There are few things in life as delightful as biting into homemade profiteroles! Crispy hollow choux pastry balls filled with custard or cream then drizzled with chocolate, these are a terrific small-bite dessert option for gatherings.
The pastry shells can be made days, even months in advance. And one batch makes almost 50 profiteroles!!
Profiteroles
Profiteroles are a hazard. It is way too easy to inhale an indecent amount in one sitting.
I exaggerate not. Because unlike many desserts, profiteroles seem so light rather than heavy and overly sweet.
Combine that with the fact that they are so small, you can easily swipe one without anyone noticing as you casually stroll past the pile (yet again…), and you don’t even need to break stride as you bite into it. Or better yet, if you can manage the whole thing in one bite…
For the record, I cannot.
I am a Two-Bite-Profiterole gal.
PROFITEROLE PASTRY = CHOUX PASTRY
Those crispy, light as air profiterole balls are called choux pastry balls. It’s French and it’s magical. 4 simple ingredients: butter, water, egg and flour. Mix, pipe (or even dollop), bake.
And whoosh! Those little innocent looking blobs of pastry puff up 5 or 6 times and they’re hollow inside, just begging to be filled with something tasty!
3 parts to profiteroles
Profiteroles are made up of 3 components:
1. The pastry balls (choux pastry) – crispy on the outside, hollow on the inside, ready to be filled with your Filling of choice!
2. Filling – there’s a few options here. Vanilla custard (Creme Patissiere) is the most common here in Australia – piped inside the balls. Cream is also a firm favourite – and also a good quicker filling option to making homemade custard. And then there’s profiteroles in the States which are split then stuffed with ice cream rather than piping a filling in. All are delish, but for me, profiteroles filled with custard will always be my favourite child. 😂
3. Chocolate Sauce – Drizzle or dip the profiteroles in the chocolate sauce. When it’s warm, it’s a chocolate sauce. When it cools, it sets to a soft chocolate – like the chocolate you get on eclairs at bakeries.
What goes in Choux pastry – profiterole pastry balls
Here’s all you need to make Choux pastry – eggs, butter, water and flour.
There’s no baking powder or other rising agent. The thing that makes choux pastry puff up is the large volume of water in the batter which evaporates into steam as it bakes, causing the protein in the egg to expand and puff up
How to make choux pastry – profiterole pastry
Choux pastry is really easy to make, it’s just a little different to the usual cake batters so there’s a couple of things to be aware of:
After mixing the water, butter and flour, remove from the stove to cool for 10 minutes before adding the egg, otherwise the heat will cook the egg and prevent the choux pastry from rising; and
Add the egg one at a time and mix well in between. The dough will split initially, but after a bit of vigorous mixing, it will come together.
Though I’ve used a piping bag for the dough, you can even just use 2 teaspoons to drop little dollops of the dough onto baking trays!
TIP: For nice round profiteroles, pat down any peaks with your finger and even push wonky blobs into nice, even dome shapes. The more even the shape of the blobs, the more round and pro looking your balls will be.
How to bake choux pastry for profiteroles
A key step in making profiteroles is the double bake of the pastry balls. The pastry balls cook through and puff up in the first bake. Then the balls are pierced and returned to the oven for a second bake to dry out the inside.
The reason this is an important step is to prolong the life of the profiteroles once filled with custard or cream. And it’s during the second bake that the balls become fabulously crispy!!
Cool, then pipe in custard or cream, drizzle with chocolate and they’re ready for serving.
Tips to ensure profiterole success
Profiteroles might look tricky and fancy, but they are actually very straightforward to make if you follow just 3 key tips:
1. Cool dough before adding eggs – this is key to ensure the heat from the dough doesn’t cook the eggs and so they incorporate properly when mixed together. The egg is the key to making the Choux pastry rise and become hollow;
2. Mix eggs in thoroughly – the dough will look like it splits when you start mixing the eggs in, but persist! The batter will come together – it needs to be smooth;
3. Don’t pierce until crispy – A key step is to remove the profiteroles partway through baking to pierce a hole in them, then return into the oven. This is to make them dry out and cook inside so they hold their shape (and so it’s not raw batter inside).
