A beloved French classic dessert, the profiteroles with warm chocolate sauce recipe by chef Matthew Ryle (Maison François, Café François) comes from his debut cookbook French Classics. These light, golden choux buns are filled with vanilla-scented cream and drenched in a glossy, rich chocolate sauce. A simple showstopper that’s pure indulgence.
“Sunday lunch round at Nan’s used to be a regular occurrence, and hands down it is still the best roast dinner I’ve had. But it was not only the roast itself that was so special; dessert was also a complete revelation. There were always a minimum of three puddings, two homemade and one shop-bought for the fussy eaters.
Nine times out of ten, the shop-bought choice was profiteroles piled high, with a cold, set chocolate sauce. I remember picking at these as a young boy, eating my big bowl of apple crumble with a few profiteroles on top. (As they were so small, they were easy to swipe without Mum noticing I’d taken another.) I was so impressed by the shop-bought profiteroles… just imagine if my nan had used this recipe to make her own and covered them with a warm, glossy chocolate sauce.”
💡 Matthew's tips
I would recommend making a double or triple recipe of the choux buns. In restaurants, it is regular practice to bake choux pastry from frozen, and there’s no reason you shouldn’t do the same at home. Make the mix and pipe it on to flat trays, put the trays in the freezer, and, once they are hard, knock them off the tray into a sealed container.
Now you have choux ready to go whenever you need, even if it’s just for a quick midweek pudding for the two of you. Tray the frozen choux up and bake and fill as normal.
As always, though, don’t give in to temptation: keep that oven door closed for the whole time they are baking!
Preparation time
25 min
Ingredients For
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For the choux pastry
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50 ml
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50 ml
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1 tsp
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1 pinch
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100 g
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2 plus more if needed
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For the cream
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250 ml
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25 g
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-
For the sauce
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25 ml
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25 g
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120 ml
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Preparation
1
Start with the choux buns, so they have time to bake and cool while you are preparing the filling and chocolate sauce. Place a saucepan over a medium heat, add the butter, milk, measured water, sugar and salt and bring to the boil. Once it is boiling, add the flour, then mix well over a medium-low heat for 6–8 minutes, constantly stirring with a wooden spoon. Put into a bowl and leave to cool slightly.
2
Add the eggs one at a time, and, using the wooden spoon, beat until fully combined. Once both eggs have been added, the mixture should have a spooning consistency: this means it holds its shape, but when you take a spoonful and tap the spoon on the side of the bowl, the mix falls off. If the mix is too thick, add a little more egg. Place in a piping bag.
3
If you are planning to bake these straight away, preheat the oven to 170°C fan.
4
Put a small spot of choux mix on each corner of a baking sheet and line with baking paper; the mix will stop the paper from flying off in the oven. Pipe the mix with at least a 3cm gap between each profiterole; you’re aiming for each to be slightly bigger than a £2 coin. Freeze them at this point if you're saving them for later (see recipe introduction), or proceed to bake them now.
5
Bake the choux buns for 25–30 minutes until firm and golden. Don’t open the oven door while they’re baking! Take out of the oven and leave to cool.
6
For the crème Chantilly filling, put all the ingredients into a bowl and whip together until you have soft peaks. Spoon into a piping bag, then make a small hole in the base of each cold profiterole and fill with the cream. Alternatively, cut the buns in half to fill them, if you want the cream on show.
7
Leave the chocolate sauce until you are ready to serve, as you want to be pouring this warm over your choux buns! Bring the measured water, sugar and cream to the boil. Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl.
8
Pour the hot water and cream mix over the chocolate and mix until the chocolate has melted. Pour generously over the top of your profiteroles. (Or over fresh strawberries, or directly into your mouth, this chocolate sauce is a winner over everything…)
© Patricia Niven
Contributor
Matthew Ryle
Chef
