Profiteroles with Ice Cream and Chocolate Sauce

Before you start

Profiteroles are bite-sized choux puffs split or filled and served with chocolate sauce. Restaurants often fill them with ice cream, which makes them a dessert of contrasts: a dry, crisp shell, cold cream inside and a warm, glossy sauce poured over at the table.

The smart way to serve them is to work backward. Bake and cool the puffs earlier in the day, fill them with scoops of ice cream, and park the filled puffs in the freezer so they firm up. The sauce is made just before serving. Keep the shells on the small side, about 3.5 cm piped, so each one holds a single scoop and can be eaten in two bites.

Ingredients

• Choux puffs75 ml (5 tbsp) water
• 75 ml (5 tbsp) whole milk
• 65 g (4½ tbsp) unsalted butter — diced
• ¼ tsp fine salt
• 1 tsp granulated sugar
• 85 g (⅔ cup) all-purpose flour — sifted
• 3 large (about 150 g) eggs — beaten; you may need slightly less
• Filling1 liter (1 quart) vanilla ice cream — good quality, firm from the freezer
• Chocolate sauce150 g (5 oz) bittersweet chocolate (60–70%) — chopped
• 180 ml (¾ cup) heavy cream
• 1 tbsp golden syrup or light corn syrup — for shine
• 1 pinch flaky salt

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200°C (400°F) and line a baking sheet with parchment.
2. Bring the water, milk, butter, salt and sugar to a boil over medium heat. Off the heat, add the flour all at once and stir into a ball. Return to low heat and stir for about 2 minutes, until the paste is smooth and a light film coats the pan.
3. Cool the paste in a bowl for 2 minutes, stirring, then beat in the eggs a little at a time. Stop adding egg when the paste is glossy and slides off the spoon in a thick V.
4. Pipe 3.5 cm (1⅓ in) mounds, 4 cm apart, flattening any tips with a damp finger. You should get about 24.
5. Bake 10 minutes, reduce the heat to 180°C (350°F) and bake 15 to 20 minutes more, until evenly golden brown and light in the hand. Poke a small hole in the base of each and cool on a rack for at least 30 minutes.
6. Slice each cooled puff horizontally just above the middle. Put a scoop of ice cream on each base and set the lid on top. Freeze the filled puffs on a tray for at least 30 minutes, or up to 4 hours covered.
7. For the sauce, bring the cream and syrup to a bare simmer, pour over the chopped chocolate and wait 1 minute. Stir from the center out until smooth and glossy. Add the salt.
8. Stack four profiteroles per plate and pour over the warm sauce, about 2 tablespoons per serving. Serve at once.

Tips for success

• Scoop the ice cream onto a parchment-lined tray and freeze the scoops first; filling goes much faster and the puffs stay crisp.
• If the sauce thickens while it waits, warm it over very low heat with a spoonful of cream.
• Taste a puff before filling. If it feels damp inside, give the batch 5 minutes at 180°C (350°F) and cool again.

Substitutions

Ice cream

Fill with stabilized whipped cream or pastry cream for a classic French version. Those fillings soften shells faster, so serve within an hour.

Bittersweet chocolate

Milk chocolate makes a sweeter, thinner sauce; use 180 g chocolate to the same cream so it still coats.

Golden syrup

Leave it out if you like. The sauce tastes the same but sets with a duller surface.

Variations

Coffee profiteroles

Use coffee ice cream and stir 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder into the hot cream before adding chocolate.

Croquembouche-style tower

Fill with pastry cream, dip the tops in amber caramel and stack on a plate. Serve within 2 hours, since caramel softens in humidity.

Troubleshooting

Ice cream melts as soon as the puffs are filled

The shells were still warm or the ice cream was soft. Cool puffs completely and work straight from a cold freezer, filling a few at a time.

Sauce is grainy or oily

The cream was too hot or the chocolate overheated. Whisk in a tablespoon of warm cream; if it stays split, blend briefly with an immersion blender.

Puffs are dense and doughy inside

The paste was underdried or the puffs were pulled early. Cook the paste a little longer and bake until uniformly brown.

Storage

Filled profiteroles keep in the freezer, tightly covered, for up to 1 week; let them stand 5 minutes before serving. Refrigerate leftover chocolate sauce up to 1 week and rewarm gently. Unfilled puffs freeze for 1 month.

Safety notes

The puffs are fully baked, but never taste the raw choux paste, which contains raw egg and flour. Contains wheat, egg and milk.