But you must ensure you DO NOT pierce them before the outside is crispy, otherwise the ball will collapse when you return it to the oven. The shell should take 15 minutes in a 180°C/350°F oven to become crispy, but if your oven runs a bit weak (or not preheated long enough or you kept door open too long and let heat escape etc etc) then you may need to keep them in for slightly longer.
Watch the recipe video at 57 seconds and you will see that when I puncture a hole in the ball, the surface cracks around the hole, indicating that the shell is crisp.
TOP TIP to ensure success: read the recipe from start to finish, look at the step photos above and watch the short recipe video!
Profiterole troubleshooting
The most common problem that people run into with profiteroles is that they don’t rise, don’t rise enough, are soggy or they collapse – either during the 2nd bake (after puncturing a hole) or after taking them out of the oven.
All these can occur due to the same factors (all of which can be avoided if you follow my recipe as written!!):
Batter is too runny – when you pipe blobs, if it spreads out rather than sitting up (as shown in the step photos above and video below), this means the batter is too runny and therefore the profiterole balls will not rise. The batter can only be too runny if you mis-measured the ingredients. In particular, ensure you are using the correct size eggs;
The eggs were not incorporated properly – when you add the eggs, mix mix mix until the batter is smooth again. If the batter is split, it means the eggs are not mixed in properly = balls won’t rise (because it is the eggs that make profiteroles rise)
Pierced balls before they were crispy – if you pierce the balls before they are crispy and can hold their shape, then they will collapse during the second bake;
Forgot to pierce!! If you do not pierce the balls, then the inside will never cook / dry out. Soggy insides = collapsed profiteroles.
MAKE AHEAD –> TAKE TO GATHERINGS
All the components can be prepared ahead separately then assembled closer to serving. The pastry balls can even be made months in advance and stored in the freezer. Just a few minutes in a cranked up oven is all that’s required to make the shells crispy again!!!
Imagine being the person who brings a pile of profiteroles like this to a gathering….
The praise! The flattery! You will steal the show!! 😂
Truthfully though, I took profiteroles on a weekend away with friends recently. And what I described above ↑↑↑ is exactly how I did it. I took a giant container filled with the balls, a piping bag filled with the custard and the chocolate sauce in a tub.
Then I crisped the shells in the oven very briefly. Piped in the custard, warmed the chocolate, drizzled it over then served.
I swear I wasn’t trying to steal the show. I swear I wasn’t trying to show off. I just wanted to share these with my friends! 😂 ~ Nagi x
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Sometimes it helps to have a visual, so watch me make these Profiteroles! {Note: Separate video for custard will be published tomorrow}
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Profiteroles
Ingredients
Choux Pastry (profiterole pastry balls):
- 100g / 7 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup flour , plain / all purpose
- 4 large eggs 55 – 60g / 2 oz each (weight with shell), at room temperature
- Pinch of salt
Filling Options (choose one):
- Vanilla custard (Creme Patissiere) (below)
- Ice cream (Note 1)
- Whipped cream (Note 2)
Thick Custard Filling (Creme Patissiere):
- 4 egg yolks (Note 5 for using leftover whites)
- 1/4 cup white sugar , caster / superfine
- 3 1/2 tbsp cornflour / cornstarch
- 2 1/3 cups milk , full fat best
- 1/4 cup extra white sugar , caster / superfine
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or extract or essence)
Chocolate Sauce (Note 3):
- 250g / 8 oz dark chocolate (or US semi-sweet)
- 1 cup cream
Instructions
- Simmer butter & water: Place butter in a saucepan over medium heat. When mostly melted, add water then bring to a rapid simmer.
- Add flour: While liquid is simmering, add flour and pinch of salt, and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon (still on stove) until the dough forms sort of a ball and pulls away from the sides of the saucepan (see video). About 1 minute.
- Cool: Remove from heat and let mixture cool for 10 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 220°C/420°F (200°C fan).
