THE PROFITEROLE
FROM SCRATCH
Michael Ruhlman shows you how to create everyone’s favourite dinner party dessert...
66 baking heaven NOVEMBER WWW.FOODHEAVENMAG.COM
PÂTE À CHOUX
PUFFSYou don’t even need a recipe for this
preparation if you remember the basic
rat io of t he four ingredients: by weight,
2 parts each eggs and milk, 1 part each
f lour and butter. Or, if you prefer to
measure by volume, it’s 2 parts each
eggs, f lour, and milk and 1 part butter.
It’s a fascinating dough because the
f lour is essentially boiled in the milk
and butter until it gelatinizes and forms
a paste, into which you stir the eggs. The
eg gs ma ke it puf f and g ive it f lavour, t he
f lour and liquid provide its bread-like
structure, while the butter contributes
tenderness and richness. The resulting
dough can be fried, boiled, or baked, all
w it h dif fer ing results. It’s one of my
favourite things to make.
These puffs are best served warm, but
you can make them several hours ahead
of t ime and let t hem sit, uncovered, atroom temperat ure. You c an a lso pipe
them onto the parchment and put the
baking sheet in the freezer, then bake
from frozen at the last minute.MAKES 16-18 PUF FS240ml (8½fl oz) whole milk
115g (4oz) unsalted butter
120g (4oz) flour
4 large free-range eggs1 Preheat the oven to 218°C/Gas Mark- Line a rimmed baking sheet with
parchment paper.
2 Combine the milk and butter in a small
saucepan and bring to a boil over a high
heat. When the butter has melted,
reduce the heat to medium and add the
flour. Stir vigorously with a wooden
spoon or stiff spatula until it forms a paste
and pulls away from the sides of the pan,
a minute or so, then remove the pan from
the heat. Allow it to sit for a few minutes.
C
ream puffs sandwiching
ice cream, finished with
chocolate sauce: This is
simply one of the best
desserts there is, and it’s as easy to
ma ke as it is impressive. This is an
especia lly easy f rom-scratch dish,
especially given that two of the three
components c an be made days before
serving and the other can be made
hours ahead of time. I’ll give all the
recipes for a from-scratch version, but
please, don’t not make this because of
the ice cream—a good shop-bought
vanilla works great. Or you can use a
basic pastry cream to make cream
puf fs, or simply f ill t he puf fs w it h
f lavoured whipped cream. While you
could buy a jar of chocolate sauce – I’m
sure there are terrific ones out there –
it’s so incredibly easy to ma ke t hat it
seems hard to just if y spending money
on a pre-made sauce. But again,
ever yone’s circumstance is dif ferent.
The only thing you can’t really buy are
the cream puffs. Happily, the
preparation takes only about
10 minutes and the return on that
investment is great. Ser ve eit her one
profiterole per person for a light
dessert, or three for those who spend
all dinner looking forward to dessert.
Slice the cream puffs and put them on
plates. Scoop one ball of ice cream for
each profiterole and make a sandwich
of each. Drizzle the chocolate over
and serve.
This feature is taken
from From Scratch:
10 Meals, 175 Recipes
and Dozens of
Techniques You Will
Use Over and Over
by Michael
Ruhlman, out 15th
October (Abrams,
£30). Photography by
Quentin Bacon.MASTERCLAS
SEasy
to^ m
ake
&^ im
press
ive!