Strawberry & basil profiteroles

A Parisienne classic preparation made from choux paste(pâte à choux), pronounced as 'shoe' .

It consists of milk, water, butter, flour and eggs. This paste is neutral in flavour and can be used for both savoury and sweet preparations.

Some classical sweet preparations include profiteroles, eclairs, craquellins, paris brest & croquembouche to name a few.

You can use the same paste to make churros too, the only difference is the obove preparations are baked and churros are fried, then coated in cinnamon sugar. However, Churros is a Mexican preparation.

The process of making the basic pâte à choux is the same, what you would like to prepare depends on how you pipe it and finish it. I made some profiteroles with a crust, filled them with some strawberry and basil compote, topped them with some Chantilly creme.

Ingredients

Yield 15-20 profiteroles and some left for churros

For the pâte à choux

Water 107gm

Milk 107gm

Butter 97gm

Salt 3.5gm

Sugar 4.5gm

Plain flour 117gm

Eggs 215gm

For the crust

Butter unsalted 50gm

Flour 61gm

Brown sugar 61gm

For the filling

Strawberries 4-5 numbers

Basil (few sprigs)

Caster sugar 5gm

Vanilla extract 2ml

Creme chantilly 300gm

Method:

For the crust

1. Combine the flour, butter and sugar in a mixing bowl until it forms a cluster.

2. Transfer the dough between two sheets of grease proof paper and using a rolling pin flatten the dough to about 3mm thickness. Place this sheet in the freezer. (You can make this well early in advance, a day prior probably).

For the pâte à choux

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees centigrade

1. Combine the butter, milk and water in a medium sized sauce pan, start to heat on a low flame.

2. Combine the salt, sugar and flour in a seperate bowl and place aside.

3. Once the milk, water mix comes to a boil, take it off the flame and add all the dry ingredients at one go.

4. Using a whisk combine them for about 10 seconds until them come together.

5.Bring the saucepan back on the flame, start cooking this mix on a low flame gradually mixing with a heat proof spatula.

6. It is important to cook this well, you will notice that it begins to come together and starts to leave the sides of the pan. Continue cooking until it forms one cluster. This should take at-least 4-5 minutes.

7. Transfer it to a larger mixing bowl and using a paddle attachment cool it down. When you feel that the mix is just warm and not hot gradually add in the eggs little by little and continue mixing.

8. Do not rush the addition on eggs, it is important to add them in regular intervals.

9. Once all the eggs have been added and the mix is smooth and shiny, you can use it straight away or I prefer to leave them in the refrigerator overnight before using them.

10. The next day transfer the contents into a pippin g bag fitted with a nozzle, I used a plain round nozzle.

11. Ensure that there aren't any air gaps in the piping bag, pipe a tiny bit of the paste onto the corners of a flat tray and lay a grease proof paper over. (The paste secures the grease proof paper from flying inside the oven).

12. Pipe small round dollops of the pâte à choux onto the tray, leaving at-least 2 inches gap between them and the corners of the tray.

13. Using a cutter cut the crust dough into round discs slightly larger than the circumference of the pâte à choux you just piped. Place these discs over the piped pâte à choux. Do not press.

14. Transfer this into the pre heated oven, set a timer initially for 25 minutes. Do not open the oven door initially while it is baking, this might cause the profiteroles to collapse while they are baking.

15. After 25 minutes, you might want to turn the tray the other way around for even baking and reduce the temperature to 160 degrees centigrade and continue cooking for another 20 minutes.

16. You can test but cutting one profiterole, the inside needs to be dry and hollow. If you feel that it is not dry enough continue cooking for another 10 minutes at a much lower temperature about 130 degrees.Remember drier the better, you want to have a nice crunchy profiterole.

For the finishing:

1 Using a serrated knife slight trim the top of the profiteroles, reserving the upper part.

2.Dice the strawberries, combine them with the sugar, vanilla and shredded basil.

3. Add a small amount of the strawberry mix into the profiterole.

4. Pipe a dollop of the creme chantilly over the strawberries and top it up wit some more of the strawberries if you like. Cover it with the top part of the profiterole. Garnish it with a sprig of basil :)

Enjoy😋

PS: You can bake the profiteroles in bulk and store them in your freezer. Just before serving, pop them in the oven to refresh them, cool them and fill as you like.Skip the crust and bake the plain ones and use them with savoury fillings.

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