- Prepare trays: Lightly grease 2 large or 3 standard baking trays with butter, then line with paper. (Grease stops paper sliding)
- Add egg into cool dough: Add 1 egg into batter, beat until combined. Add remaining eggs one at a time making sure each is combined before adding the next. Dough should be like a thick paste (see video).
- Transfer to piping bag: Place dough into a piping bag fitted with a 13 – 15mm round tip (1/2 – 3/5").
- Pipe blobs: Pipe 2 tsp blobs 5cm/2" apart (I do 16 on each tray). Makes 40 – 50 blobs.
- Pat down peak: Wet your finger with water and pat down any peaks to form domes (for nice round balls).
- Bake 2 trays at a time for 15 minutes, switching the trays halfway.
- Remove from oven, reduce heat to 180°C/35°0F (160°C fan). They should be crispy enough that when pierced, they will not collapse – if not, return to oven for 3 minutes.
- Pierce balls with knife then return to oven for 5 – 7 minutes until golden and crispy.
- Cool & fill: Transfer to rack, cool fully before filling with custard, cream or split then fill with ice cream. Drizzle with chocolate and serve!
Chocolate topping:
- Place cream and chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Microwave 4 x 30 seconds, stirring in between, until incorporated. Cool to warm, then use for drizzling or dipping.
Custard filling:
- Whisk yolks and sugar, then whisk in cornflour.
- Place milk, vanilla and extra sugar in a saucepan over medium high. Heat until just before simmering.
- Whisk in 1/4 cup hot milk into egg mixture. Whisk in another 1/4 cup. Then add remaining milk mixture and whisk.
- Pour back into saucepan. Return to stove on medium low (low for strong stoves). Whisk constantly 2 to 3 minutes until the mixture thicks to a thick dolloping custard consistency.
- Remove from heat immediately, pour into bowl. Press cling wrap onto surface (stops skin forming) then refrigerate for 4 to 5 hours until set. Do not whisk again once set (loses thickness).
- Spoon into piping bag fitting with a very fine nozzle. Then pipe into profiteroles (use the hole pierced during bake, or make a new hole).
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
LIFE OF DOZER
His giant paws fit perfectly in my size 6 thongs……
I made this last night for Sunday night dessert and these are AMAZING! Literally to die for. So easy to make too. The rest of the family loves them only with cream, but I enjoy them with custard too but instead of making custard for just myself from scratch for just a couple of profiteroles, I bought some of the Paul’s double thick vanilla custard and piped that in and it worked really well. Obviously not as good as the real deal but still hit the spot nicely just for me. Love this recipe!!
How are you measuring the flour out since I don’t see a weight? Accuracy is everything with baking.
Custard is the best…try this if you like custard! https://www.recipetineats.com/flan-patissier-french-custard-tart/ N x
i made this for my family and let me tell you they were a hit! i made it with the custard filling and I recommend you don’t skimp out on it. it was so good with it. the choux was perfect (it didn’t brown as much as the video but was more golden) and I’ve already made it twice without fail. if you plan on dipping the tops instead of drizzling, I recommend halving the sauce amounts. but overall, super easy to follow and super delicious!
Dear Nagi, thanks so much for a great recipe. Me and my daughter, 14yo made them today. They came out perfectly good, first try. I’ve actually tried to make the profiteroles many times long time ago but they were unsuccessful. I just gave up.
I’ve found the perfect recipe and will be making this more often as everyone in the family loveeeee it sooooooo much. Thanks again Nagi, great work xx
Hi Nagi, these look AMAZING!!! I’m wondering would this pastry be sturdy enough to make croquembouche?
Yes 100% Leanna, it’s exactly what croquembouches are made from 🙂 – N x
Wow that’s awesome to hear! This opens up a while world of possibilities!! Thank you!!!
Just made these and it worked!!! Yayyyy we have dessert tonight. My pastry was thicker than what what on the video and I could not pipe it out properly, so I just used a spoon to dollop it and wet my fingers to shape it. Turned out great! Thanks Nagi!
