Super Easy Profiterole Recipe: How-To Make Celebratory Cream Puffs!

Good morning lovely friends! Happy Monday. Did you do anything exciting this weekend? Boyfriend and I had my mom over for an early birthday dinner. I'd love to show you what we served for dessert: gooey–chocolate covered profiteroles! These little cream puffs were dessert plan B, actually, following a botched batch of crème brûlée (thanks to our wonky eco-friendly oven—curse you "green" building)! 

I had forgotten just how much I love profiteroles. They're basically miniature ice cream sundaes tucked inside crackly, eggy bread...what's not to love?! Choux pastry—the official/fancy name for cream puff, cheese puff and eclair dough—can be intimidating but this recipe is super simple thanks to the addition of an electric mixer. I tore it out of my March '08 issue of Gourmet magazine and have tweak/simplified/loved it ever since. Here's how to make 'em...

EASY PROFITEROLES WITH DARK CHOCOLATE SAUCE

(adapted from March '08 Gourmet recipe by Shelley Wiseman)

SERVES: 6 

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces

¼ teaspoon salt

¾ cup all purpose flour

3 large eggs

4 ounces dark chocolate

Splash of heavy cream

Ice cream, for serving

1. Preheat the oven to 425˚. Spray a large baking sheet with cooking spray. 

2. Bring butter, salt and ¾ cup water to a boil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium, add the flour all and once and cook, beating with a wooden spoon, until the mixture pulls away from the sides of the pan and forms a smooth ball, about 30 seconds. Transfer dough to a large bowl and let cool slightly, 2 to 3 minutes.

3. With a mixer on medium speed, beat in the eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition (the dough will look separated before it comes back together which each new egg). Transfer warm dough to a pastry bag. Snip the tip and pip mounds or hearts on the prepared baking sheet about 1 inch apart. 

4. Bake 20 to 25 min. or until puffed and golden brown. Remove baking sheet from the oven. Prick each profiterole with a skewer to release steam. Return to the oven, leaving the door open slightly, to dry out 8 to 10 minutes. Let cool on wire racks.

5. Melt the chocolate in microwave-safe bowl in the microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the heavy cream (flavor with vanilla extract, coffee liqueur, sea salt, etc., if desired). Split open profiteroles and fill with ice cream. Top with chocolate sauce. 

If you want to make your profiteroles heart-shaped, it's super simple: Pipe hearts onto the prepared baking sheet, then dip your fingers in cold water and use them to smooth/shape the dough into a perfect heart (sometimes it's hard with the piping bag but it's easy to fix). That's it!