it to the oven. The shell should take 15 minutes in a 180°C/350°F oven to become crispy, but if your oven runs a bit weak (or not preheated long enough or you kept door open too long and let heat escape etc etc) then you may need to keep them in for slightly longer.
Watch the recipe video at 57 seconds and you will see that when I puncture a hole in the ball, the surface cracks around the hole, indicating that the shell is crisp.
TOP TIP to ensure success: read the recipe from start to finish, look at the step photos above and watch the short recipe video!
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.
All these can occur due to the same factors (all of which can be avoided if you follow my recipe as written!!):
Batter is too runny – when you pipe blobs, if it spreads out rather than sitting up (as shown in the step photos above and video below), this means the batter is too runny and therefore the profiterole balls will not rise. The batter can only be too runny if you mis-measured the ingredients. In particular, ensure you are using the correct size eggs;
The eggs were not incorporated properly – when you add the eggs, mix mix mix until the batter is smooth again. If the batter is split, it means the eggs are not mixed in properly = balls won’t rise (because it is the eggs that make profiteroles rise)
Pierced balls before they were crispy – if you pierce the balls before they are crispy and can hold their shape, then they will collapse during the second bake;
Forgot to pierce!! If you do not pierce the balls, then the inside will never cook / dry out. Soggy insides = collapsed profiteroles.
MAKE AHEAD –> TAKE TO GATHERINGS
All the components can be prepared ahead separately then assembled closer to serving. The pastry balls can even be made months in advance and stored in the freezer. Just a few minutes in a cranked up oven is all that’s required to make the shells crispy again!!!
Imagine being the person who brings a pile of profiteroles like this to a gathering….
The praise! The flattery! You will steal the show!! 😂
Pile of profiteroles filled with custard and drizzled with chocolate
Truthfully though, I took profiteroles on a weekend away with friends recently. And what I described above ↑↑↑ is exactly how I did it. I took a giant container filled with the balls, a piping bag filled with the custard and the chocolate sauce in a tub.
Then I crisped the shells in the oven very briefly. Piped in the custard, warmed the chocolate, drizzled it over then served.
I swear I wasn’t trying to steal the show. I swear I wasn’t trying to show off. I just wanted to share these with my friends! 😂