Hi Nagi could you suggest an easy alternative sauce for the profiteroles – butterscotch or caramel maybe – as one grandson doesn’t eat chocolate.. Cant wait to give these a try. Loving receiving. your emails and checking on Dozer as I so miss our Goldie but Dozer’s habits are so similar. Thank you Nikki
This was my first ever baking choux, custard, all. So easy–and tasted perfect! The temperature on my stove is either off or the temp should be higher. Not as crunchy, perhaps, as indicated, but totally delish! Beautiful! Fun!
I tried this recipe for the first time and loved it!! I was wondering if I make them a bit bigger (maybe 1.5 or 2x the size) – how do I adjust the baking time?
Hi Denise, you can make them larger, I’d say they will need about 20 minutes to cook. N x
I have made this recipe so much since Christmas last year. They are always a hit with everyone. My bonus is my hubby loves them so there is never leftover at home.
I make it so much that I don’t need to browse for the recipe anymore.
I usually use whipped cream and drizzle chocolate sauce on it.
Occasionally I mix it up with salted caramel sauce.
Best thing with this dish is I can make it in advance and just perfect amount of sweetness to cap off any meal.
Very easy instructions. Thanks for the recipe… My family loved them
I’m so glad they loved them Wen! N x
Hi Nagi, long time recipe follower, recommend you to all my friends and family. If I’m ever trying a new recipe, it’s gotta be yours!
I’m not sure where I went wrong with this one but they didnt rise into nice round puffs and looked more like puffy pan cakes… would you happen to know why as I would love to try them again?!
Help of this recipe, my first time in making profiteroles was a success, thank you!
Oh my goodness these are amazing. Having never made profiteroles before, and it being a very last minute decision due to a double up of desserts and much to my husbands scepticism (they’re too difficult apparently) I made these this morning for our Mother’s Day picnic. I followed the recipe exact, aside from leaving my dough for 20mins to cool, and I found them quite easy to make. They turned out wonderful, I filled them with whipped cream and dipped them into melted dark chocolate. Absolutely delicious, I can’t wait to share them with my MIL and my SIL. Thank you so much Nagi!
These were amazing- I made three batches and turned them into a croquembouche, for my friend’s birthday party. I used the chocolate sauce on half and it looked quite grand, wish I could post a pic. They were delicious and everyone was commenting on them 🙂
Thanks Nagi
Hi Nagi!
If I add rock sugar on top do these become chouquettes or is that a different recipe?
Thank you!!
Myriam
I made these with cream filling and, i didn’t make ganache for the top only melted chocolate, they were amazing!
I did think maybe the pasta would be hard but it really wasn’t.
A great recipe
I always thought profiteroles were difficult to make, not anymore! This recipe was easy to follow and they turned out wonderfully. My partner prefers sweetened cream, so I went with the recommended cream filling in the notes and it was beautiful – not too sweet and tasted absolutely delicious in the profiteroles.
Hi Naji
Do we need an automatic mixer for the custard filling or we can whisk manually ?
you can just whisk it by hand, it will turn out fine
Recipe is perfect! Baked it today and loved the outcome!♥️
Dear Nagi,
I have been following your blog and making your recipes for about 6 months now and each one of them turned out so good and became a hit in our house. Out of my trust in your recipes, I gathered my courage to try this one and made it half batch as I wasn’t confident about my skills. They turned out great! Thank you so very very much.
Wishing you and Dozer a Happy and Healthy New Year ahead.
Love,
Elif
This is the best profiterole website ever I made these and they turned out great😁they are perfect for new years.
Hi Naji! I LOVE your site. I have boards that are called “Naji desserts” and “Naji meals” etc! I made your profiteroles for Christmas and we loved them, but I must have done something wrong because although no one else thought so, I felt like the custard tasted eggy and not sweet enough. I’m going to make a new custard tomorrow since I have so many profiterole shells left and see if it comes out better… I wonder what mistake I made? Happy Holidays Naji and Dozer x