How to Make Profiteroles {French Cream Puffs}

This Guide to Making Perfect Profiteroles Includes:

What are Profiteroles?

Classic, French Profiteroles are buttery little pastries made with choux pastry (pâte à choux). They are hollow, which makes them the perfect container for a variety of fillings and toppings, both sweet and savory.

Profiteroles are essentially the same thing as Eclairs - Piped Choux Pastry that bakes up with a hollow center. ("Choux" is pronounce like shoe).

Both profiteroles and eclairs are meant to be filled with a creamy filling that is either sweet or savory. Profiteroles are also often topped with a dessert sauce, frosting, or glaze.

The only difference between eclairs and profiteroles is the shape. Eclairs are oblong, shaped kind of like a hot dog bun. Profiteroles are smaller and round, making the perfect little two or three-bite treat.

• Fill profiteroles with something creamy like pastry cream, ice cream, or simple whipped cream. The filling can also be savory! Savory profiteroles are often filled with a cream cheese mixture that includes garlic and herbs.
• Top profiteroles with a simple dusting of powdered sugar or whatever dessert sauce strikes your fancy.

Why This Recipe Works

I can't imagine that asking the question, "Why would you want to eat profiteroles?" is valid under any circumstance. Might as well ask why you want to breath.

But, why make profiteroles? Here are 4 excellent reasons:

1. Profiteroles are so quick and easy to make! Prep time is minimal. Choux pastry only takes about 15 minutes to make. After that, it's just a matter of letting them bake.
2. Profiteroles are elegant and impressive. Did you ever see that commercial with the mom reading a novel in the kitchen while her family waited patiently for her to make a batch of "super difficult" and time consuming rice crispy cookies? Making profiteroles is kind of similar. They look like something you need mad baking skills and loads of spare time to make. In reality, they are one of the most simple, fast, and easy pastries to have ever been invented.
3. Profiteroles can be filled with practically anything under the sun - sweet or savory. Here's an example: I made the very profiteroles that you see in these photos for a dinner party, filling them with ice cream and topping them with a wine reduction dessert sauce. I had about 8 leftover (unfilled). So, I used some leftover chicken to make a quick chicken salad and my husband and I feasted on adorable little chicken sandwiches for lunch the next day.
4. Knowing how to make profiteroles is a culinary secret weapon. If you know how to make profiteroles and have some ice cream in your freezer or whipped cream in your refrigerator, you can whip up a delicious, impressive dessert in less time than it would take most of us to head to the grocery store or bakery and buy something pre-made. Likewise, fill them with any variety of seafood, meats, cheeses, eggs, spreads, dips, or salads for a super impressive appetizer that you can whip up with whatever ingredients are in your refrigerator or pantry. 

Profiteroles are kind of a blank slate. Depending on what you fill them with, they can be finger food or something to be eaten with a plate and fork.

• Fill profiteroles with savory ingredients to make a delicious appetizer or light meal.
• Fill profiteroles with sweet ingredients for an indulgent afternoon snack or an elegant dessert.  

Sweet Fillings for Profiteroles

• Ice cream. While vanilla is always a favorite, you can fill profiteroles with any flavor ice cream you like.
• Pastry cream. My favorite tried and true pastry cream recipe makes a silky smooth, deliciously rich and creamy filling for profiteroles.
• Whipped cream. Lightly sweetened whipped cream is a delicious filling for profiteroles that's also super quick and easy to make. Simply use an electric mixer to whip 1 ½ cups of heavy whipping cream with 2 teaspoon vanilla extract and ½ cup powdered (confectioners) sugar until the cream is thick enough to pipe or spoon into profiteroles.
• Fruit curd. Fill profiteroles with any flavor of fruit curd, from a jar or homemade.
• Fruit curd + whipped cream or pastry cream. Gently fold some fruit curd into whipped cream or pastry cream. Or, fill profiteroles with a dollop of fruit curd and then top it with some whipped cream or pastry cream.
• Fresh fruit + whipped cream or pastry cream. Fill profiteroles with a bit of whipped cream or pastry cream then top with slices of fresh fruit or berries.

