IL Profiteroli are the most famous cream puffs in the world. Formed with choux pastry, filled with cream, Chantilly cream or custard and then covered with a delicious creamy chocolate glaze, they are just irresistible. The Profiteroles were born in France in the 1500s, but there is the hand of Italy in their creation. Traditionally presented on a serving plate and topped together to form a pyramid, the ‘croquembouche’, the are easy to prepare and great to present to your guests to amaze them. Here is the recipe for Profiteroles stuffed with delicate Krema Chantilly and covered with the inevitable Ċikkulata Ganache.

Preparation of cream puffs

1

To prepare the cream puffs, pour the water into a saucepan, add the butter and salt and bring to the boil.

2

As soon as it reaches a boil, remove the pan from the heat, pour in all the flour and mix vigorously and quickly with a wooden spoon. This way, no lumps will form. After this operation, place the pan again on the stove set over low heat and continue stirring until the mixture comes off the edges of the pan.

3

Pour the dough into a bowl and let it cool.

4

Once the dough has cooled, also pour in one egg at a time while working with the electric whisk. Wait until the egg is well absorbed by the mixture before proceeding with the next egg.

5

Once all the eggs have been blended, mix again with a silicone spatula until a homogeneous mixture is obtained.

6

Grease a baking sheet.

7

Fill a pastry bag with the dough for the cream puffs (with a 10 mm nozzle) and make tufts of dough about 3 cm in diameter, spaced apart.

8

Cook the puffs in a preheated static oven at 200 ° C for the first 10 minutes. Then lower the oven temperature to 180 ° C and continue cooking for about another 20 minutes.

9

Once cooked, place the puffs on a wire rack to cool them.

Stuffing preparation

1

To prepare the Chantilly cream that we will use as a filling for the cream puffs, start with the vanilla pod: make a cut along the length and, with the help of a small knife, remove the internal seeds by gently scraping it. In a bowl, pour the fresh cream and vanilla seeds.

2

Start the electric mixer at medium speed and add the sugar too. Whip the mixture at maximum speed until it reaches a thick and full-bodied, but not hard, consistency.

3

We can fill the cream puffs: fill a sac à poche, with the spout suitable for the filling, with the Chantilly cream made; gently inserting the spout into the bottom of the puff

Cover preparation

1

To prepare the chocolate coating, start by placing a saucepan with cream, water and sugar by heating it over low heat (alternatively, we did it with the microwave for about 1 minute). Once the cream is heated, add the finely chopped chocolate and mix everything with a kitchen spatula.

2

Stir until the chocolate is completely melted and blended.

3

Now let’s cover the cream puffs: using two forks, dip and turn them in the chocolate and place them on the serving plate.

4

Starting from the base, form a pyramid with all the puffs that are gradually covered with chocolate.

5

Finally, with the leftover Chantilly cream, form small tufts to decorate the pyramid of Profiteroles and serve.

aċċessorji

• 3 skutelli kbar
• Borma
• Mgħarfa tal-injam
• Mixer bl-idejn elettriku
• Sac à poche (with spout for filling and star spout)
• 2 frieket
• Gratella
• Spatula tal-kċina tas-silikonju

Għajnuniet u tricks

• For the realization of the kisi taċ-ċikkulata of the Profiteroles, we advise you to use a 50% dark chocolate. If you choose a more bitter dark chocolate (70%) you risk that the ganache will be too hard once it cools.
• Oqgħod attent ukoll għal temperatura some chocolate cream. If it is too hot, it may not be able to adhere as well as possible to the choux pastry puffs. Conversely, if it cools too much, it may become too dense that it cannot slide onto the Profiteroles. In the latter case, we recommend that you heat it for a few seconds in the microwave.
• With any leftover chocolate ganache, you could prepare simple chocolates, or stuff other desserts such as delicious Bocconotti. If you are in the Christmas period you could also use it to accompany Pandoro (or Panettone) or during Easter it is also excellent with a good slice of Colomba.
• The filling of the Profiteroles can be varied. We used Chantilly cream, but they are also excellent with whipped cream, mascarpone cream, custard, chocolate or even with ice cream. Even the covering ganache can vary from dark chocolate: you could use white chocolate (even with the addition of berries) or caramel! Find the variant that best meets your tastes.

ħażna

Store the stuffed Profiteroles in the refrigerator, closed in an airtight container, and consume them fi żmien 2 ijiem massimu.

If you have only prepared the cream puffs that are not yet filled, you can store them in an airtight container (or a tin box) to maximum 5/6 days. Alternatively, you can freeze them in the freezer for about a month.

storja

The Profiteroles are imwieled fi Franza, but there is also the participation of Italy in their realization. Today these filled and covered with chocolate puffs are delicious sweets famous all over the world, but originally it was not a dessert, but a salty food. Initially, around the 1500s, it seems that profiterol was a type of dry bread with a spherical shape that was baked under the ashes and usually stuffed with meats and truffles.

These bread and meat puffs were then served dipped in hot broth. According to the stories that have come down to us, these stuffed salted balls were used by the nobles as pay to their servants. The meaning of the name attributed to this dessert could be linked to this anecdote. In fact, the root is the French word ‘profit’ which means ‘profit’. With the diminutive Profiterol we want to indicate a ‘small ‘profit‘(hence the link with the pay to the services of those who worked under their masters).

The transformation of Profiterol from salty to sweet would have taken place thanks to Caterina de ‘Medici who moved to France in 1540, having married King Henry II, also bringing the Italian chef Popelini. He would be the creator of choux pastry and Profiteroles as we know them today. Around the seventeenth century this dessert began to make itself known more and more in other states and today it is one of the great classics of pastry all over the world.