Profiteroles

Two desserts my late Father enjoyed that I made were hazelnut chocolate spread and cream filled profiteroles, the other was bread and butter pudding with raisins. Making choux pastry is really easy and is always appreciated. These profiteroles continue to be  popular, whenever I make them for Mr T&T's work colleagues. Your guests will think you are awfully clever, when presented with these delightful morsels.

Ingredients are flour, water (measured out and in the saucepan), butter, salt (mixed with flour), eggs.

The following tips and techniques are above the relevant images.

Place water and butter in a saucepan on the stove top over medium heat, bring to the boil. (I place a lid on the saucepan to prevent too much evaporation )

Add all the flour into the melted butter/water mixture.

Return to the heat and using a wooden spoon, beat until the mixture comes away from the sides of the saucepan and forms a ball ( see image below ).

My preference is to beat the eggs together and add in two or three applications. If the recipe calls for two eggs, I would add the beaten eggs in two applications.

Once the eggs have been incorporated, the mixture should slowly fall off the spoon. What you are also looking for is a sheen on the final paste mixture.

Pipe a little of the paste mixture at the corners of the tray to secure the parchment paper.

Pipe your desired size or shape.

I prefer my baked choux pastry to be more firm, as I feel they do not absorb too much of the moisture of the cream/hazelnut chocolate spread filling. Once baked off, I turn down the oven to ~100 deg C (212 deg.F ) until they have dried out a little. The time will depend on your personal preference
One needs to keep in mind the moisture content of your filling. Filled too early ahead of your function, your profiteroles may absorb too much moisture. No one likes a soggy profiterole.

Hello gorgeous.

As I cannot tolerate a messy piping back or sticky fingers, using a scraper, I keep the top of the bag clean. Nothing worse than having your mixture oozing out of the top of your bag. A bag clip is used to keep the mix contained in the piping bag.

Fill the piping bag with stiff peak whipped cream.

Working in a large pastry kitchen, it is always about working quickly and efficiently. My preference is to slice my profiteroles in half and line them up like the good little soldier,s that they are. In no time you have wonderful and deliciously filled profiteroles.

This is a critical stage in your profiterole 'journey' resisting the urge to try one.

Alright go ahead, but only one now!

In the past I have folded the hazelnut chocolate spread into the cream and filled the profiteroles using a piping bag. This method did not deliver a strong hazelnut chocolate spread flavour.

The other method I have also tried using is a two piping bag method, one filled with whipped cream and the other with hazelnut chocolate spread. I found I did not get an even amount of both the fillings.

The best result, for me is to cut the profiterole in half and fill the one half with hazelnut chocolate spread and pipe the cream on top.

These are even more delicious, I know hard to believe, if they are placed in the fridge for the filling to firm up.

Dust with icing sugar and enjoy!

A drizzle of chocolate sauce, made with melted chocolate and cream. Individual portion for one, perhaps ?

Absolute bliss!

What is your favourite filling?

It has started to get chilly, so mushroom soup was on the menu. The question I ask myself is, do I find mushroom soup comforting and oh, so delicious or do I just love mushrooms?

This got me thinking back to when my siblings and I were little. One day our late Father brought home a cardboard box filled with what looked like dirt. The box was placed on top of the fridge and we were told to water it. Seemingly, like magic, mushrooms appeared, this could have been the start of my love for the humble mushroom. Why does it seem that everything tastes better when you see it grow and get to eat it fresh?

Growing up in a Portuguese home, food for me was more than nourishment, it was about celebration. Being the daughter and granddaughter of immigrants may have something to do with the way I view food. Mr T &T and I left our families and moved to a different continent, nothing gives us greater pleasure than sharing our cuisine with friends here. It seems everything about a meal, a great piece of fruit, vegetable or a delicious slice of cake can invoke a great food memory.



The technique used here is knife skills. Something as mundane as chopping vegetables and slicing mushrooms can be used as an opportunity to practise knife skills. Try cutting the potato and onion into an even dice and to have an even and finely sliced leeks and mushrooms.

The recipe called for small diced potato and onions, finely sliced leeks and mushrooms.In my opinion this will maximise the flavour instead of large chunks of the vegetables and mushrooms.

Once the onions have been cooked with the potatoes, the leeks and mushrooms are added and cooked until soft. Vegetable stock, milk and cream are added and allowed to come to the boil and then let to simmer.



The garnish I used for the soup was  fried slithers of mushroom and a sprinkle of finely chopped  parsley. A warm crusty bread roll would be a perfect accompaniment to the soup. 

         

The recipe I used was from the "Heston Blumenthal at Home" recipe book.