Profiteroles

Feather-light balls of choux pastry, filled with cream and smothered with chocolate, are incredibly good, look extremely impressive and are surprisingly easy to make. All it takes is a little elbow grease in the stirring — then you’re away. Best of all, everything can be prepared a day or two in advance and assembled in a matter of moments. To make them even more special, this recipe also contains rosewater and white chocolate in the cream, but you can leave them out if you wish.

Choux pastry

¼ cup	Milk
¼ cup	Water
1 tsp	Sugar
60 g	Butter
70 g	Flour
0 pinches	Salt
120 g	Beaten egg, about 3 eggs (Main)

Dark chocolate sauce

3 Tbsp	Cream
3 Tbsp	Water
150 g	Dark chocolate, ideally around 70% cocoa, broken into pieces (Main)

White chocolate sauce

1 ½ cups	Cream
1 Tbsp	Rosewater
1 leaf	Gelatine, or 1 Tbsp powdered, soaked in cold water for 2 minutes until soft
40 g	White chocolate, broken into pieces (Main)
½ tsp	Vanilla extract

Directions

For the choux pastry

1. Heat the milk, water, sugar and butter in a saucepan. As soon as butter has melted and the water and milk start to simmer, stir in the flour and salt. Cook the roux over a low heat for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
2. Remove from heat and stir in the beaten egg, a little at a time, mixing completely before adding the next splash. (This is the elbow grease part.)
3. Transfer to a piping bag or a sturdy sandwich bag with the corner cut off. Pipe blobs of dough 4cm wide on to a baking tray lined with baking paper, leaving some space between them for expansion.
4. Bake at 220C for 20 minutes or until deep golden brown.
5. Let them cool then use a small knife to gouge a hole in the base of each one. Bake hole-side-up at 180C for a further 10 minutes to dry out the inside.
6. Let cool completely then freeze in airtight containers if not using the same day.

For the dark chocolate sauce

1. Bring the cream and water to the boil, then remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate. Keep stirring until all the chocolate has melted and the sauce is smooth.
2. If you're making this in advance, chill it in a sealed container. To reheat, microwave on full power for 40 seconds, stir, then heat it another 30 seconds on full.

For the white chocolate cream

1. Bring 150g of the cream and the rosewater to the boil. Remove from the heat. Pick the gelatine leaf out of the water, squeeze the excess water from it and stir into the hot cream, along with the white chocolate. Leave to cool for 5 minutes.
2. Whip 250g cream and the vanilla until it forms soft peaks, then fold into the warm cream mix.
3. Chill for at least 2 hours or overnight, then transfer to a piping bag/another sandwich bag. Keep chilled until ready to use.

To serve

• Take the profiteroles out of the freezer.
• Fill them with cream by piping it through the hole.
• Heat the chocolate sauce.
• Pour it all over the filled profiteroles — instant defrost!
• Serve casually, like you make this sort of thing all the time.
• Don't spoil the effect by getting chocolate sauce all over your face.
• Bask in adulation.