Savory Fillings for Profiteroles

• Chicken, egg, or seafood salad. Profiteroles are best with creamy fillings, which makes chicken, egg or seafood salad a delicious choice for savory profiteroles.
• Smoked salmon and cream cheese. Use and electric mixer to beat some room temperature cream cheese with a pinch of salt and pepper until aerated and fluffy. Add any or all of the following: minced roasted garlic, crushed red pepper, fresh herbs, lemon zest, horseradish. Fill profiteroles with a dollop of cream cheese and a few pieces of smoked salmon.
• Creamy garlic and herb filling. Use an electric mixer to beat equal amounts heavy whipping cream and cream cheese plus a tablespoon or two of butter until the mixture is thick enough to hold its shape. Then stir in some minced garlic (preferably roasted or sautéed in oil until golden brown) and fresh herbs. You could also stir in some grated cheese. Parmesan is a great option for this filling.
• Cream cheese and veggie filling. Use and electric mixer to beat some room temperature cream cheese with a pinch of salt and pepper until aerated and fluffy. Then add any kind of finely minced or grated vegetables, raw, cooked, or pickled. My favorites include: sun dried tomatoes, marinated artichokes, olives, capers, and pickled red onions. Also toss in a few tablespoons of minced fresh herbs.

Toppings for Profiteroles

Top profiteroles with a simple dusting of powdered sugar. OR, drizzle them with...

• Hot fudge
• Chocolate Ganache
• Whisky Sauce
• Salted caramel sauce
• Caramel Rum Sauce
• Butterscotch sauce
• Blueberry sauce
• Cherry Sauce

So. Many. Options.

The profiteroles you see here are the very happy result of tasting the white and red wine poaching liquids after poaching pears for this Pear and Almond Tart.

The tart is made by letting pears simmer in wine and sugar, and OMG. The wine that the pears have simmered in is TO DIE FOR.

As the pears poach, all the alcohol evaporates, leaving behind pure liquid gold. If you keep simmering the liquid until it reduces to about a half a cup, you have the most delicious sweet wine dessert sauce ever. The sauce is perfect for drizzling over ice cream filled profiteroles. 

Step #1: Add some milk, water, unsalted butter, salt and sugar to a saucepan and bring it to a full, rapid boil.

Step #2: Add the flour.

Add the flour all at once and stir until it forms a dough. Cook the dough for about a minute longer, smushing it against the side of the pan as you do.

This will cook the flour so that the baked profiteroles don't taste floury. Cooking the dough for a bit also builds the structure profiteroles need to not collapse while baking.

Dump the dough into the bowl of a stand mixer and let it cool down for a few minutes before adding the eggs.

Step #3. Add the eggs.

For this choux paste recipe, you'll need approximately 4 eggs. It's super important to not add more liquid to the dough than it can handle.

How many eggs you need depends on a lot of different factors:

• Climate and altitude
• Humidity
• The brand of flour you are using
• If the flour was too tightly packed when you measured it
• How large each of the eggs are.

The amount of eggs needed might even vary from batch to batch on the same day.

Rather than worry about all that, crack the eggs into a bowl and whisk them together. Then, with your mixer running, add the eggs slowly, bit-by-bit, paying attention to the dough and incorporating only enough to create dough that's shiny and thick enough to hold its shape when piped.

For me, this almost always means leaving a tablespoon or so of egg in the bowl, which can be saved to brush over the dough right before baking to give them a lovely shiny surface.

Step #4. Shape the profiteroles.

Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper to prevent the profiteroles from sticking to the baking sheet while they cook. Then, sprinkle the parchment with a bit of water.

This creates a more humid environment for the profiteroles as they bake, helping them rise as much as possible and not dry out. 🙌

Scoop the batter into a pastry bag that's been fitted with a large round pastry tip and pipe golf ball sized mounds of dough onto the baking sheet, leaving about 3-inches of space in-between each one.

Dip your finger in water (to keep it from sticking to the dough) and tap down the tops of each ball of dough, smoothing out the top. 

Brush the dough with a bit of egg that's been whisked with about a teaspoon of water and bake.

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Profiteroles are a Building Block Recipe

Building block recipes are tried-and-true recipes that I consider foundational to great home baking. They are the kind of recipes I come back to over and over again, sometimes baking them as is, but often using them as a jumping off point to create something new. > Scroll through all Building Block recipes.